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i ip cela AN aia cian agers, 2S IIT, = sain mPa ms os os 4. Ihe Marine Recon. Plarvine Becord, Pubfished Every Thursday at 144 Superior Street, |Leader Bufiding] Cleveland, O. A. A. POMEROW, EDITOR AND PROP’R TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION: One year, postage paid............seccee eeeeeeeee $2.00 Six months, postage paid...... ...,.s06+ cesseeees 1.00 Invariably in advance. ' THE MARINE RECORD can be found for sale by the following news dealers: CLEVELA: D, O.—G. F. Bowman, corner of | Pear] and Detroit Streets. Evans & Van Epps. Superior street, Cleve'and, R. A. Castner. 254 Detroit s reet ( leveland. ASHTABULA HARBOR, O.—C, Large, CHICAGO, ILL.—Joseph Gray, 9 West Ran- dolph Street. : BUFFALO, N. Y.—A. C. Brideson, Michigan Swing Bridge, Also, Miss McCabe, Elk Street. near Ohio. DULUTH, MINN.—C. F. Johnson, 117 West Superior Street. MARQETTE, MICH.—J. A. Vannier. . ESCANABA, MICH.—Wm,. Godley. Subscribers and others are respectfully invited to use the columns ef the MARINE RECORD for the discussion of pertinent topics. Entered at the Post Office at Cleveland as second- class mai] matter. CLEVELAND, OHIO, THURSDAY, MAY 6. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. The case of the steamer Oconto before District Judge Dyer has attracted much attention and provoked much comment. There are many phases to the principle or theory of limitation of liability. The facts in this case hinge on a circumstance that happened some years ago. It is alleged that the steamer Ocento, at the time the property of the Goodrich Transportation ‘Company, while in the performance of her @uty as a common carrier, set fire to a num- ber of buildings in the city of Green Bay, causing a loss of several thousand dollars. The owners of the property destroyed had no redress except such as could be obtained from the corporation owningthe boat. Suit was brought and argued betore Judge Dyer. In order to place the case squarely before our readers it is necessary to quote the U.S. statutes bearing on the subject. — Section 18 of the act of June 26, 1884, pro- -vides that the individual liability of the ship owner shall be limited to any or all liability or debts that his individual share of the ‘vessel bears to the whole; and that the ag- gregate liabilities of all the owners of a ves- sel on account of the same shall not exceed the value of such yes-el and freight then pending. It is believed that this section was enacted and adopted as an inducement to capitalists to invest in shipping, and the law, as heretofore interpreted holding each - owner separately for the whole debt being a serions objection to such investments. A question has, however, arisen in the inter- pretation of the words “shipowner’”’ and «‘vegsel,’’ as used in the section cited above, which has been construed to apply to own- ers of sea-going vessels only. ‘The law should be extended to cover vessels on rivers and inland waters, and in order to cover the matter without any chance for quibble an amendment to that effect is now betore con- gress. If it is necessary for sea-going ves- sels to be protected by this limited liability act it is obvious that lake and river vessels should enjoy the same benefit. Section 4289 of the Revised Statutes is as follows: ‘*Ifhe provisions (comprised in the seven preceding sections) of this title relating to the limitation of the liability of the own- ers of vessels, shall not apply to the owners of any canal boat, barge or lighter, or to any vessels of any description whatsoever used in rivers or inland navigation.” The seven preceding sections referred to in the ubove relate to the liability of owners in cases of loss or damage by fire, sinking or collisions, charters,the carrying of prohibited articles, etc. ‘lhe amendment referred to proposes that ‘‘T'he provisions of the seven preceding sections and of section 18 of the act of June 26, 1884, relating to the limita- tion of the liability of vessel owners shall apply to all sea-going vessels as well as all steam vessels used on lakes or rivers, or in | i R | wards, six actions were commenced against | ing jurisdiction to enforce the rule, and of | squares of like color will touch each other the petitioner by persons whose property | | was destroyed by the conflagration, claim- | | ing damages toan amount exceeding $30,000, | Which actions are pending in the state courts of Wisconsin; that in such actions it is claimed that the fire originated from the | steamer while passing up the river: thata large number of other persons, suffering | loss of property