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eae DETROIT. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record: ipt. John F. Ivers has resigned from command of the David miral. -*here has been some talk of giving the name William McKinley to the new freighter now building for the Adams ‘Transportation Co., of Detroit, at the Craig ship- yards at Toledo. _ Abram Smith & Son, of Algonac, have under way a large amount of repairs to wooden vessels. The list of vessels includes the steamers Robert Mills, Italia, Mono- hansett, St. Paul and Ida E., and the schooners Lizzie A. Law, W. K. Moore, Sophia Minch and Interlaken. he national officers’ of ‘the Marine Engineers’ Union elected at Washington on Tuesday were: President, Geo. Uhler, Philadelphia; vice: president, Evans Jenkins, Cleve- land; secretary, Geo. A. Grubb, Chicago; treasurer, Nels, Jones, Detroit. Jones is secretary of lodge No. 3, and one of the most active workers of the union in this city. M. Whitney, to take ‘charge of. the steamer Ad- The following - meteorological. observations are fur- of the United States Weather Bureau, Prevailing week, 26: degrees; highest temperature, 38 degrees on the mote satisfactory adjustment of present lights, particu- Mainanit, ‘defendant appeals—decree reversed and bill dis- missed. ‘I. J. O’Brien for complainant and appellee. (C. E. Kremer, J. H. Campbell & M. L. Howell of coun- sel). F. C. Harvey for defendant and appellant. (J. J. Speed for counsel.) ; ay : SA well. known: vesselman stated Saturday in reference io, the item. in a Detroit, morning paper that the Great Lakes Wrecking and ‘Towing Co. was going to control the wrecking business of the lakes, that such a thing would be mpossible. Vessel owners outside of the trust, he main- ained, would take an outside wrecker any time in prefer- ee te inst outfit. ‘The trust has stated prices which cha et 3. dividual wreckers can afford to do the work cheaper and better protect the interests of the boat owners. In ordi- nary wrecking jobs a lighter which will carry 1,000 tons i ore adequate for the work than the proposed steel re er, which the trust proposes to construct to station ‘at Detroit. Robert P. Thompson, of Port Huron, is the _ principal in the new enterprise. 6 i for wrecking jobs and will not drop, while in-: al THE MARINE RECORD. TA, JANUARY 23, 1902, te DULUTH-SUPERIOR. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record: The tax commission of Duluth and of. the entire state of Minnesota has started to work to-increase the revenue by the enforcement of certain laws and by creation of others. One of the latter is to tax grain in the elevators at Duluth. This is now being most, vigorously combatted by the shippers of that territory, who: say that grain ‘ins the elevators there is grain in transit, arid therefore can- not be taxed. ‘Those who. are on the inside of this affair say that they might as well tax the grain in the field, in ihe elevator at Duluth, again at: Buffalo and then’ at New ork. Capt. W. H..Singer,.of Duluth, is now at the head of the Lake Michigan & Lake Superior Transportation Co. There are four steamers in the line, the Peerless, City of Traverse. Osceola .and. Jay: Gould. The Peerless and City of Traverse both carry passengers as well as freight, but the Osceola and Jay Gould carry~freight only. ~The White Line Transportation Co., of which Capt: Singer. is the head, will continue its close traffic agreement with the Lake Michigan and Lake Superior line. The great advan- tage of this to shippers from Chicago, Milwaukee and other Lake Michigan ports is, that they may bill. direct to any point on either the south or north shore., .Points: at which the regular Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. boats do not touch are reached by the White Line boats, .close connections being .made for the transfer of freight. for such purpose. The steamer G. J: Grammar, building at**West Superior for the Séither ‘Transit. Co., was launched last Saturday. The new boat is 366 feet over all, :346 feet keel, 48’ feet beam and 28 feet deep. She will have triple expansion en- gines, with cylinders: 20, 33/4 and 55 inches, with 4o-inch stroke. Steam willbe furnished by two ‘Scotch ‘boilers, 12 feet 10 inches in diameter and 13°feét long. Mr. Frank Seither, the principal owner, is a tiew mian: in the lake trade. ‘Two -years ago he bought the steamer V. H. Ketchum from: W. H. Becker and others,of Cleveland, and before’ that he had no: boat interests.’ ‘Capt.’ R.°W. England, of Detroit, who is part owner of the Ketchum, and who has sailed her for the past two years, is'at West Superior superintending the building-of the Grammer for her owners. Capt. England will take command of the new ship, when she comes out next spring. According to the quarterly report of the customs office just completed there were 288 vessels enrolled at Duluth, December. 31, 1901, with an aggregate gross tonnage of 388,649. At the close of the previous quarter, September 30, there were 292 vessels with a total tonnage of 385,127, which shows a decrease of four boats, but an increase in tonnage.. This increase in vessel tonnage has been a feature of the reports for a number of years, and is dug to the constantly increasing size of boats. A. striking illustration. of that fact is found in the reports of the freight carried. In 1900 there were 6,386 arrivals and clearances carrying 10,578,369 tons of freight, an average for each boat of..1,656 tons. In 1901 there were 6,374 ar- rivals and clearances carrying a total tonnage of 11,524,225 tons, an average cargo.of 1,808 tons. Ten years ago an average cargo was 1,125.tons, and in 1885 it was 761. The proposed vessel taxation law will deprive the state of Minnesota of an ‘income from vessel taxation ‘of $5,000 a year, and St. Louis county an equal amount, and noth- ing will be given in‘return. In addition to losing the taxes Duluth will lose its present prestige as a port of-hail, and the state will lose the! prestige and honor of having a port that has’ more boat tonnage enrolled at its custom house than any other onthe lakes. A‘° number- of boat agents were seen yesterday, and they said there was not a shadow of a doubt that the companies would immediately transfer their boats from Duluth if the proposed: boat tax- ation clause is allowed to stand in the bill. There is’ at present a vessel company owning ten of the biggest boats on the lakes, which is waiting to see what the legislature is going to do: ‘The company will not enroll ‘its boats at Duluth if the boats are to be taxed as personal property at their: full valuation, but will register their craft else- where. ‘The present vessel taxation law which has done much to give distinction:and credit to Duluth as a port, something in keeping with its marvelous growth of lake commerce, was dtawti up: by former State Senator H. R. Spencer, in 1895. The bill was introduced’ in’ the House by Representative Neil McInnis, who-worked loyally to secure its passage. Mr. Spencer, being an admiralty law- yer, felt an interest in matters relating to lake commerce. He has given much personal attention to trying to in- duce vessel lines to register their boats. here under the law and with much success. At the. time the bill drawn by Senator Spencer not a boat bigger than a tug was enrolled at Duluth. In view of the fact that the present law, which relates only to boats and other craft:on international waters, applies only to Duluth, the people of Duluth cannot see what is'to be gained by driving away several -hun- dred boats that now claim Duluth as their home port. Soe The Masters’ and. Pilots’ Association wants Congress to pass a law leaving to'a jury of six masters and six engineers, to. determine, in all cases, whether the penalty of forfeiture or revocation’ of license should. be imposed. The supervising. inspectors are strongly opposed to. any such change. CHICAGO. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record: Several vessels deals of. large proportions are under way and will be/¢onsummiated the coming week. It is said that several million» dollars of! outside capital is now on the market for. modern lake tomiage and deals depend wholly on the questién ‘of. price: W. M. Lowrie, general passenger agent of the Northern Steamship =Co., announced that the steamers “North West” and “North Land” will be placed in setvice? be; tween Chicago and. Buffalo next season. Nearly $400,000 will be spent. in improvements and Mr. Lowrie said the “service would be madé permanent. The ports touched along the route will be Milwaukee, Harbor Springs, Mack inac, Detroit, and- Cleveland. oe sy: The Barry Brothers’ Transportation Co. has: issuedya: notice that the Kenosha, Waukegan and Chicago run “<wotild= be abandoned: The ‘steamer City of Grand= Rapids which has covered that run.the_past season will probably run to Milwaukee or will otherwise be taken to Erie on the proposed. new line. The~determination of the com: pany to give up the Kenosha,.rauite.is said to, have, been forced: by the lack of: patrorage. ’ hig A Philadelphia dispatch Says: The Wilson Line steam- ship Othello is to load’ a cargo’ of 5,000 tons of agricul- tural implements for Russia.:She-*will followed soon by atiother steamship—the Alecto—which is to take vout: a similar cargo of the ‘same ‘size. ‘hese implements con- sist’ mainly of McCormack reapers and binders, built-in Chicago. The sale of American “agricultural machines and: implements during roo1 was the largest'on recordin Russia. ; f Court, of Appeals of New York has reversed. the District Court.in the litigation between the steamers Livingstone and Grand Traverse, which were in collision on Lake Erié some’ five years ago as the result: Of which thé ‘Grand Traverse was lost. ‘The: District Court divided the loss of $50,000 between the two steamers, holding them equally, at fault... he Court of Appeals now. holds the Livingstone wholly to blame for the disaster, and the insuraricé com# patties having collision liability insurance on. that: ship must pay over the amount. : Sood Marine men hope that the’ recomméndation to ‘Con: gress from the Secretary of the: Treasury for an appropri- ation of $75,000 for the construction of a light tower an fog signal to replace the gas lighted beacon on Racine Reef will result in the adequate marking of this danger: ous shoal. ‘The reef lies directly in the course of al] vessels trading along the west shore of Lake: Michigan and in the past many have come to grief upon its rocks. ‘The attention of Congress. is directed to this: matter by the Light-House Board, which states that the present beacon fails to mark properly the dangerous obstruction. ih From reports received in Chicago it is learned that all of the deck load’on the stranded steamer Pere Marquette No. 3, has been successfully removed, and that fully three- fourths of the deck load was in good condition. ‘The bar- ley cargo in the hold, however, is giving ‘the company some trouble. It has been found that is was badly soaked with water, and as a result it is swelling and threatening serious tesults to the structure of the boat. coming wet it froze solid, and in that condition it is found very difficult to get it out and dump it overboard. The No. 3 is said to be lying in the same position as during the past few days, with ‘a prospect of floating when her cargo is all removed. . . EL SCs -Grain in élevators is in transit, and is now subject.to local ‘taxation, according to the decision of Judge Small in’ the famous case of Bartlett, Frazier & Co. against Theodore: Green, township collector, and W. W. Gifford, county collector, The decision was based upon the Supreme ‘Court’s opinion Last spring: the: assessor at Joliet’ levied a tax. on $77,810 worth of grain in the Midland elevator. ‘Ihe assessment was resisted and an application made for an injunction. While the matter was pending Bartlett, Frazier & Co., the owners. of ‘the grain, were sumimotied before the board of equalization to show why the assessment should not be'made. The de- cision just announced upholds the injunction. and indorses the‘ contention of the plaintiffs that grain in elevators is a taxable. An appeal will be taken to: the. Supreme Sourt. posse Thomas: Brown; ‘eighty-five. years old, for many years identified with: lake'traffic as owner and: captain of vessels) died of old age on Tuesday morning,. at. his residence} No..75 South: Morgan street. Capt. Brown was: born. in Scotland, and came to: the States in 1840, settling in: Chi cago.. He was-one of the California “’4gers,” but re- mained there only a year, tion: business: on his-return. He owned the boat Mears, and later; as captain, sailed the lake-going vessels Bag and Warrington. He: was the partner also of. John a Redmond. Prindiville in the lumber business. For thir teen yats he was harbormaster. Capt. Brown. was. a.life member of St. Bernard Commandery and of Cleveland. lodge, No. 211, A. F. and A. M. His funeral on Thurs- day from. the’ house to Rosehill, will. be- under their, aus- pices: teh News has just been received here that the United States iat After: be-- He engaged in lake transporta> Coens