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CHICAGO LAKE INTERESTS. ae No. 21080. Wier oi ene REVIEW, 4, The shipbuilder who figures out first a movable cabin, the difficult problem in marine architecture, has a small fortune before him. Per- haps the best paying and most attractive traffic on the lakes, Lake Supe- rior tourists, has been long neglected. Owing to the shortness of the season of the traffic, capital has not gone into the boats now imperatively demanded by the traveling public. Vessel owners have not seen their way to carry acakin through the entire season of navigation, when it could be used for profit only between June 15 and Sept. 15. A prominent marine man speaking of this matter said today: “Two years ago, I pro- _ posed a plan by which passenger cabins could be placed on steamers in June, and be taken off early in September, leaving the boats unencum- bered for carryitig freight the rest of the season. I'was laughed at, and was told that the scheme was impracticable, Last winter when in Buffalo Capt. Henry, of the Lehigh Valley line and myself fell to talking about steamers for Lake Superior business. I was surprised to find he had the same idea in mind that Ihad. He said it was possible to have a movable cabin so made that it could be placed on a steamer in two days and taken offin oneday. He was very enthusiastic about it, and this gave me hope that my derided scheme was not entirely impracticable. I firmly believe that if the shipyards put men at work on this project they could find a way to place movable cabins on freight steamers at no great trouble. Why doesn’t some one try it? If he succeeeds he will make some good money.” a The possibilities of the Lake Superior tourists’ traffic are great, if fast modern steamers were 1m the service. The full capacity of the lines are now taxed to the utmost during the rush of July and August. There is plenty of business for fifteen or twenty big steel steamers during the two months now to be had, and no telling how much more if the traffic is pushed. ; . The press dispatches have told all there is known about the fate of the schooner Thomas Hume. Some people iusist she was run down by some steamer, the:crew left to their fate, and the facts carefully concealed. I may have too high an opinion of human nature, but I don’t believe there is anything in this theory. Then I can’t see how the knowledge of the crime could be kept secret. There’s too much talk for that. The owners of the stermer would be at the mercy of the crew, and the ethics of black- nail know no limit. The night the Hume is supposed to have been lost Capt. Crawford says an ugly squall in the higher atmosphere passed over Chicago from the southwest about midnight. It was distinctly visible, and was noticed by everybody on the river that night. The wind was northeast when the squall touched the surface; it was on the lake, and the Hume was undoubtedly caught by it, and capsized before a move could be made. Of all the solutions of the mystery thus far offered this seems to be the most reasonable. The ‘promotor’ of the schemie for a line of steamers between Chicago and England is still at work figuring out the details. He has received cold comfort from marine men here. The promotor’s ideas are all right and his figuring is all logical. There is nothing in the way of the success of the project, excepting the size of the St. Lawrence river cauals, the completion of the routes already well established, and the capital needed for building the fleet. Otherwise the proposed line ought to pay well from the start. The amount of advertising the lake lines are doing this season is far in excess of that in previous years. John Singleton, the Goodrich general passenger agent, has the town covered with pictures of the Virginia. In hundreds of windows are fine representations of the new steamer, expensively framed. An innovation by the Central Traffic Association is going to do the marine much good in an educational way. Every week, with the state- ment of eastbound rail shipments is given the shipments by lake. It has surprised many thousands of people to learn that the lakes carry nearly twice as much freight towards the seaboard as the railroads. The fellows who have been saying for years that water transportation was a thing of the past, are astounded when they read each week what the lakes have done. If statistics were published on through business from the seaboard to Chicago, they would be simply paralyzed. ‘The inroads the lake lines have made in westbound traffic are very serious to the railroad com- panies, ‘his traffic is now the heaviest in the history of the town. The Premier’s Death will Effect Kingston Marine. Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. —The death of Sir John Macdonald will have inasmuch as he was the man who same privileges as the Kingston on whom forwarders de- was his cons'ituency and KINGSTON, Ont , June 4. a serious effect upon Kingston marine, opposed giving the Ogdensburg route the route is now enjoying ; and he was the man up pended for the erection of an elevator here. This he would not listen to any proposal that tended Some think that his death will be the means of his ded to injuring its trade. party being ousted out of power and the free trade party with the United States taking its place. If this were to occur there would be reciprocity in wrecking, coasting, etc., but the probabilities are that this will not‘take place. It is reported here that Sir Charles Tupper, Canada’s high commissioner in England, will come here and run in this constitutency, and if successful succeed Sir John as premier. _. Mr. Gordon, M. P., of British Columbia, is now at Ottawa, where a few days ago he gave notice in the house of commons that he would move, “ That the maritime interests of Canada and other British colonies and possessions are developing in a marked degree, that in the opinion of the house the maritime interests of the United Kingdom and the colonies and dependencies thereof, would be promoted and conserved by declaring the coasts thereof for the purpose of maritime trade to be contiguous territory, and the whole and every portion thereof to be subject to uniform coasting regulations, limiting the coasting trade thereof to British and colonial vessels belonging to reciprocating nations only; that the governor general request the concurrence of Her Majesty and her other possessions, and if approved of to initate such legislation as will give effect to the same at the earliest practicable date, and that the resolution be sent to all boards of trade in the British empire for their consideration.” Of course, this motion cannot be dealt with this session of parliament. The session will adjourn and a new cabinet will have to be formed before any business can be done. One of the Montreal Transportation Company’s elevators sank at the wharf, Sunday, owing to a stop cock being carelessly left open. She will be raised at once, as the propellers Myles, Duluth and Boyce will be here ~ in a few days with grain from Chicago. Sener: _ All the timber which was stored here last winter is being hurried to the front. It is safe to say that by the end of the season there will not be a stick here for storage. a A Law Without an Object. EDITOR MARINE REVIEW: An editorial paragraph in your issue ‘May 21, relating to a “load line” to be marked on seagoing ves intended for a correction, is not quite correct in stating that the “object of the law” is “to protect American vessels in the foreign trade.” Th passage of the clause referred to seems to have been accidental rathe1 than intentional. It relates to sail vessels as well as steamers, that hav been “inspected.” There are no sail vessels inspected by the United States, hence the clause cannot apply to them; and we have no steam vessels running to Great Britain,so the marking of aload line could not “protect” any ofthem. There is no intelligent object for the new law, that is to be perceived. Besides, a load line law to protect from British discrimination, according to the British act recently put in force, must be accepted by the British board of trade as substantially as good and effective to prevent overloading as their own. The new British law superceded an old law (of 1876) that was based on the principle of every owner to mark his own load line, by any rule he pleased. Plimsoll had ‘tried to get rules passed, but this mockery of a rule was passed by parliament in lieu thereof. It is too late now to follow the example of parliament in 1876, and pass a lawto apply xo rule at all to the extent of loading a vessel down into the water and expect the British to accept the chestnut. They have sailed past that buoy. The object of our new law remains aconundrum. A proper law with rules for loading is yet to be passed. Wo. W. BATES. Treasury Department, Bureau of Navigation, } ; Washington, D.C., May 28. ) a The MARINE REVIEW’s information with regard to the object of this law was gained from the report of the committee to which it was referred when under consideration by congress. As there are no inspected sail vessels in this country, however, and as this fact has caused some criticism since the passage of the act, it would seem like a strange bit of legislation. Largest Lake Superior Load. The big steel steamer E.C. Pope is on her way down from Ashland carrying 2,648 gross tons of ore. With fuel added the boat has about 3,070 gross tons aboard. This is the largest cargo ever taken from Lake Superior and it is all the more wonderful when the present draught of water—only 14 feet 3 inches—is considered. ‘The Pope is expected to carry 3,850 net toms on a draught of 16 feet 2 inches which was the draught of the Mary- land when she carried 3,737 tons. It is not generally known that the U.S. S. Michigan, that represents Uncle Sam’s majesty on the lakes, figured in the Fenian raid on Canada. She caught a pontoon with 500 Fenians aboard crossing Niagara river. ‘The Michigan took them in tow, but all were released shortly after. Each number is worth keeping. Send 75 cents to the MARINE RE- view for a binder that will hold 52 numbers.