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6 | - MARING REVIEW: Alien Contract Labor Question. WESTERN OFFICH, MARINE REVIEW, { No. 701 Phoenix Building, CH1cAGo, I1l., May 3). President Walter M. Grove and other leaders in the Seamen's Union claim to find something new in the latest ruling of the treasury department re_ garding the employment of Canadians as seamen on American vessels. Mr Grove says that the ruling was just what the union has sought for several] years, bnt vessel owners and others interested in the matter fail to see any change in the interpretation of the law by the treasury department. Inspector Stitch thinks Inspector De Barry of Buffalo had exceeded the law in attempting to prevent Canadian sailors,who had sailed on American ves- sels during one season,from shipping on American boats the following season. 'Unless a contract expressed or implied can be proven," said Mr. Stitch, "I know of no reason why a Canadian, or for that matteran alien of any other nation- ality,can not return to thiscountry asecond tim? and obtain employment in the same line of work as he had done previously. Congress has stipulated that all officers of American craft must be citizens of this country, yet it has not de- cided that the seamen must be citizens also, although it has that power. This is the opinion given to Superintendent Stump of this bureau, by Solicitor Reeyes. I have often consulted with District Attorney Milchrist on this same matter, and this opinion agrees with his interpretation of the law. The term contract, as I understand it, is very broad, and takes in many things. If on the close of a season a master or vessel owner should ask his men to return at the opening of the next season, and they should do so, the alien labor law would be violated. If during the winter a master or owner should write to any Canadian seamen, who had sailed on his vessel the previous year, asking him to work for him the coming season, or to bring several more men with him, this would also be a contract, and the owner or master would be liable to prosecution. In the case af the schooner Ida Keith, Judge Bunn held that the vessel was in distress from want of men, as through the Seamen's Union no seamen could be found in Port Huron who would take the places of those dis- charged, and the master was therefore compelled to go to Sarnia to man his vessel. This, I think, was a broad interpretation of the law, and with the de- fense made in a different manner, the case would have been decided different- ly. But the action of Inspector De Barry inattempting to compel the Canadians to leave vessels in Buffalo is not warranted, and the captain of any craft that might be boarded for that purpose would be justified in retaining his men, and paying no attention to such orders. The proper course to pursue, in case evidence has been procured to show that the men were imported under con- - tract, would have been to swear out a warrant and punish the persons con- cerned through the courts." Charles H. Kremer, the marine lawyer, says of the Ida Keith case: "The master of an American vessel who finds himself in a foreign port short of men, from death, desertion or any other cause, is allowed to complete his crew with aliens, as it would not be practicable to hold the vessel there until American seamen could be imported. Therefore, when the captain of the Ida Keith found himself unable to procure men in Port Huron to fill the places of those who had deserted him, he was justified in going to Sarnia and shipping Cana- dian men. I do not think that evena request for men to return the following season is a contract, for neither the master nor the men are bound by it. Hither is free to fulfill his part or not, as he may choose. When the request is made by a letter, or the letter contains an additional request for the person to whom it is addressed to bring more men with him, that approaches nearer to a contract, and might under certain conditions be so regarded by a court." Canadian Grain--Active Work at Buffalo. Special Correspondence to the MARINE REyIEW. Burrato, N. Y., June 1.--The arrival of grain from Canadian ports occa- sions remarks at the custom house that are not complimentary to the people who look after the general commercial interests of the port, and their own in- terests more especially. There are only two bonded elevators, the Ontario and the Exchange, here, and both are about full of grain. Still vessels come in from Canada, tie up, and wait for nobody knows what. The customs ofti- cials have urged other elevator owners to bond their houses, so that they could handle Canadian grain, especially as there is considerable to come down from Port Arthur, but they do not seem to think it worth while. In extreme cases grain subject to duty has been allowed to go into unbonded houses, but the last time this was allowed the shippers violated their agreement to ship it out at once, and it is hardly likely they can obtain such a permit now. There is complaint from various sources that Buffalo is char ging more for handling ore than other ports, and the inference is that somebody who is native here is to blame about it. This may somehow be true, but it doesn't look that way. Most of our ore is handled by Ohio iron men. The oldest and best known dock is in the name of Pickands, Mather & Co. H.K. Wick & Co. of Youngstown probably handle the most of any one firm, and the new blast fur- nace isrun by the Hannas of Cleveland. If they think we--or they--are charging