The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

"$390,000. - - new light tenders also is asked. ae ESTABLISHED 1878. VOL. XXIV, No. 46. alg CLEVELAND--NOVEMBER 14, 1901 -- CHICAGO. $2.00 Per Year. toc. Single Copy HkcAKE CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION. To consider and take action upon all general questions relating to » the navigation and carrying business of the Great Lakes, maintain necessary shipping offices and in general to protect the common interests of “Lake Car-:' See riers, and to improve the character of the i service rendered to the public. PRESIDENT. ‘A? B, WoLvIN, ‘ Duluth. Beats AST VICE-PRESIDENT. *' Brie Capt. J. G. Ke1TH, ‘ iter SH Chicago. cee a ‘ SECRETARY. : CHARLES H. KEEP, Buffalo, seine sued: “TREASURER. 4 GEORGE P. McKay, : a * Cleveland. oe ae Rah as ’ COUNSEL. i ; HARVEY D. GOULDER, Cleveland. ~ EXECUTIVE AND FINANCE COMMITTEE... JAMES CORRIGAN, Chairman, ; _.,, Cleveland. COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION. ¥ GrBson Ll. Doveras, Chairman, Buffalo, COMMITTEE ON AIDS TO NAVIGATION. GzorGr, P. McKay, Chairman, « i iz: Cleveland, REPORT OF THE LIGHT-HOUSE BOARD.::. The annual report of the United States Light-House Board shows that at the end of the fiscal year there were under the ‘control of the light-house establishment the fol- lowing aids to navigation: . te * Light-houses and beacon lights, 1,306; light vessels in position, 45; light: vessels for relief; 8; electric: lighted buoys in position, 11; gas lighted buoys in position, 91; fog ‘signals operated by steam, caloric or oil engines, 179;) fog signals Operated by’ clock-work, 222; post lights,- 1,827; .day or unlighted beacons, 752; whistling buoys in position; 77; bell buoys in position, 122; other byovs in position, -in- cluding pile buoys and stakes in Fifth district and buoys:in . Alaskan waters; 4,780. ' fl ee i In the construction, care and maintenance of these aids to. navigation: there were employed: Steam tenders, 34; steam launches, 11; sailing tenders, 2; light keepers, 1,420; other employes, including crews of light-ships and tenders, ¥,428; laborers in charge of post lights, 1,574. The‘ board asks for an appropriation of $90,000 to re- construct a buoy system and man the licht-houses of-Porto Rico,- and $25,000 for the maintenance of the Hawaiian system. ‘Che board also asks for other appropriations -as follows: Supplies for light-houses, $502,886; improve- mérits at light-houses, $750,000; salaries of -light keepers, fuél, rent, etc., $883,000; expenses of light vessels, $525,000; expenses of fog signals, $190,000; lighting of rivers, » Authority to construct five new light vessels and several The report says that, while the board does not purpose either to gather or dis- seminate marine news, it is desirous in the interests of commerce and navigation, as well as’ economy, to be put into early'and quick communication with its outlying light vessels and light-houses, and it-is for this purpose alone that it asks an appropriation to enable it to install a wire- Tess system of telegraphy between such ports in the light- house establishment as Shall seem to be most necessary. a ‘¢ The, Montreal ‘I'ransportation Co. have during the pres- ent season added to their fleet four:boats, capable of carry- ing the aggregate: of 204,000. bushels of grain. Two. of these are old boats: rebuilt, with added capacity.. They are capable of carrying from: Kingston to Montreal: 30,000 bushels each: The other two are sister boats. “Ihe last -one launched was.the Quebec. Her capacity is larger than that of any barge or propeller that has ever run between Kings- ton and Montreal. A DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, . One of the questions which will be found in shape about the time Congress convenes is the creation of a new execu- tive department to be’ known as-the department of:com- witice. Manufacturing, and mercantile interests are advo- cating the establishment of this cabinet office and» recent affairs of state are combining to give momentum to the effort. ‘Commerce with colonial: possessions and the possi- bility of: reciprocity treaties with foreign nations, not to me<ntion the rapidly expanding general trade of the coun- ‘rv, are subjects that. have ‘risen greatly in prominence in rccent years, and almost month bv month. ‘While a sentiment seems to be gaining among’ congress- men that this addition to the President’s cabinet is desir- elle. the scope of the. proposed department has not ‘taken definite:shape. Bureaus. of interstate commerce, navigation, customs; revenue cutter, life.saving service, steamboat in- spcctien and statistics would naturally. belong to the de- partment.of cominerce. In the matter of: commercial sta- tistics it may be remarked that the bureau of the treasury department, which now has that matter in charge, has im- proved. conspicuously within the past year... New and val- uable compilations are appearing in the monthly summary of. commerce -and., finances, prepared in the bureau of sta- {isties,; which present striking phases of the vast internal commerce of. the United States. This, of. course merely an incident to the phenomenal growth of that commerce, but it points to the need of this.new cabinet’ position. . iOS NEW YORK STATE CANALS. The state canals will close for traffic at midnight on Saturday, November 30. That is the: plan of: Superintend- ent John N..Partridge of