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10 MARINE REVIEW. DEVOTED TO THE LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. ee ae eer PROPRIETORS. vie 5' HOMER J. CARR, " Associate Editor and Manager Chicago Office, Western Union Building, 110 LaSalle Street. Published every Thursday at No. 516 Perry-Payne Building, Cleveland, O. SUBSCRIPTION--$2.00 per year in advance. Convenient binders sent, post paid, 75 cents. Advertising rates on application. ; Tonnage built on the lakes during the past five years, according to the reports of the United States commissioner of navigation, is as follows: No. of boats. Net Tonnage IOS] Meche Mees ees 152 56,488.32 MSS he tt ae eae ee i ee 222 IOI, 102.87 LOSD rigasieube aapiletocs Dis teciesss sscuptes eae 225 107,080.30 ROOD otek pies aah at oae ns othae sca veoay eSbes tear 218 108,515.00 ROOUE a eee e anes ieee one 204 111,856.45 MOLAR recites. & RIA, eee 1,021 485,042.94 St. Mary's Falls and Suez canal traffic: Number of boats through St. Mary's Falls canal in 1890, 228 days of navigation, 10,557; tonnage, net registered, 8,454,435. Number of boats through Suez canal during 1899, full year, 3,389; tonnage, net registered, 6,890,014. Number of boats through St. Mary's Falls canal in 1891, 225 days of navigation, 10,191; ton- nage, net registered, 8,400,685. Number of boats through Suez canal dur- ing 1891, full year, 4,207; tonnage, net registered, 8,698,777. Lintered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. GEN. Pork has submitted a report preparatory to advertising for proposals on the great 20 and 21-foot channel project between Chicago, Duluth and Buffalo, and Gen. Casey, chief of army engineers, pronounces this project, together with the St. Mary's Falls canal and Hay lake channel improvements, the most important engineering work now under the direction of his department. As is generally understood on the lakes, this last great scheme for deep water, to the early completion of which congress has pledged itself for the entire necessary appropria- tions, contemplates the removal of obstructions at six different points in connecting waters between Lake Superior and Lake Erie. The improvements at St. Mary's Falls canal and the Hay lake channel will probably be finished in three years at the present rate of progress, and the new project for the removal of obstructions at other points will require about the same ora little longer time, and when completed there will be a minimum depth of 20 feet throughout the entire course from the upper lakes to Lake Hrie. Assoon as Gen. Poe's report is approved by Acting- Secretary Grant, the district officer will be authorized to adver- tise for proposals for the entire work, so that there seems to be nothing now in the way of work being commenced on this big dredging contract with the opening of navigation next spring. In asking that Commander Nicoll Ludlow, lighthouse in- spector in charge of the ninth district (Lake Michigan), be per- mitted to remain on his present duty until such time as his ser- vices are imperatively required elsewhere, the Lake Carriers' Association gives expression to its views on the matter of changes in this service on the lakes. It is a great disadvantage to the interests which this association represents that officers on lighthouse duty are so frequently changed, and if the circum- stances were fully understood in the navy department, it is very probable that some arrangements could be made that would obviate the difficulty. 'The water areas of the lakes are large, the navigation beset with dangers, and the aids to navigation needed for safety are numerous. 'To form an intelligent opinion as to what is needed in respect of these, the lighthouse board must of necessity depend almost entirely on the reports and rec- ommendations of the district officers. It takes an officer freshly detailed to this duty two or three seasons of careful investigation and close personal experience to familiarize himself with the peculiar duties of lake work and become practically informed of its needs. About the time he has acquired the necessary inform- ation he is sent elsewhere and a new detail is made. It will MARINE REVIEW. readily be seen that these arrangements are a SeT10us detriment == to the shipping interests and should be modified. As regards the particular case of Commander Ludlow, the association has found him especially interested in and appre- ciative of the needs of his district, and unremitting in the dis- charge of his duties, and his personal and professional work has been conspicuous for efficiency and value. He has been on the lakes but two yearsand has commended himself in an exceptional degree to the vessel interests, which are greatly indebted to him for valuable information, and intelligent judgment and co-oper- ation. A mosr forcible illustration of the power of lake lines in making freight rates for the most important portion of the United States was presented last week when the Great Northern. Railway, operating the Northern steamship line between Buffalo and the head of Lake Superior in connection with the Erie and Reading railroads, reduced rates from the northeast to New York and New England 50 per cent. on some lines, on the, grounds of irregularities on the part of the managers of the "Soo? line. 'Traffic associations may make rates and attempt to adjust radical cuts of this kind, but it must be evident to all concerned that as rail rates have been lowered with the building of many roads, so also will the great package freight lines of the © : lakes, now undergoing a change to big and powerful vessels, be likely to have a great influence in making railway rates. With the various extensions of the Great Northern Railway to the Pacific coast, through the Dakotas and Montana, and with its Buffalo connections, it is evident that President Hill of this line proposes to secure the greater portion of this traffic. Mr. Hill is evidently carrying cut in its full meaning the declaration that rates from Duluth and Chicago to the east should be alike, as these cities are nearly equally distant by way of the lakes. Ir 1s understood that Senator McMillan of Michigan -pro- poses to call up the Ludlow-Heyerman case for investigation the moment congress convenes, unless the secretary of the treas- ury takes steps publicly in the meantime to vindicate the district officers. 'he matter still hangs fire with Secretary Foster but it is earnestly believed that he will yet see the error of not granting justice to the officers. If the case is not disposed of before congress assembles, the able Michigan senator, Mr. Mc- Millan, will find support of the strongest kind from lake inter- ests in his demand for a congressional investigation. A late re- port from our Washington correspondent relative to this case is to the effect that the signatures attached to the minority report from the light-house board to Secretary Foster were those of the three senior members of the board, Colonel Ernest, Colonel El- | liott and Commodore Gillis. WHERE are the railway advocates of Buffalo who were, pre- dicting a few years ago that the great trunk lines were soon going to starve out the lake trade? In elevator capacity Buffalo has not kept pace with the wonderful growth in the lake erain commerce, partly on account of these predictions, until now we have had practical experience with a most disastrous grain blockade in one season and fears of a repitition of the trouble this fall. FF. D. HERRIMAN, representing the Bureau Veritas, has es- tablished an American lake department in Chicago and is pre-. pared to carry on a business in the inspection and classification of lake vessels. 'Thus another of the great classification associa- tions of the country is now represented here, and it will be well for the vessel owners and builders to give immediate and care- ful attention to their methods. GHT TWO SUBSCRIBERS TO THE MARINE REVIEW AND YOU WILL RECEIVE A COPY OF THE LIFE AND VOYAGES OF CHRIS- TOPHER COLUMBUS,