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6 ' MARINE REVIEW. Prosperous Condition of Freights. Lake vessel owners have never experienced a more satis- factory season of navigation than that now drawing to a close, and at no time during the entire season has the amount of freight offered for shipment been greater than at present. Delay from bad weather has been limited, the draft of water in con- necting channels has more than equaled expectations, and although freight rates have not been unusually high they have been profitable in every line. It is the great movement of freight that is most wonderful, however, and now with the season nearing a close elevators are blocked to overflowing with a grain crop equalled only by that of last year,which was largely left over to increase the business of the present season. The only fear now is a blockade from the inability of eleva- tors and railways to care for the grain in the west and take it from vessels at Buffalo. As yet no serious delays to vessels have occurred on this account, and chartering goes on at 4 cents 'from Duluth and 24% cents from Chicago to Buffalo, the de- mand in the case of Chicago being limited, however, on ac- count of the disadvantages arising from delay in handling the grain. Ore freights stiil rule strong with vessels in great demand at $1.30 from the head of Lake Superior and 80 cents from Escanaba, while the supply of coal for all Lake Michigan ports is more liberal than at any time during the season, at ad- vanced rates. Lumber Movement and Lumber Freights. Again the lumber dealers of both the Take Superior and Saginaw valley districts find large supplies of their product at upper lake ports unprovided for, with navigation nearing a close, and at this writing $4 a thousand is offered on lumber from the head of Lake Superior to Chicago and $3.50 to Buffalo, while the rate from Bay City to Buffalo is $2.25. Shippers are trving -- to get vessels to take cargoes from Bay City to Cleveland at $1.75 but they will be forced to pay a higher rate. These un- usual advances are all due to the fact that vessel owners, as well as the lumbermen themselves, have been slow in taking into ac- count the wonderful growth of lumber interests in the vicinity of Ashland, Duluth and Superior, and tonnage suitable to this trade has not been provided in proportion to the increase in business. When the present season of navigation is closed a very large quantity of lumber, partly sold and intended for the eastern trade, will be found on dock at these Lake Superior ports. The cut this season in Duluth and vicinity alone, taking no account of the big Ashland cut, which is shipped almost entirely by water, will be above 300,000,000 feet. The great bulk of the Duluth and Superior lumber is for the northwestern trade, but still the shipments by water are important, as they will amount to about 60,000,000 feet this season. Trying to Avoid Extended Litigation. At least three important collision cases, which involve big losses and have attracted a great deal of attention on the lakes, are now as well as settled without court action of any kind. These are the Aurora-Peck case, growing out of the sinking of of the Peck in the Sault river ; Briton-Progress case, involving the loss of the Progress in the Detroit river, and the Norman- Republic case, in which a loss of about equal importance to both boats is involved. All that remains of the Aurora-Peck case is the actual settlement in money, which has been agreed upon, while the owners and underwriters in the Briton and Progress are delayed in fixing up differences by only one stockholder owning an interest of a few thousand dollars in the Progress. In the third case, that of the Norman and Republic, the owners, with con- sent of the underwriters, ordered the crews to make statements to attorney Harvey D. Goulder of Cleveland immediately after the accident, and his opinion as to the fault of the collision, will, as soon as it is revealed, very probably govern a settlement, as the entire damages are but about $12,000. Other cases now being discussed at a conference of owners, underwriters and attorneys, which began in Chicago Wednesday, resulted from collisions between the steamers Brazil and Mather, Pillsbury and Nahant and Nipigon and Vienna. Of these |the Nipigon-Vienna case is most important, as it involves the total loss of the Vienna, which was sunk several weeks ago on Lake Superior just above the Sault. There is some hope of a settle- ment, but the owners of the Vienna claim that the Nipigon was entirely at fault, and it may be necessary to fight the case out in extended litigation. : At several general meetings of vessel owners within the past two or three years various plans for arbitration of this kind have been suggested, and it was proposed at one annual meeting ofthe Lake Carriers' Association to prepare a set of rules to goy- ern an arbitration committee, but nothing definite resulted from the discussion. 'The present movement has resulted from vessel owners and underwriters growing tired of their disputes being held in court for months and years, and finally resulting in many cases in a division of damages. In the Armour-Marion colision case, for instance, Judge Jenkins, of the United States district court, Milwaukee, twice decided that damages must be divided, to the dissatisfaction of parties on both sides, and now the case will go to the court of appeals. The Card-Iron Chief case, de- cided last week by District Judge Swan of Detroit will also go to the appelate court. Some Facts Regarding Competition in Ore. All through the Lake Superior mining region and in some lower lake cities, a great cry has gone up regarding danger of competition from increased importation of Cuban ore. 'This is natural in political times, and it is also to be expected that some misstatements will be made in discussing for political purposes a question of this kind. To lake interests, however, the subject is a matter of the highest business importance, and misstate- ments regarding it should not go uncorrected. Everybody hav- ing a financial interest in the mining and transportation of Lake Superior ore (the exceptions are so rare as to be unimportant) favors a high protective tariff, and no fears of competition from Cuban ore are entertained under the present tariff. In fact, some well informed ore producers advance the opinion that even in event of a removal of the duty of 75 cents a ton, which is very improbable, the iron ore interests in the Pittsburgh district, the Mahoning valley and the great central west would not suffer materially from it. They are, of course, most earnestly opposed, with the iron ore interests of the east, to such a reduction, as it would be a step towards the breaking down of the protective sys- tem in the entire iron industry. These facts are given here simply in explanation of a situa- tion that is entirely plain to every sales agent who handles a pound of iron ore, as well as the vessel owner whose interests are in the same direction. This season the amount of Lake Su- perior iron ore going to Erie and Buffalo for shipment east of the Alleghenies is smaller than in previous seasons, probably not amounting in the aggregate to 150,000 tons. Even this ore does not come into competition with the Cuban product, and the Lake Superior producers decided long ago that little could be expected from any attempt to compete with the native ores of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other eastern states. At the same time they are fully assured, especially with the present tariff, that the long rail haul from the seaboaard is an effective barrier to any competition from foreign ores in the Pittsburgh district and other furnace localities where they en- joy a monopoly of the trade. William I,. Brown of Chicago has been elected president of the Chicago Ship Building Company, succeeding the late Emmons Blaine.