in the same fire, make | claims against the petitioner, and intend to | bring similar actions; that if the fire was caused by the steamer it was without the privity or knowledge of the petitioner; and that the value of the vessel and her pending freight, at the time of the fire, was $12,400. The petitioner denied liability, and prayed tor the relief provided by the act of Congress knows as the ‘Limited Liability Act,’’ (see. 4281,4289, Rev. St.,) and the supplementary rules of practice in admiralty, No. 54 et seg., promulgated by the Supreme court, May, 6, 1872, at beginning of 13 Wall, Reg. It was argued by Mr. Rae in support of the motion, lst, that the act does not om- brace injuries to property on shore, but only injuries occurring, through the default ot the master or mariners, without the privity or knowledge of the owner of the offending vessel, to property which is the subject of commerce in transit on the high seas and the navigable waters of the United States; 2d, that if the act dves not embrace injuries to property on shore, the district courts of the United States have not jurisdiction, either under the statute or the rales in ad- miralty, to give the petitioner the relief it seeks, the tort claimed of not being a marine tort, and therefore not withiu admiralty cognizance; 3d, that the fact that the act may be supported under the commercial grant in the constitution, as a regulation of commerce can not confer jurisdiction upon an admiralty court of the United States; 4th, that if Congress could not enlarge the jurisdiction of the United States district courts sitting in admiralty, then the act ot 1842,. which conferred upon the supreme courts of the United States authority to pre- scrible modes and forms of procedure in equity and admiralty cases only, could not authorize that court, by rules of practice, to enlarge the admiralty jurisdiction ; 5th, that the admiralty rules themselves are confined to and contemplate a case of. admiralty jurisdiction purely. Fo It was argued by Mr. Green, contra— First, that damage done by a vessel to pro- perty on shore, without the privity or knowledge of the owners, falls within the third specification of section 4283, viz. : For an act, matter, or thing, less, damage, or forfeiture done, occasioned, or incurred without the privity or knowledge of such owner;” that the purpose of the rule of limited liability, being to promote and en- courage shipping, the power to prescribe that limitation is found in the commercial clause of the constitution. The power to make the regulation depends upon the thing regulated, —commerce,—not upon the judicial classification of the thing protected against. The common law is no more sacred against change and modification by a. regulation of commerce by Congress than maritime or statutory law. Each must yield, so far as they may be in conflict with such aregulation. The commercial clause applies to commerce on land as well as on water. Second, That the district court has jurisdiction of this proceeding in admiralty, although the tort complained of is not maritime. The case presented by the petition being within the ‘statutory limitation of liability, if that limitation is a maritime rule or regulation, whether the damage is done on land or on water, the enforcement of that rule by this proceeding must bea maritime case. As the statute is a regulation of a ‘maritime subject,—ships and shipping, or vommerce by water,—it isa maritime regula- tion, and Congress may rightfully vest in the federal courts jurisdiction for its en- forcement under the constitutional pro- vision that the judicial power of the United States shall extend to all cases of admiralty or maritime jurisdiction. The rule is equally maritime, whether it protects against liability for damages done by the ship on water orop land. Itis the thing protected that characterizes the rule, not the thing against which protection is given; and the thing protected, being shipping and inland navigation, but shall not apply to | Commerce by water, the rule is maritime. any canal boat, barge or lighter.” In his opinion Judge, Dyer; held that (1) The petition we have refrence to states | the statutory rule of limited liability em- that on the 20th day of September 1880, shortly after the Oconto had passed up Fox River by the city of Green Bay, in the braces all Gamages done by the vessel with- out the privity or knowledge of the owner, | whether consummated on water or on land; course of a regular voyage, a fire broke out | (2) that the rule thus construed is a mari- on shore in that city, which, spreading, con- sumed in its