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THE MARINE RECORD. A TRUSCOTT BOAT SIMPLE, SAFE, RELIABLE, SPEEDY. It may be possible to build better and safer boats, but it hasn’t been done yet. We send a completely illustrated catalogue and price list free, which tells you all about boats and WHY TRUSCOTT BOATS EXCEL. Truscott Boat Mfg. Co., ST. JOSEPH, MICH. lighting. FEBRUARY I3, Ig02, Pintsch Gas Lighted Buoys. Adopted by the English, German, French, Russian, Italian and United States Light-House Departments for channel and harbor Over 1,000 gas buoys and gas beacons in service. Burn Continuously from 80 to 365 days and nights without attention, and can be seen a’ distance of six miles... 2. . Controlled by . THE SAFETY CAR HEATING AND LIGHTING CO. 160 Broadway, New York City. VESSEL TAXATION. = See er Former State Senator H. R. Spencer, of. Duluth, Minn., father of the present Minnesota law governing the taxation of vessels on international waters, affecting .Dulu’h only, has prepared an elaborate defense of the act, for, the in- formation of people generally. It sets forth reasons why the proposed change in the system of taxing vessels ure should not be changed. Following aré his arguments 2.4 facts, full of information about Minnesota’s only, but famous port: ie Section 4141, United States Revised Statutes, is as fol- fows: “Eyery vessel except as is heréafter provided shall be registered, or enrolled, by the collector of ‘that, collection district which includes the port to which such vessel shat! belong at the time of her registry; which port. shall Té deemed to be that at or nearest to which the owner, if there be but one, or if there be more than one, the ships-husband or acting and managing owner of such vessel usually re- sides.” : In sea parlance a ‘ship’s husband is a managing agent. Thus it will be seen that a ship may be enrolled, and hail from any port where her owners appoint and locate-a man- aging agent. A ship can be taxed at no other pott than her home port. John C. Hayes vs. The Pacific Steamship Co., 53, U. S. 590: All that is necessary to avoid the laws of Minne- sota is for a ship owner to appoint an agent at some other port, to erase Duluth, and paint the name of some other port on the vessel’s stern. On June 1, 1895, there were enrolled at the United States custom house at Duluth, 56 boats, mostly small tugs, having a total tonnage of 5,c00 tons. On January 1, 1902, there were enrolled at.the same port 288 vessels, many being of the largest navigating the lakes, having a gross tonnage of 388,649 tons. During the year 1804, prior to the passage of the present law, the total amount of taxes collected from vessel property at Duluth amounted to $3,038. sere - During the year 1901 under the present system the tax amounted to $9,287.90, one-half of which goes to the state and one-half to St. Louis county, he te Under the laws of New York, Alabama, Delawdre and Pennsylvania no tax whatever is imposed. upon vessels registered in those states, engaged in ocean navigation... _ The state of Wisconsin has adopted our present law word for word. It is manifest that vessels will not hail from Duluth and be subject to the proposed method of taxation when they can without expense erase the word “Duluth” on their sterns and substitute the name of some other port where the rate of taxation ‘is less. superior, across the bay from Duluth; is only too anxious to give the vessels the same’ rate of taxation that now prevails in Min- nesota. Most, if not all, of the vessels hailing from Duluth are owned by stock companies, whose stock is owned by people residing in other states. This stock is assessed and taxed as personal property where the owner of it resides. By taxing ships as such there is thus created a double taxation. So that it canot be said that the vesel owfver escapes taxa- tion. © It has been and is the policy of the general government to encourage shipbuilding.» Instead: of \ taxing vessels, Congress is now debating’ the question of giving their own- ers a subsidy for building and operating ships. The waterways, the light-houses, the harbors, the regis- tration and enrollment of vessels are all maintained by the general government without a cent of contribution by ves- sels or their owners; all for the purpose of making cheap transportation possible. During the navigation season of 1901, the price paid railroads for transportating grain from Fargo to Duluth, 250 miles, was 1414 cents per hundred pounds, or 8 7-10 cents per bushel. At the same time the average rate for wheat per bushel 1,000 miles was 2 3-10 cents. ~ ‘During the navigation season of rgor the average freight vate of hard coal from Buffalo to Duluth was 38 cents per ton. The railroad rate on the same from Duluth to Fargo was $3 per ton. : It means that the farmer in Minnesota and Dakota paid the steamship owner only 2 3-10 cents for carrying a bushel: of wheat 1,000 miles, while they paid the railroads 8 7-10 cents for carrying the same bushel 250 miles. It means that the farmer in Minnesota and Dakota paid the vessel man 39 cents per ton for-carrying his coal 1,000 miles, while he paid the railroads $3 for carrying it 250 miles. Can the agricultural and business interests of Minne- sota afford to retard the development of lake transporta- tion ? On the contary every encouragement possible should be given'to promote the building and operating of vessels. [he more vessels built, the greater the competi- tion, and the cheaper will be the rates of transportation. The state of New Yori, recognizing this, has entirely ex- empted owners and their vessels from taxation when en- gaged in ocean commerce. The vessels enrolled at Duluth are engaged in navigation of international waters, and in international commerce. The encouragement given to shipowners by the tax law of 1895 has drawn Duluth a large amount of shipping claiming that city as its home port. The liberal policy of the general government in deepen- ing the channels and otherwise aiding navigation has placed Duluth at the head of the principal seaports of the world, in the amount of tonnage entering and departing from its harbor. Excepting only the port of New York, the port of Duluth occupies a leading position. During the year of 1901 there entered and cleared from the following ports vessels haying tonnage as follows: Tons. DUlipheSupenOr win ae eee en iealedac one 17,245,719 TPONG OME eee os tee hee AC HE