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DEVOTED TO NAVIGATION, COMMERCE, ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE. ESTABLISHED 1878. PusiisHED Every THURSDAY BY HE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO. Incorporated. Pee RO. css bcp Koc cce vse ooine so 6isje+ oep0 Manager Capt. Joun WA INGOM GS os 605 otses cde sadese noes. sduGitor CLEVELAND, CHICAGO. Vestern Reserve Building. Royal Insurance Building. ee a eee a SUBSCRIPTION. One copy, one year, postage paid........-+..++eeeees $2.00 One copy, one year, to foreign countries...........- . $3.00 Invariably in advance. ADVERTISING. Rates given on application. pe eo sere AEN All communications shoul. ae addressed to the Cleveland : office, THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING Co. Western Reserve Building, Cleveland, O. Entered at Cleveland Postofiice as second-class r..ail matter. No attention is paid to anonymous communications, but the wishes of contributors as to the use of their names will be scrupulously regarded. CLEVELAND, O., JUNE 12, 1902. Tre Record is indebted. to the Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Co. for the season courtesies extended to us this year as usual. , ——— re Tum May issue of the Journal of the American So- ciety of Naval Encineers, published quarterly in Washing- ton, D. C., is replete with valuable technical articles writ- ten by the most eminent authorities on the several special- ties of which they treat. an eoeaee Tue naval appropriation bill was passed by the Senate on Tuesday. On motion of Mr. Spooner (Wis.) the Sen- ate restored the words “the Great Lakes” in the amendment providing for the appointment of a commission to select a site for a naval training station. oe on Cortistons seem to be abundantly in evidence about this time. It is possible that some local inspectors are not fairly examining licensed officers regarding their knowledge of the “Rules of the Road” and especially the lake clauses known as the “White” law. r ———$—$— or AN ARTIFICIAL gateway must be opened across Central America. ‘There is no use waiting any longer for earth- quake or volcanic force. Panama or Nicaragua—which? SENATOR M. A. Hanna presented incontrovertible facts before the Senate this week in favor of the Central Amer- ican divide at Panama. ‘he Nicaragua route was less ably advocated. ‘Anotuer of the big supply bills of the government was disposed of by the Senate on Tuesday, the naval bill, carry- ing more than $78,000,000, having been passed. It in- cludes provisions for two first-class battleships, two first- class armored cruisers, and two gunboats, but strikes out the House provision that one of each shall be built at government yards. of ————— oo -Ratroap cars no longer require two streaks of rust placed on terra firma to change location with the aid of a steam locomotive. Lake shinyards are now taking the lead of the world in building railroad car-ferries and ice- preakers. ‘T'wo of the finest ever, are now under contract for construction at the yards of the American Ship Build- ing Co. ‘These contracts also mean engines, boilers and a general complete equipment at the plants where the hulls ate constructed, and by the same contractors, no sub-letting of portions of any of this million dollar job. dines am nate oes sat THE MARINE RECORD. A DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, A new department, to be called the Department of Com- merce, is now by the action of Congress assured legislation. In addition to the interests to be committed to its charge in the field marked out, the Department of Commerce will relieve the Treasury Department of quite a number of duties that are now burdensome, though earlier in the his- tory of the country, before our commerce had grown to stich proportions, it was easy enough for the ‘Treasury Department to handle. It is proposed to concentrate within this department all the affairs relating to the commerce and industry of the nation. Other governments have a similar department. Our commerce and industry are very much larger than that of many other countries, and yet Congress has neglected to constitute such a department. ‘The members of Con- gress have always been loth to increase the number of cab- inet officers. During the past fifty years there have been only two new cabinet positions created. One was the Secretary of the Interior and the other the Department of Agriculture. The Treasury Department is already stuffed with too many bureaus, and a new Department of Industry and Commerce would relieve the Treasury from what might be termed a deal of outside work. It is beyond a doubt that the proposed department is needed, and it should be created. It would prove of material benefit to the United States, which is so rapidly extending its trade re- lations throughout the world. The first thing, of course, is to put the new department into good hands, and there is no doubt about the President having plenty of material to choose from. And if the names already mentioned for the new cabinet officers have received consideration by the President, it will not make much difference which of the number he may choose, for all are good. y ————————_—$—$—— rr a POWER OF LOCAL INSPECTORS. A DAILY newspaper man says: “The inspectors (local in spectors of steamboats) have the power to issue and re- voke licenses.” Let it be understood that they have noth- ing of the sort. A local competitive, voluntary examination is held, and, if the candidate answers questions suitably, etc., the local inspectors are in duty bound compelled to issue licenses accordingly: On the other hand, before tak- ing any steps toward suspending or cancelling a license, charges must be filed against the holder thereof and such charges must bear a distinct relation to the question in point, viz., has the holder of a license vitiated his rights to retain the license to work in the line of his ordinary occu- pation. Providing the local inspectors consider, guess or determine that gross negligence, unskillfulness or intoxica- tion rendered the licensee temporarily incompetent or blame- worthy, they