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ESTABLISHED 1878. VOL. XXIV, No. 47. iZAKe 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- riers, and toimprove the character of the service rendered to the public. PRESIDENT. “A.B. WoLvin, Duluth. i 1ST VICE-PRESIDENT. ~ Capt. J. G. Kerra, _ Chicago. = a SECRETARY. CHARLES H. KEEP, * Buffalo, ‘TREASURER. GEORGE P. McKay, - Cleveland COUNSEL. HARVEY D. GOULDER, Cleveland. EXECUTIVE AND FINANCE COMMITTEE. JaMEs CorrRIGAN, Chairman, Cleveland. COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION. Gregson I,. DotGLas, Chairman, Buffalo. COMMITTEE ON AIDS TO NAVIGATION. GEorRGE P. McKay, Chairman, Cleveland. NAVAL EQUIPMENT BUREAU REPORT. A striking illustration of the growth of the American navy is presented inthe single statement in the annual re- ~port of Rear Admiral R. B. Bradford, chief of the equip- ment bureau of the navy, that he spent $2,273,111 last fiscal year for 324,108 tons of coal at an average cost of $7:01 per ton. The report says that this was nearly 95,713 more tons of coal than was used during the preceding fiscal year. Ten years ago the coal consumption was 73,000 tons-per annum. ‘he domestic coal cost $6.20a ton and the foreign coal, of which there were used 105,066 tons, cost $8.50 per ton. : Admiral Bradford has scattered. American coal.all over the world wherever suitable storage could be found. ‘He has placed 12,000 tons at Yokohama and 5,000 tons. at Pichilingue, Mexico, and he has sent large quanties to Guam and to the Philippines. He carried 9,000 tons by water from the Atlantic coast to Mare island, California, where it came into competition with English Cardiff coal. They have averaged the same in cost, viz. $9.29 a ton, but at present, owing to the scarcitv of American freight ves- sels the best Cardiff coal is considerably cheaper at Mare island. It is recommended that two large steam I0,000-ton colliers be built to keep depots supplied in times of peace and to accompany the fleets in time of war. Summarizing the work accomplished at various coal- ing stations during the year. the report takes up Cavite, and says that the bureau is about to open bids for a 45,000- ton coaling station there. Efforts have been made to obtain a site for a coaling staton at Cebu, but thus far without success, Coaling stations have been located at Port _Isabella,.Bassalin island and at Polloc, Mindanao. A complete station has been established at Yokohama, Japan, and. it is now fully stocked with coal. The same statement is true at Pichilinque, Mexico, where, through the courtesy of the Mexican government, our coal and colliers have been admitted to the station without port or customs. of any kind. In the West Indies a little work has been done at San Juan on the coaling scale, but Admiral Bradford expresses regret that little progress has been made in securing sites for other coal depots in the West Indies. It is said to be particularly. essential that some of the deep’ water ports of Cuba should be made available for this purpose, as the entire waters surrounding Cuba are “most important in a strategic sense and supplies of coal ‘should be near at hand. Estimates are submitted for im- ‘provement of the coaling stations at most of the Atlantic ports, including a complete modern plant at Norfolk. Admiral Bradford specifically says: “as the department is aware, efforts are being made to establish other naval coal depots at important localities, which is deemed unwise to discuss in a report of public character. Admiral Bradford says very little about his favorite project in a transpacific sub-marine telegraph cable, con- tenting himself with the statement that the bureau is now -<in posession of all data required so far as surveys are con- cerned, to lay this cable. In the same connection he renews .gers to navigation. CLEVELAND -- NOVEMBER 21, 1901 -- CHICAGO. his recommendation for a. careful examination of the Pacific ocean, west of the Hawaiian islands, to locate dan- ( He recomends that additional hydro- i gia offices be established at Manila and at Pensacola, a The report says that the subject of wireless telegraphy was followed carefully during the year, but it does not ap- pear advisable to adopt any particular system at present, or to aauire any more apparatus that necessary for pur- pose of instruction, It is clear that no system as yet has passed beyond the experimental stage. Though most of the principal naval powers have adopted some form of wireless telegraphy for their shins, it is believed from the reports received that none are satisfactory. ' It was clearly shown during the international yacht races that the diffi- culties of “interference” could not be overcome with the apparatus then used. ee ee THE HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE. The Hydrographic Office, U. S. N. Bureau of Equipment, is in a very, efficient condition under Commander C. C. Todd, U.S. N., and has largely increased its output. It is recommended that Manila, P. I., and Pensacola, Fla., be added to the 17 branch hydrographic offices now in exis- tence. The report of the Secretary of the Navy adds: “The Hydrographic Offce of this country is justly rated as the best in the world: It is yearly visited by hydro- graphers from many foreign countries. Its aids to mari- ners are of world-wide reput&tion. ‘The ‘time’ has come when. it is absolutely necessary to provide reasonable ac- commodations for hydrographic work, or progress will cease, and the Ingh reputation now established.can no longer be maintained. The increase of the Navy demands ex- pansion in all establishments pertaining thereto. For this reason the Bureau has submitted in its. estimates sufficient finds for the construction of a new and s:titable building to be devoted exclusively for the use of the Hydrographic Office. oe THE SUBSIDY BILL. The Washington correspondent of the Cleveland Plain Dealer says: ‘There are increasing indications that the ship subsidy bill, proposed by Senator Frye and boosted along by Senator Hanna, wil! meet vigorous opposition among the ranks of the republicans. It has been known for some time that troultle for the bill was brewing in ihe delegations from several states, among them Indiana, Wisconsin and~ Minnesota. /To this list has been* added Ohio, for representative Burton, who was rather inclined to be Jukewarm in regard to the shipping bill last year, now is outspokenly against it. Mr. Burton said to-day.: “T do not know that I shall take an active part. in op- position, but I do not favor the ship subsidy bill. The comparison of ihis measure so often made with the system of production will not bear. analysis. In the first place, a tariff brings money into ‘the treasury; this bill takes it out. By a tariff communities can be built up within a countrv. a diversity of occupations obtained and the various capabilities of the people developed. You can control the industrial situation within a country, but when you seek to manage competition on the oceans, you fail. “The situation there is controlled by different conditions and facts, notably among which is the impossibility of dealing with competition with another country or coun- tries. The argument made that it will give benefit to Ameri- fean producers cannct be sustained. Freight rates will not be lower and the increase in the quantity of the shipping will not materially affect the freight situation. "The bene- fit of the subsidy will go to the ship owners rather than to the producers.” Mr. Burton will call his committee together early in the session to begin work on a river and harbor bill. “T anticipate that a river and harbor bill will be passed he said. “It will be a task of great difficulty to frame one which will satisfy all parts of the country, but there is a pressing demand for legislation of this kind, in view-of the great increase in transportation, domestic and foreign, as well as ihe necessity for securing the lowest. possible freight rates.” ‘had ever been put upon the stocks. TUUATIIATIARNS $2.00 Per Year. toc. Single Copy BIG SHIPS AND ENGINES. Railway and I ocomotive Engineering very pertinently observes that the tendency now in all Jines where power is used for commercial purposes, is to concentrate the power in huge machines, This is particularly apparent in electric appliances and in steamboat machinery. ~ The building of immense ocean-going steamers has made great p' ogress in the last few years, and it is difficult to fortel! the limit. Within the month a British torpedo boat broke i two in a rough sea and carried over sixty men to a watery grave. It may be that this line of weakness may control the length of the world’s great liners. The idea of building up huge steamers is old and gave place toa practical experiment many years ago that was very costly to those who put their monev into the enter- prise. I. K. Bruel, a celebrated British engineer, rea- soned that a big steamer could move cargo more econom- ically than two ships of half the capacity, just as our rail-. road managers have found out the advantage of using latge-capacity freight cars. Mr. Brunel was a man of tre- mendous energy and push, and he persuaded capitalists to adyance the wherewithal to build the greatest vessel that The building of the vessel, which was subsequently known as the Great Eastern, was begun on.an island of.the river Thames in 1854 and finished in 1859. That famous ship was 680 feet long, 83 feet wide, 58 feet deep, 28 feet draught and 24,000 tons measurement. ‘The engines developed 10,000 horse- power. That was a most enterprising experiment at a ‘time when there were few steamers that exceeded 1,000 . tons measurement. ‘The vessel did not prove a commercial success, principally because she could not be berthed in ordinary harbors. The British companies which are ex- perimenting with big locomotives are encountering a sim- ilar difficulty because nearly all the turntables and freight sheds still in use were built to accommodate the locomo- tives and cars used fifty years ago. Although the Great Eastern was found to be too big for the requirements of her day the ocean-carrying business has developed so much in the last half century that ships of . even greater capacity are now in stccessful- use. ‘The latest wonderin marine architecture is the Kronprinz Wilhelm, which recently arrived in New York from Germany. She is a little smaller in displacement than the Great Eastern, being 21,300 tons, but she has engines and boilers: that develop 35,000 horse-power, and can push the huge vessel through the water at a. rate of 26.5 miles an hour. ‘The furnaces devour about 550 long tons of coal a. day, which represents the load carried by ten of our 50-ton cars. The power exerted by the engines exceeds that which can be done by 24 of our heaviest freight locomotives. ro or or A MODEL BOILER HOUSE. The interior of the boiler house at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, has been entirely remodeled. Twenty thousand dollars have been expended in making a complete heating system. ‘Two new water tube boilers of tue B. and W. type with a 250 H. P. capacity each and sixteen 9Q-inch automatic stokers of the American type, have been installed. A 130-inch fan direct-connected to the en- gine for giving a forced draught and one undergronud flue with a passage of 30 square feet extending half way across the boiler room into which lead two flues of 12 square feet each, have been newly constructed. ‘These conduct the smoke from the new boilers to the main chimney. “An air duct of 15 square feet conducts the air from the fan to the stokers, which carry one and one-half ounce pressure apiece. All the boilers have new lower half-fronts, which were designed and made in the University of Michigan foundrv. One object of the improvement is to save coal and do away with the smoke nuisance. ‘The casual obser- ver may see that the latter object has been partially ac- complished. Nearly seven thousand tons of coal were consumed last year, but notwithstanding the fact that the demand for steant has been greatly increased this year probably no more fuel will be necded than last year. ‘The plans for the reconstruction were drafted by H. C. Ander- son, instructor in engineering, and the installation has been superintended by Chief Engineer Thomas Hopwood. eee NrcarAGuA has given notice of the termination of the treaty of 1867, granting the United States authority. to build a canal across that country, and also the extradition treaty of 1870.