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ESTABLISHED 1878. VOL. XXV, No. 17. CLEVELAND -- APRIL 24, 1902 -- CHICAGO. = A g i $2.00 Per Year. loc. Single Copy LAKE CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION. Yo 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. Wa. LIVINGSTONE, Detroit. : IST VICE-PRESIDENT. J. C. GILcuRIST, Cleveland. SECRETARY. HARVEY L. Brown, Buffalo. TREASURER. GEORGE P. McKay, Cleveland. COUNSEL. HARVEY D. GOULDER, Cleveland. EXECUTIVE AND FINANCE COMMITTEE. JAMEs CorRIGAN, Chairman, Cleveland. COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATICN. Gigson L. DouGLaAs, Chairman, Buffalo. AIDS TO NAVIGATION. Cleveland. COMMITTEE ON GrorcE P. McKay, Chairman, THE MERGER STEAMSHIP LINES. Charles H. Cramp, the Philadelphia shipbuilder says he sees in the Morgan steamship trust a menace to the in- terests of American shipbuilders. He said the motive of Mr. Morgan and his associates in the enterprise was doubtless patriotic. “But,” he continued, “it is nevertheless regretable that the vessels of the combination must, in the main, fly the flag cf foreign nations, and that in case of war between the United States and the power whose flag they fly, ves- sels owned so largely by American citizens can be taken posséssion of by the enemy and utilized against the coun- try of which their owners are citizens. “Nor does the seriousness of the situation end there. Most of the vessels belonging to the lines so consolidated are not of the highest class. “Being compelled to compete with the great German lines and their magnificent steamers, the promoters of the merger are left with but two alternatives—either to swal- low the German lines or be swallowed by them, or to build faster and more magnificent vessels than theirs. “What, then, will be the natural result of this merger? American capital, seeking to place its investment on a par with those from abroad, will proceed to equip its lines with splendid express steamers of great cost and magnifi- cence, and will build most if not all of them abroad. They will be built principally in English shipyards, and these shipyards will be developed by American capital. “Tf Congress will pass a law to make up in some degree the difference in the cost of operating American ships and those under a foreign flag, as contemplated in the subsidy bill, the new ships of the merger lines will be built in this country and not abroad. Otherwise American cap- ital will develop American shipyards and the dream of an American merchant marine is over. “After all, what the American people are interested in mostly, unless I mistake their feelings, is the growth of the American shipyards, the employment of American labor and the utilization of American materials, resulting in the construction of American ships to fly the American flag.” Mr. Griscom’s attention was called to the statement of Charles H. Cramp, the Philadelphia shipbuilder. Mr. Cramp is reported to have declared that the consolidation of English, German and American steamship companies on the lines planned by Mr. Morgan would work harm to American shipbuilding. Mr. Griscom said: “T think Mr. Cramp’s arguments have been very thor- oughly answered these last few days, in fact, I have per- haps unwittingly answered many of them.” “But, Mr. Cramp seems to think that the situation, so far as the American shipbuilder is concerned, is really dangerous?” it was suggested. _ “Then let the American shipbuilder wake up and do something,” said Mr. Griscom. “There’s plenty for him to do.” Mr. Griscom characterized as “imaginary,” the reports coupling his name with the presidency of the Morgan steamship combination. |S Oe SEARCHING FOR THE MAGNETIC POLE.’ The north magnetic, not the north geographical, pole is the objective point of Capt. Amundsen, the Norwegian Arctic explorer. He proposes to fit out a ship and sail north this spring for the purpose of re-locating the north magnetic pole and verifying and completing the observa- tions made by Sir John Ross in 1831. The latter deter- mined this important point to be in latitude 70 degrees, 5 minutes and 17 seconds, and in longitude 96 degrees, 46 minutes and 45 seconds. ‘Thus, according to this, the magnetc pole is on the North American continent, a few miles above the Arctic circle. Still more definitely it is on the shores of a peninsula known as Booth Island, with the Gulf of Boothia on the east and McClintock channel on the west. Clustered east, west and north is a group of Arctic Islands. This is the location given by Sir John Ross, but, as both the north and south magnetic poles change their geographical position, and as there is reason to believe that the work of determination was not entirely complete, it will be seen that Capt. Amundsen’s proposed expedition is of more than ordinary importance, and may be of great scientific and practical value. Even those who cannot sympathize with the aims of the seekers of the north and south poles, and who question the utility of such ventures, must surely view this expedition with intérest and ap- proval. Capt. Amundsen, who proposes to undertake it, was a member of the Gerlach expedition to the Antarctic in 1897, and is, therefore, peculiarly well fitted for the task he has imposed on himself. He intends to devote four years, if necessary, to it, and he has already purchased and is fitting out a vessel designed specially for Arctic seas. Capt. Amundsen’s expedition will start from West Green- land. A TONNAGE OF LAKE VESSELS. The following shows the number and tonnage of vessels of all kinds owned in the different customs districts on the lake on June 30, 190T: Gross Ports. Customs Districts. No. Tonnage Buffalo. .... ARE en, Buffalo- Creek 322.5.) 