The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

DEVOTED TO LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. Published every Thursday at No. 409 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, Ohlo, by John M. Mulrooney and F. M. Barton. Sunscription--$2.00 per year inadvance. Single copies 10 cents each. Convenient _ binders seut, post paid, $1.00, Advertising rates on application. Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second class Mail Matter. The books of the United States treasury department on June 30, 1896, contained the names of 3,333 vessels, of 1,324,067.58 gross tons register in the lake trade. 'The number of steam vessels of 1.000 gross tons, and over that amount, on the lakes on June 30, 1896, was 383 and their aggregate gross tonnage 711,034.28; the number of vessels of this class owned in all other parts of the country on the same date was 315 and their tonnage 685,204.55, so that more than half of the best steamships in all the United States are uwned on the lakes. The classification of the entire lake fleet on June 30, 1896, was as follows: Gross aha O94, 630.51 TOA TIN VERSES its seee se cccniatsccursosedatecccavscctsrsncevesccnascrees 119% 24,630. Sailing vessels and barges 1,125 354,327.60 MAM AMDOAUS rte rertetleresio ceanets sence ene 6 45,109.47 INO Be cee ict h cco esais oavenstsa tes daceispetvense' 3,333 1,324,067.58 The gross registered tonnage of the vessels built on the lakes during the past six years, according to the reports of the United States commissioner of navigation, is as follows: Year ending June 30. 1891 204 111,856 45 o ss ts 1892... 169 45,968.98 es a * 1893... 175 99,271.24 " " 's 1894... 106 41,984.61 a s ie 1895 93 36,352.70 ¥ St A 1896 117 108,782.38 PNG tiealeeeecieseet tree sae auccers ociencecbacdGaecdsrdeveoussere 864 414,216.36 ST. MARY'S FaLL3 aNOSU ZO N.uaikarvic. (ffm Uvictal Lteports of Canal Officers.) | St. Mary's Falls Canal. Suez Canal. | 1895% 1994 1893 1895 1894 1893 No. vessel passages,........:.. 17,956 14,491 11,008 3,434 8,352 8,341 Tonnage, net registered..... 16,806,781| 13,110,366} 9,849,754|| 8,448,383] 8,039,175] 7,659,068 Days of navigation.............. 231 234 219 365 365 365 > * 1895 figures include traffic of Canadian canal at Sault Ste. Marie, which was about ¥ per cent. of the whole, but largely in American vessels. There are no big improvements in lake waterways or questions of special importance to take up the time of the Lake Carriers' Asso- ciation at its annual meeting in Detroit next month, and it is there- fore quite probable that considerable attention will be given to matters that pertain directly to the management of vessels. In this connection there are two subjects--delays in the coal trade and short- ages in grain--to which, it would seem, some attention should be given. There are certainly good grounds for the claim that there should be inserted in coal bills of lading a clause to protect vessels from unjust delays when unloading. Instances too numerous to mention have occurred during the past season where boats of about 2,000 tons capacity have been nine and ten days getting rid of cargoes after arrival at the port of discharge; and when unloaded, with a freight of probably not more than 20 cents a ton, matters were made-- more congenial by the announcement that they had weighed out twenty or thirty tons short of the amount called for in bill of lading. The association can, by going at this matter rightly, insist that all coal bills of lading contain a clause specifying that after vessels re- port at places of unloading they be furnished a dock within a certain time and unloaded within at least three days. Matters more difficult than this have been settled by the association. Will the members take hold of this question and present a determined position?- wnited action is all that is wanted inthe matter. The grainsh"tage question is an old one, and, to say the least, the inab"Y of vessel owners to settle it stands as a reproach to the vS4nization. There is nothing Bas nedslike inthe ethod of dealing with shortages and over- ee have some certain redress from the mistakes of tia © "It is certainly unjust that any vessel owner should be compelled to pay for a shortage, whatever may be said of the ad- vantage of over-runs, when he feels that the shortage is due to no fault on his part and can be accounted for only through error in yeights. There is an instance of the past season where an elevator weighed out a cargo that was pronounced 300 bushels short but upon being weighed again into cars an over-run of fifty bushels was found. It is a rare thing to have mistakes of this kind found so readily. In this case there wasa sudden discovery of scales being out of order, but how often do owners follow up these shortages? They usually accept the remittance of freight and wonder at the ae These abuses in the vessel