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

20 MARINE REVIEW. MARINE REVIEW Devoted to the Merchant Marine, the Navy, Ship Building, and Kindred Interests. Published every Thursday at No. 418-19 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, Ohio, by Tue MARINE REviEW PUBLISHING Co. SusscriPTIonN--$3.00 per year in advance ; foreign, including postage, $4.50, or 19 shillings. Steg oe 10 cents each. Convenient binders sent, post paid, $1.00. Advertising rates on application. Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. oe The present topic of discussion in Washington is the blunt manner in which Rear Admiral Melville takes issue with Secretary Long on the subject of the consolidation of the construction, engineering and equip- ment bureaus. It was supposed that as far as the present administration of the navy department is concerned the issue was a closed one. Secre- tary Long is pledged to the consolidation. In his annual report of last year he uses the following language: "In the opinion of the department it would be in the interest of good business organization and economy to consolidate the three bureaus of construction and repair, steam engineer- ing and equipment under one head, the bureau of ships. These bureaus have to do with the construction and fitting out of vessels--in one word ,. the material of the ship. It is an integral work. When a contract is made for the construction of 4 ship it is made with one builder, It is not given part to a constructor of hulls, part to a steam engine manufacturer, and part*to an outfitting firm: "Whatever various trades enter into' the work are all under one head. This is the method of private ship yards which build the largest ships and which are not left to the administration of three heads between whom delicate questions of respective authority and responsibility are liable to arise, resulting in delays, and too often in friction and lack of harmony of co-operation. Each of the above bureaus has now, during the construction of naval vessels, its separate inspector at each yard. A consolidated bureau could, of course, be run much cheaper than three 'bureaus and a great saving made by a reduction of the now three separate working forces, both clerical and mechanical, especially in our navy yards. Fewer naval officers would be needed, as there would be but one staff, instead of three, so that more officers would be: available for other duty. Under the present system one bureau brings its work to the point of readiness for the work of another, which is not always ready for it. There is necessarily a lack of that adaptation and. harmony of. movement which one head would secure." This is the argument which Melville calls fallacious and which if followed out would result in "confusion and greatly decreased efficiency.' The admiral, however, makes no mention of the added labor of inspec- tion at each of the yards. The fact of the matter is that the utmost jeal- ousy.exists among the attaches of the various departments. One will not permit the other to encroach upon his domain in the slightest degree. It is curious to analyze the sources whence each derivés its authority. The bureau of equipment furnishes, coal to the navy. Why? Because in the old days when wind was the motive power it furnished the sails. All elec- trical apparatus is bought by the equipment department. Why? Because before the days of the incandescent light it supplied the ships with candles and later with oil. The great body of the electrical plant of a warship is a part of her structural outfit. Therefore why does it not properly: belong in the construction department? It has machinery, too, in the shape of dynamos. Therefore why does it not properly belong in the engineering department? Numerous other incongruities might be men- tioned. There is no indication that Secretary Long has changed _ his mind that all these departments with their overlapping ramifications are legitimately under one head. Bristol and the West Indies are to be brought together again. The Elder-Dempster Steamship Co. is to start a regular service between Eng- land and Jamaica, and in consideration of receiving an annual subsidy is to bring back to England 40,000 bunches of bananas on each trip, This means, of course, that they will have to engage in the business of raising bananas. It is a direct attempt on the part of the British empire to assist one of its colonies. Curious as it may seem trade with the West Indies was greater 200 years ago than it is now. There was a great interchange at that time between Bristol and Jamaica, but the system of foreign boun- ties on sugar killed it utterly. The steamship company is making a legitimate effort to revive the trade and has offered prizes for sugges- tions. In this connection it is interesting to note that the cable just brings the information that the town council of Bristol, after years of controversy, has resolved to ask parliament for permission to construct a dock at Avonmouth to accommodate the largest ocean-going steamers in the world. The cost of the improvement will be £1,804,000, - As Syren & Shipping recently remarked, the geographical location of Bristol is ex- cellent but' one: sAnnos land banaras off 4 geographical locatign.. A' quay ismuch, more mselul. "Lhe ambition,.of Bristol-is. to be restored,,to its former! position as! 'second ito: Liverpool: Bristol! had: that proud! 