303. ~=145,690 Cleveland). ising 8 Cuyahoga. unas. 330 440,313 Port eiurone: ces: sr AWRON: poriacossd ate oe 208 146,753 Dettoityi Be eee: Detroit ar 218 128,643 Milwaukee. sos cnsnins Milwaukee ..... .... 205 83,362 Chicagove. css HChiCago cir ence 222 65,482 Platts pune iecccse isa Champlain* AO 47,479 Marquette. .........6 Supetion 230. 3.45 146 32,603 Sanduskycoecns ses Sandtiskyoen ene ae 104 87,011 Grand “Haven isc. Ss Vlichi@an “208 cai 240 37,879 Briere tcc eae GIG ate eto ans 57 42,290 Ogdensburg eos. Oswegatchie ........ 47 24,043 OSwero... se na OSWEsO see sen. we 38 7,184 Toledo: Soe eros Mijathie. soe. 2 ee eee 64 19,069 Suspension Bridge... Niagara ............ 22 17,004 Burlington os. vee © Wermont <1.) stein 26 4,195 Rochester.) ac2. es Genesee! eit arenaee II 613 Cape Vincent........ Cape Vincent .....°. 73 4,122 Daluthe eae eee Datbhe egies es 287 . 371,776 Ditinkitkes ee coess ie Dinkinkee: te. veka 5 93 Motalsis asset 23 3,253 1,700,204 *Largely canal boats. ———————— I ORGANIZING ATLANTIC TRAFFIC. The J. P. Morgan ccnsolidation of several leading trans-atlantic steamship lines, reports of which were stren- uously denied some time ago, is now acknowledged to be a fact. Six of the lines are admitted to be in the com- bination, and it is understood that a “working agree- ment” will be reached with the other trans-atlantic com- panies, so that the whole of the lines, American, English, German and French, will be practically operated as one, so far as their attitude toward the traveling and shipping public is concerned. —_! IMPROVED COAL HANDLING FACILITIES AT MANITOWOC AND SHEBOYGAN. In leasing the Wisconsin. Central docks at Manitowoc, which the C. Reiss Coal Co,, of Sheboygan, will operate after May 1, a new field is practically opened up for- the company, which expects to be able to handle a largély in- creased tonnage as their connections at. St. Paul and Minne- apolis have splendid facilities for taking care.of it.’ The Reiss company contemplate-large improvements in all the northwestern docks, principally. at Sheboygan, however. Lumber and materials are being shipped daily for an im- mense new soft coal shed to be erected at. Manitowoc, which is to occupy a space of 350x600 feet: Mcoensted & Co., of Milwaukee, have been awarded the contract “for 1,500 concréte foundations, J. M. Peppard & Co., of Minne- apolis, will build the new trestle and hoppers. ‘There will be two hoppers, each, 600 feet long. ‘The moveable bridge spanning these hoppers will be 350 feet long and: will be built by the American Bridge & Iron Co. At each end of the bridge will be a 100 horse power motor.; The entire © plant is to be operated by electricity. When completed this will one of the largest coal docks on the Great Lakes. The compartiy’s business at Sheboygan and -at Manitowoc will be nearly doubled that of heretofore, and this means an immense’ expenditure. The company expects to have all the improvements completed by July 1. as od ANOTHER NEW THEORY ON GOAL FORMATION. Mr. J. R. Heckman, Conner, Pa., writes as follows to the Johnstown Tribune, which is worthy the consideration of mining engineers: The popular theory with geologists in the past has been that the vegetation from which. coal was formed grew upon inland seas or vast savannahs. So. many things seem to stand in the way of a clear insight into the matter from this point of view that ‘I incline to the belief that the coal-forming era probably extended over the entire surface of the earth—while it was somewhat larger less dense, the water quite warm—long before the cooling and. shrinkage process had. begun to form mountains and valleys, to divide the land from the water, and make the earth look old and wrinkled.. At about that period is when active erosion began its destructive work, which seems to have been accelerated by a change of theearth’s polarity. This theory appears. tenable, and preferable to the “‘ice cap” of glacial epoch. , : Fag The principal reasons that led me to assume that coal probably was deposited over the entire surface of the earth are these: D3 2 Ryne » First—There is a striking similarity existing among -the coals all over the world; often there is more marked differ- ence close by than in’ widely separated coal fields. : Second—In_ places, by local metamorphism, the sand- stones-are changed to quartziles, the shale to slate, and the bituminous coal to.anthracite. =» © | 1 Third—In some coal fields the same group..of coal seams run through the various changes produced: by metamor- phism and exhibit bituminous, coking and. non-coking, semi-anthracite and anthracite; the graduation from bitum- inous to semi-anthracite and anthracite’ must be due‘ to position with relation to dynamic influences. ' © / "i" | Fourth—The component strata of the coal measures vaty in character and relative thickness from one ‘part of'a coal field to another. | & Still more variable are‘the coal seams. ‘The difference in quality between two benches ‘of a seam often are greater’ than that between two separate seams. So that identifi- cation of the several seams of any group exposed in’ differ ent portions of a region is very difficult, and, indeed, oftén impossible. SE ae I submit. this proposition: : nen If we can believe that coal probably was deposited ‘over the entire surface of the earth, deduct the known ‘amount of coal yet remaining, and we will indicate how active and destructive erosion has been. My object is to stimulate the latent energy of progressive thought, hoping thereby to throw moré light upon and penetrable, probably by reason of ‘being .overshadowed by simplify some things that ‘have appeared ‘obscure and im- our ignorance. : ; A movement is on foot ‘to combine the principal towing companies of New York ‘harbor into an association, with the idea of controlling the towing business and securing a uniform schedule of rates. : ;