course 67 buildings and a large amount of personal property, of the aggre- time rule or regulation; (3) that, being a maritime rule or regulation courts of ad- miralty and maritime jurisdiction have gate value or more than $100,000; that after- | authority to enforce it; (4) such courts, hay- the tund representing the value of the vessel, have jurisdiction of the enforcement of claims on that- fund as auxiliary and in cidental to their jurisdiction of the main subject. MONARCHY OR ANARUHY. It would seem that all the world is in arms against the lake vessel owner and mariner. The railroads have fought the lake carrying trade until many of the roads have been forced into bankruptcy; the ele- vator rings at both ends of the route have done their utmost to fleece the vessels; the coal shippers have made their endeavor to finish the spoliation, and now come the men who depend upon the lake ecurrier for a livelihood, to force vessels into tying up. This last move, if successful, will deprive many sailor men, who have been idle through the long months of winter, of a chance to provide for their families. It is known that but a few months of activity, of time to win bread, have been allotted to the lake mari- ner, and it requires the utmost economy on his part to pass the winter months with any degree of comfort. It has been said that vessel owners were surprised to find that the usual acts of coercion did not prevail at the opening of navigation. Such was not the case with the well informed. They looked for the troublein another quarter. ‘The sail- ors’ union, in urging its individuals into the knights of labor organization, has lost its own and thereby virtually out of the fight asa body. So itis with all other trades unions who have allied themselves with the knights. Those organizations which have been tem- perate in their demands and susceptible of arbitration have sturdily maintained their independence in the tace of the knights of labor, realizing that, asaclass of skilled laborers, they know their wants and how to attain them better as individual organiza- tions than does the association which is covering the land with anarchy and vio- lence, obstructing the business of the coun- try and the administration ot the laws. Macauley, in his-history of England, pub- lished many years ago, foresaw the present crisis in this country, and, enlarging upon it, declared that as it grew in terrorism the only remedy would be the founding of a monarchy, as preferable to anarchy. In his wisdom, he detailed the eftect of un- Jimited migration into this country of all the dissatisfied people of the entire known world, who, in the power of numbers, would rise up to overthrow law and order, and defy not only the law of the land, which promises to the citizens thereof protection to life and property, but religious, civil and politica, liberty. The organization which now rules the country, without regard to the interests thereof, without a head wh‘ch the members will obey or respect, can do much ‘to shape the form of. government at this time. The -order of knights Is now shaping the course toward a monarchy, the form of govern- ment frem which many of them have de- parted as not being in accord with their ideas of personal liberty. We do not hold that all this dissatisfac- tion on the part of the laborer has been brought about by their own desire, but in many cases by the unyielding disposition of leaders. Let it be hoped then that some wise measure of the general government, or some acts of mutual concession, may serve to turn the present chaotic condition to one of peace and harmony. THE new regulations of the U, S. signal service, adopted 2nd inst., have been dis- tributed. The department, in view of the frequency of storms on the northern lakes and sea coasts, directs each employe of the service to exercise the utmost caution and diligenve in executing their important duties. Warnings of the approach of wind storms will be published by flags by day and lanterns by night. The new signals, which will be used after May lst, will be of three kinds, as follows: Cautionary, direction and on-shore signals. The cautionary signal will be a square red flag with a black square signal by day, and a red light at night. It will be hoisted when a wind velocity of 35 miles an hour is at- tained, which is dangerous to all classes of shipping. The direction signal will bea square flag with two horizontal stripes, one black and one white. displayed in connection with the cautionary signal flag, and will indicate the direction from which the dangerous wind is expected. The direction signal will appear