'honor once, SON? WSehisaod iw faut ' ace lary Possibly on the eve of election it may not be amiss to say a word | anent the issue. There is no use disguising it with a wealth of phrase-- the real issue is not imperialism but silver. There is a much beclouded view of a question which ought to be as clear as sunlight. It was the _ old legal tender law of thirty years ago which created the impression that money does not derive its usefulness from its own value but from the fiat of the government upon it. This is the delusion upon which the silver- ites have based their cause. If the stamp of the government gives a real. ' value then it is wasteful to use silver when paper would do as well; if the metals circulate for their own value then it is manifestly impossible -- that both a gold piece and a silver piece should pass current for a dollar when one metal is worth twice as much as the other. The value of the - legal tender notes lay in the ability of the government to redeem them. No sane person believes that the republic stands in any danger of im- perialism, It is the merest kind of a scarecrow. No, no, the real issue - is the financial. honor.of the country. It is upon that foundation that the commercial prosperity of the country lies. vices Have been received from Washington to the effect that Col. Jared A. Smith of the United States army engineer corps, stationed at Cleveland, is to be transferred to San Francisco on Nov. 23. He will be _ succeeded .by Col. Samuel W. Mansfield. There is no vessel owner in Cleweland:who.does not wish Col. Smith a pleasant and successful career in his wew!'post. Everyone hopes that San Francisco may be, in every "a cogent to him. | | 07 OSS? A DANISH MERCANTILE MARINE. : - pg From Fairplay, London. i 4 4 'Derimark comprised 3,844 vessels of over four tons register, measuring altogether 423,549 register tons net. Of this total 3,305 were sailing ves- sels, measuring 165,308 tons, and 5389 were steamers, measuring 258,241 tons. The Faroe Islands, however, were the home of ninety-four ships (4,879 tons), Iceland of 159 (7,757 tons), and the Danish West Indies of forty-seven (444 tons); so that the merchant navy of Denmark proper consisted of 3,544 vessels, measuring 410,469 register tons net, 3,047 -be-. ing sailers with 155,271 tons and 497 being steamers with 255,198 tons and 53,107 I.H.P. Of the steamers 463 were screw and thirty-four paddle - boats, and 389 of them were engaged in the cargo and passenger trade. In the last four years--that is, since the end of 1895--the sailing fleet: has been increased by thirty-seven ships, but its tonnage has been reduced by about 13 per cent. During the year 1899 eighty-five sailing ships of 4,109 tons altogether (all sailing ships of more than four tons being registered) were built on Danish account at Danish yards, besides which - forty-five (3,271 tons) were acquired from abroad, so that 130 sailers with 7,380 tons were added to the list. Against this, however, there is to be set a falling out from the register of 114 ships and 10,138 tons--forty-six sailers (4,720 tons) having been lost, fifty-nine (5,193 tons) sold to. for- eigners, and nine (225 tons) broken up. Svendborg is the port at which the largest amount of sailing tonnage was registered, viz., 991 tons; El- sinore follows with 723 tons, Copenhagen with 638, and Rénne with 605 tons, and so on, The Danish mercantile steam fleet was increased last year by twenty- one vessels and 32,064 tons, or 14% per cent. In the last four years the increase amounts to ninety-six vessels and 111,139 register tons, or a little over 77:per cent. The increase has been constant from year to year, and the average capacity per steamer has risen from 110 tons in 1867, to 258 tons in 1880, 341 tons in 1889, and 565 tons in 1899. In the course of the year eight steamers (5,034 tons) were built in Denmark on Danish ac- count and thirty-six (85,117 tons) were acquired from foreigners, but twenty-three having been removed from the register the net increase was twenty-one. 'i _ In the official statistics the vessels are divided into three categories, viz. (1) coasting vessels up to 50 tons, (2) medium-sized vessels from 50 up to 300 tons, and (8) large vessels of more than 300 tons. If we .com- pare the three categories with the lists of the year 1895, we find that the coasting vessels have. increased by 181 and 2,400 tons, the medium-sized vessels are less 'by ninety-six and 14,000 tons, and the large vessels are more by forty-eight and nearly 100,000 tons. Of vessels measuring. more than 1,000 tons, the Danish merchant navy at the end. of last year included 100, viz., twelve sailers (18,650 tons) and eighty-eight steamers (140,653 tons). Of the large sailers: seven belonged to Fané, three to Copenhagen, one to Elsinore, and one to Skelskjér, while of the large steamers eighty-five belonged to Copenhagen, and one each to Aalborg, Elsinore and Aarhuus. Of the whole amount of tonnage, 58 per cent., or 576 vessels with 237,000 tons, belonged to Copenhagen; to Fan6 37,170 tons, to Marstal 25,645 tons, to Svendborg 20,257 tons, to Esbjerg 10,856 tons, to Aalborg 5,615 tons, to Rénne 5,599 tons, to Aarhuus 4,806 tons, to Elsinore 4,608 tons, to Korsér 4,053 tons, etc. The largest Danish steamship owner is the. United Steamship Co, of Copenhagen, which possesses 137 steamers of 178,651 tons register and 19,991 H.P., but of these only ninety-three vessels of 68,493 tons and 15,880 H.P. are regis-' tered at Copenhagen. Mr. Joseph Gilchrist of Cleveland, who has placed an order with the : American Ship Building Co. for eight steel freight steamers of 5,000 - gross tons capacity each, says: "I am repeatedly 'asked why I did not build 500-footers--vessels: of more than 7,000 gross tons capacity. The 5,000-ton boat is the better business boat for the so-called 'outsiders' like oe We must carry coal, grain, ore, as freights may offer, going to: all kinds, If we were engaged regularly in the ore trade, then the larger vessel would be the kind 'to: build: tas ' eng _ Men aboard' lake vessels Will'soon be going to. théir 'homes 'for the), winter. Arrange for change in address of your 'Marine Review before quitting ship. [ November iE? | -"Broem thé particulars published by the Danish Statistical bureau'.we- find that at the beginning of the present year the mercantile marine of --