rightly, or wrongly, deal with the persons’ license, although they may have issued the same and youched for the man’s competency but shortly before. Should any dispute arise at this point, the evidence, find- ings, etc., with right of appeal, is relegated to the discre- tion of the supervising inspector of the district for final action to be taken thereon, with no other recourse for the plaintiff or deferidant, or whatever he has become by this time. It is needless to state that.the supervisor seldom disagrees with the action taken by his locals and his endorsement but voices their views, thus, the court of final appeal resolves itself into the preliminary and original find- ings as set forth by the local inspectors of hulls and of boilers, and to this extent, perhaps, may it be said, though in a qualifying sense, that the local inspectors have the power to issue and revoke licenses. Lis or or or CHARGE OF CONSPIRACY, Some licensed officers refused to testify this week before the local inspectors of steamboats at Duluth in the case wherein they are charged by the Great Lakes Towing Co, with being parties to a conspiracy to hinder naviga-' tion on the Great Lakes. The reason assigned for their action was that other charges were pending before the inspectors and that by answering the questions they might incriminate themselves. ‘The bare fact of a man holding a license does not compel him to be at the beck and call of duly paid vessel equipment inspectors, either at Duluth or elsewhere. ‘Io save the steamboat inspection branch of the ‘I'reasury Department from any outlay of money for traveling expenses, witness fees, etc., depositions are or- JUNE 12, 1902 dered taken at a distance. Licensed men not employed would do well to ignore requests for information from a source considered derogatory to their best interests This last step is of a piece, with the, jug handle metho being tried to force men to work, A man holds his. icet for competency, and when fulfilling his duties nee know a local inspector of. steamboat equipment from a crow; when the licensed man is not employed the lo inspector is not compelled to act as his guardian to the ex- tent of insisting that he should work under compulsion, —— ro” Vor. 1. No. 1, The Maritime News and Review, pub-— lished weekly at Baltimore, Md., a four column, sixteen page journal, devoted to shipping and kindred interests on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, reaches our exchange. table this week. We are gratified to learn of so apparently © able a champion being added to the ranks of marine jour- nalism. ‘he field is a wide and ever-increasing one, both in importance and volume, and the News and Review _ seems to be well capable of fulfilling its part in upholding — the great interests of the merchant marine in its special section of the country and the waters tributary thereto; furthermore, judging from the make-up of the initial. number, it will be all there when wanted. ‘The News and Review carries our best wishes for its continued success and prosperity in the uphill traverse until the newness wears i off. . May it increase in prestige and influence and ever be found standing shoulder to shoulder in the ranks of and - with those who are striving for the rehabilitation, up-— building and the eventual maritime supremacy of the United States mercantile marine. — a eo Tur Local Inspectors of Steamboats at the several im-— portant lake ports seem to be’ kept busy these times, attend-— ing to their regular steamboat equipment inspection duties, — and collision inquiry cases. ‘he wholesale cancellation of © tugboat men’s licenses has not yet been brought about, nor may we venture to say is it likely to under the present: charges. ‘The local inspectors are loaded down to’ the scuppers already with actual duties and assumed authority. why then pile on legal and judicial functions to further waste their leisure time? \ Congressman Minor, of Wis., egged on by Geo. Uhler, presiding officer of the Marine En-- gineers’ Association, slid a bill through the last Congress giving the Local Inspectors of Steamboats the authority of a notary public, and there, their judicial authority ought to end. Perhaps Congressman Minor will work in future’ to make Supreme Court judges out of these local steam- | boat equipment inspection officers. —_—$—< i oe or chy Tr Lumber Carriers’ Association is laying up tonnage. with the object of balancing and maintaining fair living freight rates. The Lake Superior lumber shovers rather insist upon all vessels in the trade being regularly sent to load cargoes irrespective of the lowering tendency of the freight market. The question now is whether the lumber: shovers can’t get out a restraining order, an injunction, or interest the courts in some manner so as to prevent the T,umber Carriers’ Association from withdrawing any or more vessels from the Lake Superior route, thereby re- straining the commerce of the Great Lakes. Court injunc- : tions are now the orders of the day, but there is a gen-' eral and quite popular suspicion that thev usually lean in favor of the side having the most influence—“inflooence!!!”. ——$—$— oor 3 THe Bill before the House Committee on Merchant. Marine and: Fisheries last week, as presented by the Na- tional Association of Masters and Pilots failed of obtaining recognition, as of course, it was more than probable it would. ‘The Association desired a jury trial in the case of licensed officers, and, that in the event of an engineer being accused and whose license was in jeopardy, his case should be heard before a jury composed of marine engi- neers and the same rule to apply in the case of a master, mate or pilot. It would at most times be found difficult to empanel such a jury. ea i Se Tm detention at the American locks Sault Ste. Marie, continued from Friday, June 6, to Wednesday afternoon. June 11. ‘The one lock on the Canadian side took. care” of the entire Lake Superior traffic during the interval, and as well as possible, for which convenience lake interest are enormously indebted to our Canadian cousins, as represented by the Dominion government.