on the same flagstaff as the cautionary signal. If below the latter, it will show that the direction of the wind expected is from a westerly quar- ter, if above from an easterly quarter. The on-shore day signal will bea square flag composed of four smaller squares—two white and two black—so arranged that the only at the corners. This will indicate a wind of from 20 to 35 miles an hour, which is considered dangerous for sm4ll craft and tow barges. A direction signal will not be hoisted with the on-shore. THe Dominion government, in order to | maintain their share of grain trade, has de- | cided to reduce the St. Lawrence canal tolls. | ‘The harbor rates or dues at Toronto this sea- son will be the same us those last season. ADVICES from the Sault to the effect that a draft of more than fourteen feet is not safe is further evidenve that General Poe’s recommendations for improvements should be carried out without loss of time. KIND WORDS CAN NEVER DIE. New Ortians, LA., April 26. To the Editor of the Marine Record: Dear Sir: Many hearty thanks to you from the Americati Seamen’s Friend Society, and from many readers, and from myself for the highly-prized, much-read Marinr REecorp for my free sailors’ reading room. I would send you the money for it, but I receive no salary and pay my own help and the ex- penses of my establishment are $1,000 a year, Please do not fail to continue it, and thus do much good. We keep our papers on file for atime and then send them tosea. Bread (corn) cast upon the waters to be found again. Very fraternally, yours, L. H. Pease, pal ccediiaretoeat oe oir 88) Tera VTEC G. F. Sheldon & Son have refitted and opened their meat market at Ashtabula Har- bor, with a choice lot of meats for the ma- rine trade. They will keep constantly on hand the best quality of meat., Boe SRB IS ENOLASE SETA A [Around the Lakes Continued from Ist Page. | anne ea ‘ FRANKFORT. Special to the Marine Recora Tug John Gregory has returned from Milwa ukee,where she received a new wheel The small propeller Duncan Dewar ar- rived in port on the 3d, and will run daily on the route between Manistee and this place. She is a nicely turnished craft, and is at present draped in mourning, owing to the death of her owner, D. Dewar, at Lud- ington, Propeller Lawrence came in from Cuie cago this morning. Owing to the strike she . Was detained nearly two days ia that city. The schooner Annie O. Hanson is laid up with cargo on board, at Chicago, owing to inability to sell, or to un loxd because of the strikers. BURMEISTER. SAULT STE. MARIE, . The Chippewa County News says: Just before the United Empire left Sarnia on her first trip for Lake Superior this season, Joseph Cherney, one of Sarnia’s business men, accidently fell into the hold and will probably die of his injuries. ; ; The tug Tom Dowling has arrived. The musical notes from her whistle sounded like a wail of distress from a dog with a tin can tied to his tail, Cook & Wilson, of Montague, Mich., have 120,900,000 feet of pine and will soon havea. mill erected and.in operation at life saving station No. 12. This firm has large in- terests in this township. : The propeller Minnie M., was the first boat to arrive at the Sault this year, coming into Kemp’s dock between two and three o’clock Monday atternoon. She, of course, received the salute from Fort Brady. The Messenger arrived about an hour later, and the Winslow of the transit line, accompanied the two local boats as far as the flats,in Lake - George, but owing to the mnddy condition of the water, she did not attempt to follow the channel through until the following bee ¢ and arrived in the Sault on Tues- bo ahaa ts Passed up, tug Metamora’ with schooners | J. G@. Worts, George Manley, F. Russell and H. Benson; barge Nipegon with schooners Middlesex, Melbourne and Eureka; George Spencer with David Dows, TOLEDO, A horrible accident occurred on the middle ~ ground Tuesday afternoon which resulted in the instant death of Joseph Whitman, chief engineer of the Wabash steamer John Cc. Gault. Whitman had just quit the boat to go home and gay goodby to his family before It will be only | starting out for the season, when he was run down bya Michigan Central engine and cut to pieces, Deceased was one of the oldest and best known engineers on lakes, having been in the service thirty years. He was a re- spected citizen of Toledo and leaves a family. He had many friends in Cleveland, It is reported that the negotiations are being made to remove the ownership of the propeller Hopkins from Toledo. If this is done it will be the first step in the dissolu- tion of the Wabash ‘lines.