business have been talked of long enough. It is in order, now that there is time for it, to take up these questions and dispose of them. 12 MARINE REVIEW. = Untilthe past year or so all reference to advancement of the ship- building industry in this country has been ridiculed by most oi the shipping journals in England. But these same journals have of late shown a different disposition, probably not so much from alarm on account of the progress of American ship building as from the actual competition that British builders are meeting with in Germany and other countries. Prof. Biles, who has several times been consulted by American ship builders and ship owners, seems to have especially incurred the ill will of the British press. A writer on ship building subjects in Fairplay of London says in a recent number of that journal: "I notice that Prof. Biles of the University of Glasgow is credited with assisting in the design of torpedo boats for the United States, and it is further stated that several students are being sent over to Glasgow to be instructed in naval architecture. I presume that the professor is quite at liberty to do this, but considering the noise that is being made about foreign competition one would think that a line should be drawn as to how far anyone who occupies such a posi- tion should be allowed to go in the instruction of foreigners. It ap- pears that Prof. Biles ranks amongst his students Japs. and other nationalities, all of whom are itching to stand upon their own legs and compete with us. I am of the opinion that some inquiry should be made as to the number and nationality of the students in the Glas- gow University, and that some stop should be put upon the professor."' It is the opinion of several leading newspaper correspondents in Washington that congress will not authorize the construction of the three light-draft battleships and twelve torpedo boats which Secretary Herbert recommends in his latest report. The deficit in the treasury and an alleged "coolness" between the Cramps and Senator Quay of Pennsylvania are given as causes for this opinion. The intimation that Senator Quay has 'fallen out" with the Cramps, or that he would allow any difference with that firm to interfere with his views regard- ing the navy, is very probably without foundation. Appropriations at the last session were proof of the devotion of the present congress to the new navy, and it is not probable that funds are to be cut off when other nations are exceeding all previous expenditures. Great Britain has appropriated for its navy this year $106,205,100. France this year has voted a total of $46,000,000 for her navy. Germany's naval estimate for new war vessels is over $30,000,000, and Russia expects to spend within the next seven years over $300,000,000 on her navy, of which amount $45,000,000 is to be used this year. Spain expects to spend quite a large sum in war ship building this year, and Brazil, China and Japan are entering into some heavy expenses in order to in- crease their navies. Congressman Burton of Cleveland is to take a hand in the effort to overcome the treaty memorandum with Great Britain which prevents the building of vessels of war on the lakes. He has gone a step further than any of the other representatives who have taken an in- terest in this subject, as he has introduced a joint resolution request- ing the president and secretary of state "to enter into negotiations with the government of Great Britain to secure, if possible, the abrogation of so much ofthe 'treaty of 1817, as forbids the building of warshin=< stip yards located upon the great lakes." By reason of an experience of several terms in congress, and in view also of his full knowledge of all matters pertaining to the lakes, Mr. Burton can exert considerable influence in directing the attention of congress and the executive to the importance of this question, and it is to be hoped that all other representatives from lake states will join him in trying to bring about some action at the present session. There is $16, 269,342 worth of naval work in progress in United States ship yards. Thisis for hull and machinery, the armor and armament being additional. The two Japanese battleships, which are to be built at San Francisco and Philadelphia, will swell the total to over $20,000,000. Of the $16,269,342 worth of naval vessels, the Newport News company has work aggregating $7,655,000, or nearly half. Two years ago there was a little over $15,000,000 worth of naval work in private ship yards. " Condensation Without Water Supply," is the subject of an article in Cassier's Magazine for January by Louis R. Alberger who is well known as one of the many capable engineers who hive been connected with the establishment of Henry R. Worthington, New York. The article is accompanied by eleven illustrations of water cooling plants with some of their details.