more than they are warranted, compared with their Ohio charges, they can surely reduce the rates. Buffalo has been a rushing port this season in spite of some bad business. In seven days we unloaded forty-four lumber barges of 24,000,000 feet of lumber, and gave the discarded union not a board to move, and at the same time we took care of more grain than any other port in the world ever thought of handling. It is true that this port is not so fast, as regards grain and coal handling, as it used to be, but circumstances over which we have no control have done the mischief. Instead of there being any disposition to divert freight away from here on account cf slow work, it appears that our former proportion is in- creased, The extension of actual freight navigation down the Niagara to the vicin- ity of the Falls is an interesting undertaking in more than one sense. Till the excursion boats began to run down there two years ago, people imagined there was danger in going within a mile of the falls, but it was discovered that still water was the rule at that distance. Now the establishment of the old 'Soo' paper company at the new tunnel with a monster plant under the name of the - Niagara Paper Company makes it desirable to carry pulp wcod down there, and this week tugs are engaged in making soundings down the west branch for the deepest water, This opens to traffic again the old Schlosser dock, long historic in connection with the early route west from Albany, which followed the Mohawk, Oneida lake, Oswego river, Lake Ontario, went overland from Lewiston to Schlosser and took to the water for the upper lakes at that point. Naval Matters. Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. WaAsuHinaron, D. C., June 1.--Plans recently completed by the bureau of steam engineering of the navy department for the machinery of the torpedo boats to be carried by the armored vessels Maine and Texas continue to attract a great deal of attention: In the great aim to secure lightness of construction there are many noyelties in the machinery, such as tubular shafts, wrought steel braces and perhaps most of all the adaptation of the frames and structural steel of the hull to the purposes of a rigid bed plate. The entire machinery, boilers, engines, pumps, shafting, etc., and with the boilers and tanks filled with water ready for instant service, weighs 12,000 pounds, and as the engines are to develop 200 horse power, this will make only 60 pounds of machinery for each horse power. Secretary Herbert has decided to man the brick battle ship Illinois, now at the world's fair, with officers and sailors of the Michigan, now in Lake _ Michigan. The law provides that seamen to receive rations "must be aboard a _ seagoing vessel, attached to a receiving ship, or on duty at a navy yard." | . This prevents men being detached from vessels and ordered to the Illinois for steady duty. The men will remain attached to the Mi higan, but will be sent to the Illinois daily for duty, returning to the Michigan to sleep and get their _ meals, A model of the protected cruiser Olympia, being built by the Union ea Works of San Francisco, was placed on exhibition at the navy department re- cently. The model is'a Benny, and will be shipped to Chicago ina few days to become a part of the naval exhibit at the world's fair. 'The Olympia is a twin-tcrew protected cruiser of 5,800 tons displactment, and is to show a spced of 20 knots when completed. Commodore Farquhar, chief of the bureau of yards and docks, has gone to the Pacific coast to inspect the new dry dock being built at Port Orchard, Washington, and the one at Mare island. The former is well toward comple- tion, and when finished will be one of the lar gest docks in the country, The bureau is now drawing up plans for another large dock at Algiers, La., for which Congress has made an appropriation. The Port Royal, S. C., dock will 'be the third built by the government in the last two years. Commander George W. Coffin, formerly naval secretary to the light-house board, has passed a most successful examination for promotion to the grade of captain, and will be prc moted at the first opportunity. Official Numbers and Tonnage. The bureau of navigation, E. C, O'Brien commissioner, assigned official numbers and tonnage to the following lake vessels during the week ending May 20: Steam--Orville A. Crandall, Buffalo,N.Y., 122.39 tons gross, $9.67 net, No. 155,239; Erastus Day, Buffalo, N. Y., 69.54 tons gross, 34.77 net, No, 136,360 ; Wm, Kennedy, Cleveland, O., 86.01 tons gross, 43,01 net, No. 81,435; Chris. Grover, Cleveland, O., 56.89 tons gross, 28.45 net, No. 126,955 ; Richmond, Chicago, Ill., 11.16 tons gross, 6.44 net, No 111,029 ; Providence, Chicago, IIl., 11.16 tons gross, 6.44 net, No. 150.625, The greatest depth under water ever reached by a diver is lelieved to have been attained by Captain John Christ'ansen, who went down 196 feet below the surface at Elliot Bay, Wash., recently. He remained at that depth in his armor for twenty minutes, without inconvenience. Detroit owners of the steamers Palmer and Livingstone are said to have been paid $30,000 for releasing the world's fair company from its contract en- gaging the two boats for passenger traffic between Chicago and the fair grounds. Insufficient draft of water was the main reason for not making use of the Palmer and Livingstone, No master trading to Lake Superior should be without a chart of the north shore. We have them for sale at $1 each. ------------ oiieginnee on