the State Department. of Public Works, and it will be announced: in a formal notice unless conditions arise which would make .a change of date necessary. Fook nG After that date no boats will be permitted to enter the state waterways, , but during the succeeding few days every effort will be made to afford all boats in the canals an opportunity to reach tide water unless prevented by ice formations. The season has been an exceedingly profitable one to canal boatmen judging from ‘the tonnage carried. Although the canals opened two and: one-half weeks later’this year than in the sprine of 1900, yet the total number of tons carried up to November 1 this year was 2,942,347, as com- pared with 2,868,526 carried: up to’the same date last year. The actual increase is 73,821 tons and‘ the estimated in- crease had:the opening been as early this year, 19,472 tons. The canals’ in 1900 closed on December 1, “practically the same time as they will close this year. The total tonnage carried last: year was’ 3,345,941. This will be eclipsed this year if the the traffic does not experience'a great ‘falling off during the current month, which ‘result is not ‘ikely, as November’ is always among the banner months of the canal. season. a oo ' | LAKE LEVELS FOR OCTOBER. The report of the United States lake survey: of the mean depth of the lakes for the month of October is as follows: Lake Sunerior, .47 foot.lower than during: the same month last: year and: .o7 lower than during October, 1895. the -year of slow water«on the lakes;. Lakes Huron and. Michigan were :11 foot: lower than during: October last year and 1.07 feet higner:than during October, 18953: Lake Erie: was .42 foot:lower than during October last year:‘and .53 foot higher than during October, ‘1895. These figures show:the present fall from Lake Huron to Lake Erie to be .31 foot greater than a year ago. OCEAN TOW BARGES. The steel sea lighter sometimes rigged with single-sail masts and with a carrying capacity of from 500 to 1,350 tons dead weight,’ is an important factor in the North Sea and Baltic trade. German steamship companies first made extensive use of them shortly after the opening of the North Sea canal, making an easv water route between the North and Baltic Seas. Today these lighters are in use in England, ‘Russia, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The North German Lloyd and the Hamburg-American Line have each a small fleet of lighters. Denmark has a fleet plying between Germany, Norway, and Sweden. Only quite recently, a local German steam- ship company had two steel lighters of about 700 tons dead weight built, to run between Sweden and Stettin. The small towing steamer is continually under way, leay- ing Stettin with one empty lighter and returning with a full one. | The ‘principal advantages claimed for sea lighters are: Small cost of operating (crew consists of three or four men), low draft, rapidity of discharging or taking on cargo (there being practically one large hatch), small cap- ital invested when compared with steamers of the same tonnage, and small expenses of maintenance. All the principal ports of Germany have sea-lighter ser- . vice. ‘The North Sea canal, the Dortmund-Ems and the Elbe-Trave canal greatly facilitate the practical use of these lighters. On the Rhine they travel as far as Cologne, and in several instances they have gone by sea to Bor- deaux, France. oe The German-Russia Naptha Import Co. is now con- templating the building of tank lighters of about 1,400 tons carrying capacitv to be used in distributimg the product throughout middle Europe. La SPRINGS FOR STEERING GEAR CHAINS. A great deal of trouble is.experienced on board ship with the steering-gear chains ‘Fhe frequent shocks on the rudder are taken -by the chains.. ‘These are usually pro- vided with spring buffers to: relieve the chains: from the shock, and also with tightening screws to take up the slack due to the stretching of the chains or rods. The Vulcan patent: spring ‘buffers . for steering-gear chains consists of a square section steel spiral spring, which works upon a larve socket made to fit the inside diameter of the spring ‘This socket ensures that the spring is cen- tral and alignable, and it effectually prevents buckling. The end'.of the socket into which the tightening: screw passes is reduced in its diameter for a distance slightl greater than the travel due to the compression of the spring. ‘The hole through the end plate is bored out to fit the reduced end of the socket; so that in the event of a broken spring the shoulder of the socket comes in contact with the end plate, and may be so worked until the broken spring is replaced by. a new one. ‘the inside of the socket is screw-cut the entire length of reduced part which is about 7 inches long to receive the tishtening screw, which is made of excep- tionally large diameter and length, and is provided with a lock nut to. prevent the screw from working backwards. This simnle and ingenious combination of spring buffer and tightening screw does awav entirely with the necessity of fitting tightening screws on each:side of the steering chains. ‘It also takes up less room, and is a neater and more handy arrangement. Another important improve- ment is-that the thread of the screws are properly pro- tected. The Vulcan Engineerino Co., Sunderland, England, has fitted a large number of these patent spring buffers, which have given entire satisfaction.