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6 3 MARINE REVIEW. Canal Toll Question. In the Canadian and American newspaper discussion on the question of canal tolls, regarding which a message to Congress from President Harrison is expected shortly, one very important point is lost sight of. No one with a knowlenge of treaty rela- tions will claim that it is the intention of the United States gov- ernment to charge direct tolls on Canadian vessels or their car- goes passing through the St. Mary's Falls canal, while allowing vessels of the United States to pass free of tolls. Tolls can be collected at the St. Mary's Falls canal, however, on cargoes bound to Canadian ports,whether in American or Canadian ves- sels, and the system of collections so arranged as to act asa measure of retaliation for the system now in vogue on the Wel- land and St. Lawrence canals. That the state department has recommended to the presi- dent retaliatory measures toward Canada on this account there is now no doubt. <A settlement of this canal question is un- doubtedly brought up now by the recent report of the sub-com- mittee of the Senate finance committee. This sub-committee visited a number of cities lying on and near our eastern and northern boundaries, and much complaint is made in its report of discrimination on Canadian canals. Elected New Officers. At a recent directors' meeting of the Chicago Ship Building Company the following officers were elected: Emmons Blaine, president and treasurer; Norman Williams, vice-president; O. R. Sinclair. secretary and assistant treasurer; W. I. Babcock, manager. The stock in the Chicago company held by stock- holders of the Globe Iron Works Company, Cleveland, was sold. Other stock held in Cleveland remains in the same hands. One of the directors of the new company is Mr. H. H. Porter, an official of the Illinois Steel Company, and it is understood that the majority of the stock is held by parties connected with that company. 'The Chicago company will soon launch the Minne- sota boat building there. In addition to that they have the Cadellac on the stocks. . Equal Wrecking Privileges. President Harrison will in a few days be called upon to per- form the pleasant duty of announcing that hereafter reciprocal wrecking privileges will prevail in all waters of the United States contiguous to Canada. A bill for reciprocity in wrecking re- ceived the royal assent in the Canadian senate on Tuesday last. A similar measure was passed by the last Congress of the United States to go into effect with the announcement from the presi- dent that Canada had taken like action. 'The Canadian act, which is the same as that of the United States, provides that United States vessels and wrecking appliances may render aid and assistance to any vessels and property wrecked, disabled or in distress in the waters of Canada contiguous to the United States and nothing in the customs or coasting laws shall restrict the salving operations of such vessels. Ocean Traffic by the Erie Canal. Mr. Edward F. North writes a patriotic article in the May Forum on "Ocean 'Traffic by the Erie Canal." He seriously deprecates the St. Lawrence outlet as being un-American and therefore unwise. Yet he fairly estimates the difficulties that confront the advocates of an enlarged Erie canal, without, how- ever, properly emphasizing the alternative that confronts the people of New York City in case they continue to be controlled by the dock and railroad interests of that place and Buffalo. Merely on the present grain traffic of nearly 30,000,000 bushels that passes through the Erie canal in its present "slow" condi- tion, there is an annual economy of over $7,000,000; and if the rest of the 40,000,000 bushels that was received at New York had been carried by canal there would have been a further sav- ing of $9,000,000. Vet if all the grain that reaches Buffalo w carried eastward by canal, the railroads would soon find oth traffic to replace it, and probably at much more remunerati freight rates. However, that has been repeatedly gone into o late, and the whole question for New York to consider is, is the -- traffic worth anything to the people of that state? If it is, then -- they can afford to enlarge the Erie canal at their own expense, and that as speedily as possible. If in their judgment it is not a desirable traffic, how can they blame the people of the west for seeking an outlet through a land anxious to have it dos Whatever may be said of the Canadians, they have enough the seacoast nature in them to have a thorough appreciation the value of the shipping interest. And they have already d covered that if a fourteen-foot vessel could pass from the head of Lake Superior or Chicago to Montreal with a cargo inta and back again, Canadian vessels would have the same chance at the great lakes' grain and flour trade out and importing tra in that American vessels have. They may therefore reasonably be expected to push the St. Lawrence canals with unusual vigor notwithstanding the open opposition of the Canadian Pacific and the Grand Trunk Railways. And if they actually comple their proposed canals within the present century, both Buffalo and New York will find their European ship-carrying business cut off abruptly. In that case, nothing but an enlarged Erie canal can save them, and it is not probable they will be wise in time. Canal Surveys. The Senate has passed the bill appropriating $40,000 to pay the expenses of a survey of a route for a ship canal to connec the waters of Lake Erie at Erie, Pa., or Conneaut, O., with the Ohio river at or near Pittsburgh, and the House committee on railways and canals has made a favorable report on the measure. -- It is to be hoped, however, that the House will not pass the -- bill. Such a canal would end nowhere and the scheme is of a worthless kind, having no support from anyone acquainted with lake commerce and especially the ore and coal trafic between the lakes and the coal and iron district in and around Pit burgh. The idea of acanalin this district competing with rai ways that enter the very doors of iron furnaces and take on coa from the shafts of the mines is absurd. There is one bill before the House, however, that should not be lost sight of in the enthusiasm over the great river and harbor triumph. Itis the bill providing for a survey of route to the seaboard, to correspond with the deep water projec on the lakes. This bill is also pending in the House with a favorable report from the committee on railways and canals. Two Ocean Greyhounds. The White Starline is going to build two colossal twin screw passenger steamships to compete with the leviathans 0 the Cunard line, now under construction on the Clyde by the Fairfield Shipbuilding Company. Merely the intimation tha the White Star line will build is now obtainable at the N York office. The new ships will be bigger than the uncomplete Cunarders, which will measure 14,000 tons, and will be 600 fe long and 65 feet beam, with about 30,000 horse power. Th new Cunarders will be guaranteed by their constructors to mak not less than 21 knots in the open sea. Of course, to uphold -- their supremacy on the ocean race track the new White Sta ships will have to do a little better than 21 knots. A circular letter from Commander Nicoll Ludlow, Chicag says: The fog signal at South Manitou, Lake Michigan, ist ported as disabled. Masters of vessels are cautioned that the ~ signal will not be sounded in thick weather until repairs a made, which are now under way. Notice will be given when the signal is again ready for use. : |