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ESTABLISHED 1878. “VOL. XXV, No. 8 LAKE 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 to improve the character of the service rendered to the public. PRESIDENT. Wo. LIVINGSTONE, Detroit. IST VICE-PRESIDENT. J. C. GitcHRIsT, Cleveland. SECRETARY. HARVEY L. Brown, Buffalo. TREASURER. GEORGE P. McKay, Cleveland. COUNSEL. HARVEY D. GouLpDER, Cleveland. EXECUTIVE AND FINANCE COMMITTEE. JAMES CoRRIGAN, Chairman, Cleveland. COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION. Gipson L. Douctas, Chairman, i Buffalo. , COMMITTEE ON AIDS TO NAVIGATION. GEORGE P. McKay, Chairman, Cleveland. THE NAVIES OF THE WORLD. Sir Charles W. Dilke writes of “The Naval Strength of Nations,” in the February Cosmopolitan, in an article on the navies of the world, intended to show the strong points of each and the lines of probable development. He believes that certain designs of Germany for interference in South America have not been without their effect in the recent naval development of the United States. but the growth of the latter in strength.and population would be sufficient, without actual warlike preparation, to put an end to the risk of a war which would be as unpopular in Germany as war with Great Britain would be popular. Increase of the fleets of Germany and the United States has also been rec- ommended by the consideration that they are countries of growing trade, that the German mercantile marine is ad- vancing with remarkable rapidity, and that the United States in future wars may have to protect the neutrality, of her commerce. Re Japan and Russia have been expanding their fleets in op- position to «ach other, but the tremendous resources and population of Russsia are so overwhelming that Japan must be worn down in the course of time. ‘I regard peace for the United States and for-Japan, for opposite reasons as assured,” this writer says, “and am convinced that Russia and Germany will not be called upon to use their navies until the time comes when they of themselves desire to do so against European foes.” \ He also believes that England’s naval strength will not be tested in practice for“a long time. “Until a coalition against us, which at the worst would probably be one of Germany, France and Russia—Italy and Japan waiting upon events and the United States being strictly neutral—should arise, which is probably a long wav off, we are unlikely to see a first-class naval war.” Almost all authorities, this article says, rate the British ships very low. ‘In power of attack the Americans, Ger- mans, Japanese, Russians, and French stand before the British. In power of defense, the French, the Americans, ‘the Russians, the Italians, the Japanese and the Germans stand before the British. But in coal-endurance the Brit- ish are easily the first.’ ’ The German ships are mostly of smaller type, and Ger- many*has a special reason for building smaller battleships which is to be found in the shallowness of the waters on her coast. German ships are easily more lightly armed than are the battleships of the other Powers, but they are good, and Germany in the creation of her fleet has pro- ceeded upon business lines and has obtained good value for her money. . “The Italian monsters were all out of date, but some new ones are now slowlv being completed, of which the first, which is likely to prove one of the finest ships in the world, has just been launched. The Italians now carry what is virtually our big gun, but in their newest ships they are reducing the number from four to two. The United States is building some magnificent ships of a 14,650 or ae é CLEVELAND -- FEBKUARY 20, 1902 -- CHICAGO. 15,00-ton class; the Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and two others. Of the American ships at sea, the Kearsarge and Kentucky are smaller, though with four very large guits and with a larger complement of men-allowed to the Alabama, Illinois, and Wisconsin of the same class. ‘The Maine, Ohio and Missouri are intermediate in size. “The United States has the’ Brooklyn and New York, small ships as modern cruisers go, but that nation is build- ing a large class of giant cruisers, the West Virginia, Nebraska, California, Maryland, Colorado, etc. ‘The Brooklyn in her trials made nearly twenty-two knots. The new ships are intended to be twentv-two-knot ships.” The Japanese have attained, it is believed, the same suc- cess. with their cruisers as with their battle-ships. Five Japanese armoured cruisers were launched in 1898 and 18¢9, built in all portions of: the world. For combina- tion of material, orderly arrangement and fighting cour- age the Japanese are unrivaled. We have yet, of course, to learn that their Admirals are equal to those of Ger- many, the United States, France or the United Kingdom. The Germans have not done much in the way of great cruisers, and are supposed to relv upon using-in war their remarkable passenger-ships, which British cruisers in any weather in anv sea would find it hard indeed to catch. In fast cruisers Great Britain is behind. The French as- sert that the speed of their neighbors will also prove a knot behind paper speed. As to Great Britain’s new ar- mored cruisers, their speed will be largely a matter of their boilers. ‘The Powerful and the Terible have, whatever the Admiralty may say, been failures; and it is hoped that England will succeed better with the water-tube boilers of the new cruisers. On the whole, commerce must still dread the fast merchant-ships to be employed against their sisters. Great Britain is very strong in destroyers, recog- nized as valuable general assistants to a fleet. The French fleet has ravidly developed its building of submarines and submersible vessels. But this article says: “In some degree we must recoenize the fact that in build- ing submdrine ships, which are cheap, the French are accepting the position of permanent inferiority at sea. They are a weapon of the weaker power. That the sub- marine will be a valuable engine of attack against our fleets on the high seas or at a distance from port, is im- probable. It is certain that it makes close blockade of ports impossible, and watching dangerous; and. it there- fore hampers us in our operations as-a sunerior naval power.” } Sir Charles