ae Eee Shee 16,529,085 HTeliahin Didi onset cca: aie res ce My ane SUE Re Ase 2 14,198,817 GICa DOH een RRO ee ck cea nae go 14,186,100 Dante Cie ipetenee oie eee tte ten sort 13,573,472 ivenpooln yeeros ee hoa tae ue ee aie es 11,818,000 WiRSEMES erieie acer Succnes Eine nr amlnn sce as, 9,629,114 The effect of this large volume of tonnage coming to, and going from Duluth means cheap rates for Western products. By the terms of the law of 1895 it is restricted to “ves- sels navigating international waters.” ‘This confines : the law to lake-vessels, and Duluth is the only part of the state where lake vessels touch. All other species of water craft owned within the state are not affected by the law of 1805. The state and St. Louis county have an income of nearly ten thousand dollars per year that they would not have if this law were repealed. By continued solicitation it is thought that the present amount of tonnage hailing from Duluth can be doubled within the next five years if the present taxation is: mani- fested. In his report for.1895, the United States Commissioner of Navigation of the Treasury Department, speaks of Minnesota vessel taxation as follows: “Action by the legislature of Maine, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and agitation in the legislatures of Cali- fornia and Massachusetts during the current fiscal year, warrent the hope that seaboard and lake states are awaken- ing to’the economic mistake and injustice of htavy taxation of shipping as property.” - . ' out is a mistake for the states, in their relation to the Union, to impose such taxes, for they place American ves- sels at disadvantages in competition with vessels of our sagacious and untiring foreign rivals. It is a mistake for the states in their relations to one another, for such taxes defeat their own ostensible ends by driving shipping from an exacting home port to the port of another state more far sighted and liberal in its tax policy. These taxes are unfair, for, from the nature of the vessel, it can enjoy only to a slight extent the benefits of those public undertakings to which, in the main, the proceeds of the state and local taxes are devoted.. In the last annual report of the bureau a comparative table of taxes paid by Americanyand foreign shipping as property was published, which is hoped not to have been without effect in promoting the legislation of the year, and, as the legislatures of some states were not in session during 1895, it is reprinted in appendix K of this report. “The most liberal law of the year was enacted by the legislature of Minnesota, providing for an annual tax of 3 cents per net ton on all vessels of the state navigating 1n- ternational waters, in leiu of all other state and local taxes. The rate of taxation brings Minnesota abreast of New York, Alabama, Delawate and Pennsylvania, which ex- empts American vessels'in foreign trade from all state and local taxes, abreast of Massachusetts and Connecticut, which tax only incomes of American vessels engaged in foreign trade, and in advance of Great Britain and Germany, which tax only income of shipping, but at a rate which produces a tax compared with tonnage or valuation higher than that imposed by the new Minnesota law. Under the former law of the state, shipping at Duluth last year, 2,735 gross tons, paid $3,763 in state and local taxes, or fully $1.50 per net ton. Large transfers of vessel property to Duluth are now under way.” To repeat, it seems folly to drive from this state this in- dustry, which, if fostered will for all time bring a constant and increasing revenue to the state. —_ or OO LIQUID FUEL FOR STEAMERS. A large party of gentlemen interested in steamshipping and engineering accepted the invitation of Sir. Marcus Samuel, head of the Shell Transport and Trading Co., to witness on board the S. S. Clam, in the run from Graves- end to Port Victoria, a demonstration of the efficiency of liquid fuel. The clam has been for over two years burning oil as fuel, and “has performed the longest mileage on that system.’ Rock-oil, so used, is not an innovation, but until recently it was an axiom that it did not pay west of Suez. But the owners of the Clam, who hold the con- cession of the oil lands in Borneo, believe that the rich finds of oil in Texas, in which also they are largely in- terested, render liquid fuel practicable for steamers in west- ern seas. Its recommendations are efficiency, two tons of oil being equal, it is asserted, to three tons of coal; econo- my of space, the oil being carried in tanks, which may take the place of water ballast, and in any form occupy less room than coal bunkers; and saving of labor, three stok- ers taking the place of fifteen hands on board the Clam. Practically there is no stoking; the oil flows by gravity di- rectly into the furnace. ‘In the combustion of oil the first essential is to throw the liquid into a fine spray, so that every minute drop of oil vapor is ignited. ‘This is effected by a small jet of steam, the steam acting with the oil as a Bunson burner does with gas. The steam and oil mingle at the nozzle of the de- livery pipe at the mouth of the furnace, and a large in- tensely hot flame is produced, a “baffler’ of fire brick directing it on the boiler. Rock-oil yeilds four substances —benzine, petroleum, solar oil and a fluid residuum—the latter is the material used for liquid fuel. ‘It has the ad- vantage of being neither volatile, like benzine, nor having an easily inflammable vapor like petroleum or solar oil. Its flash-point is over 200 and this obviates the risk of explosion. hes ay, Sir Marcus Samuel observed that the introduction of liquid fuel had been prevented by questions of continuity and regularity of supply, and the price compared with coal. These points were now settled. Oil fuel was largely used in the east, where their company had forty-one ocean’ - supply installations and 350 up-country stations. ‘The North German Lloyd, the East Asiatic Co., of Copenhagen, and the Hamburg and American Line had adopted it. They were now able to guarantee supply with perfect confidence. Capt. McKirdy: of the White Star Line, believed. there - was a great future for the liquid fuel. Sir J. Fortescue- Flannery, speaking as an engineer, expressed full confi- dence in the new system, as did Capt Coudon, the company’ } marine superintendent, speaking from his experience ou board the Clam and the Murex.—Steamship, London.