Dilke says in conclusion that “It may be taken as the general view of the best-informed that the British. Germans and French are admirable as regards both officers.and men; that the American officers and the Japanese men leave nothing to be desired; and that the Russians and Italians are somewhat inferior: that the men of the American fleet vary a eood deal, but that the best are admirable; and that the officers of Japan are still to some extent an unknown quantity altnough in their war with China they did weil.” Oo So LAKE LEVELS. Thegaugerecordsof the United States Lake Survey show the following mean stages of water for January, above mean sea level: Lake Superior 601.76 feet; Lakes Huron and Michigan 579.42 feet; and Lake Erie 571.17 feet. These stages show Lake Superior to have been’0.46 foot lower than during the same month ‘last year, and 0.18 foot lower than during January 1895. Lakes Huron and Mich- igan were 0.24 foot lower than during the same month last year, and o.1o foot lower than during January 1895. Lake Erie was 0.27 foot lower than during same month last year, and 0.15 foot lower than during January 1895. ———$ rr THe search for convenient ways of transportation by which the products of the Sudan may reach the outer world has called attention to a remarkable phenomenon of vegetable life on some’of the head waters and tribu- taries of the Nile. “This consists of enormous growths of papyrus and other plants, completely covering the streams and forming carpets of vegetation two or three feet thick, through which flows the water. Navigation by small boats is, of course, entirely interrupted by this obstruction, which is in places supplemented by vines and clinging plants, which arch the streams from bank to bank. _ Heavy floods occasionally sweep away the accumulations of plants, but they are quickly restored.._Youth’s Companion. PUTAS $2.00 Per Year. 10c. Single ‘Copy THE SEASON’S TRAFFIC ON THE GREAT LAKES. (Treasury Department—Bureau of Statistics. ) The calendar year of 1901 affords the first complete annual statement of the coastwise commerce of the Great Lakes. Previous years omitted the winter operations on Lake Mich- igan or gave figures only for individual ports. Figures for rgol cover all the ports for the entire year wherever naviga- tion was conducted. ‘The season of open navigation by way of the St. Mary’s Falls Canals, extended from April 26 to December 11, or a period of two hundred and thirty days. During this season, which in the Canadian canal was six- teen days longer, 28,403,065 net tons of freight passed through both channels on its way to or from the upper and lower lakes.. During the season of 1900 a total of 25,643,073 tons was carried by way of both canals. There was conse- quently, a gain for 1901 of 2,759,992 tons, or 11 per cent. This does not include 10,100 cords of pulp wood and 9,000,- ooo feet of pine logs floated over the rapids and bound for lower lake ports. Registered tonnage for the season of IQOI was 24,626,976 tons, and that of 1900 was 22;315,834 tons. There passed through the canals in 1901 20,041 ves- sels, 14,372 of which were steamers, 4,482 sailing vessels, and 1,184 unregistered craft. With the exception of steam- ers, in which there was a slight decline compared with the preceding year, there was an increase of 589 vessels. A comparison of commodities shows that there was a gain in the movement of hard coal, flour, wheat, grain other than wheat, manufactured iron, salt, iron ore, lumber and general merchandise, and a loss in tonnage of building stone, copper, and soft coal. A recapitulation of lake traffic shows the enormous vol- ume of business done during the course of the year. The bulk of lake traffic is, however, confined to eight months of the open season. The figures for the entire year of 1901 show that there was received at the various lake ports 14,257,020 barrels of flour, 141,586,027 bushels of grain, and 9,205,764 net tons of coal; 20,792,699 gross tons of ore, copper and other minerals; 2,475,430,000 feet of lum- ber and logs, and 4,237,756 tons of unclassified freight. ‘Taken as a whole, the year just closed has been one of the most prosperous in the history of lake navigation. Rates of freight have been remarkably remunerative, and yet in some respects lower than those of the two preceding years. In. comparing this summary’s figures with other figures, it should be kept in mind that the former include only coastwise operations on the Great Lakes, whereas other figures, especially those made up for particular ‘ports, in- clude foreign lake traffic between American and Canadian ports. It is natural, therefore, that the figures prepared by local trade authorities should be somewhat higher than those covering only the domestic coastwise trade. —— eo or oe NOTICE OF HEARING. Whereas, the Secretary of War has good reasons to be- lieve that the bridge over Portage Lake, Mich., between Houghton and Hancock, Mich., is an unreasonable obstruc- tion to free navigation of Portage Lake waterway, on ac- count of the small width of draw openings. It is proposed to require the following changes to be made in said bridge by the opening of navigation in 1903; work to be done during the winter of 1902-3, to-wit: That the drawbridge should be rebuilt in accordance with plans presented by the Board of Supervisors of Houghton County, Mich., and approved by Secretary of War January 7, 1901, which plans provided for much greater width of draw openings and much greated facilities for navigation than now exist. In order to give you an opportunity to be heard as re- quired by the Act of Congress approved March 3, 1899, you are hereby notified that a hearing will be had before me at U. S. Engineer Office, third floor of National Bank Build- ing, corner Shelden and Isle Royal streets, in Houghton, Mich., at 10 o’clock a. m., on the 3d day of March, 1902, where and when you will be given an opportunity to be heard in the matter. As all the papers will be laid before the Secretary of War for his decision, it will perhaps best suit your purpose to submit in writing (in duplicate) what- ever you may wish to present. : By authority of the Secretary of War: D. D. «GAILLARD, : Captain of Engineers, U: S.A. U. S. Engineer Office, Duluth, Minn., Feb. 15, 1902.