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20 MARINE REVIEW. [November 14,. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CLERGUE ENTERPRISES. The annual report of the Consolidated Lake Superior Co., which con- trols the extensive mining, steel-making, railway, paper manufacturing and other enterprises in the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie district, being carried through by what is known as the Clergue syndicate, refers to the past year as an eventful one. The absorption of the Ontario Lake Supe- rior Co. gave the consolidated company control of the Algoma Central railway and steamship companies; the Manitoulin & North Shore Rail- way; the Algoma Commercial Co.; the British-American Express 'Co., and the Algoma Central Telegraph lines. The operating companies owned by the company are: The Lake Superior Power Co., Sault Ste. Marie Pulp & Paper Co., Tagona Water & Light Co., Michigan Lake Superior Power Co., and the Algoma Steel Co., Ltd., just organized. On October 31 there was outstanding of the preferred stock $14,475,800. During the year ending June 30, 1902, there will be outstanding an average not exceeding $18,000,000, upon which the dividends for the year amount to $1,260,000. _ The directors say: '""The amount of net earnings which will be real- ized from June 30, 1901, to June 30, 1902, upon the sale and transportation of iron ore from the Helen iron mine, will alone be sufficient to pay the entire preferred stock dividend of the company during the period named. This statement is based upon carnings now being realized, without con- sidering the increased value which will result from mixing the Helen ore with the high-grade Bessemer ore from the Josephine mine. The large earnings, therefore, which will certainly be derived during the same period of time from the steel works, government bonus, ground wood and sul- phite-pulp mills, ferro-nickel works, sulphuric-acid works, water-power rentals, railway and steamship operations, timber sales, and the sales of ore from other than the Helen mine, will all be tributary either to surplus account or for dividends upon the common stock of your company." The following is the income account for the year to June 380 last: CREDIT. Healeuee ily | 190 ee ee $7,634 Dividends received: Lake Superior Power Co., preference stock................. 39,600 icbake superior Power €o. common stock. ......5:....3...... 555,628 Sault Ste. Marie Pulp & Paper Co. preference stock......... 59,688 Sault Ste. Marie Pulp & Paper Co. common stock........... 80,000 Total income ....... Ree es op os eee oe ek ees $692,550 oe _ 'DEBIT. Preference stock dividenG..;. 26.6. .00. .405., $420,000 Less dividend installment receipts............ 164,371 ---------- $255,628 Common stock dividend .:................... - 420,000 General Gxpelices -2.46.5...... 6... es 8,044 683,672 Balance to income account......6....scsecvessececeseecueens _ $8,877 BALANCE SHEET--ASSETS. Dubadiany COoMpatics ...°-..-. 2.0.2.2 -0 5 oe ere $18,889,370 ake Sliperion GOWEr CO. 6. 6.6 cece. ee ee dees 1,5 ecw WaaNCe to i ee see ee 8,336 "Total assets. .......-.. ee ee. i. $18,899,247 BALANCE SHERT--LIABILITIES. Petre Call Sick gi. se ee ve $6,000,000 Less in treasury Lake Superior Power Co......... 1,109,630 -- 4,890,370 (Common capital stock 2.2.0 26. cc. hs 14,000,000 rOmt ang 108s es ee ka 8,877 ee fod oo ce. $18,899,247 The subsidiary companies' account embraces the ownership of the Sault Ste. Marie Pulp & Paper Co., the Lake Superior Power Co., the Michigan Lake Superior Power Co., and Tagona Water & Light Co. CRUISER CINCINNATI TO HAVE A FIGUREHEAD. The cruiser Cincinnati is the first all-steel ship of the service to have a figurehead and when she is placed in commission at the New York navy yard on Dec. 1, she will display a life-size heroic figure of liberty in steel and wood, standing straight out from her well-curved stem. This figure was designed and constructed at the New York yard under direction of Rear Admiral Francis T. Bowles, then in charge of the construction workshops, and is declared to be a perfect specimen of the figurehead for a warship. Such decorations disappeared with the gradual abandonment of wood for steel vessels and even with many of the old wooden craft there were few of those immense figureheads which years ago were a distinguishing feature of all American naval vessels. The last of this number to display figureheads were the vessels of the line of battleships class that found their way to the burial ground of the navy soon after the civil war. The Cincinnati is said to be the only all-steel vessel in the world of any naval power whose stem is adorned with a figurehead. In another respect the 'Cincinnati is unique among vessels of the navy and is more nearly absolutely fireproof than any other warship afloat. Every article of her furniture and interior equipment is of metal, her bulkheads are of steel, and wire and metal generally have been adopted throughout the vessel where wood has heretofore been used. Water-tube boilers have been placed in the ship and the enlargment of her coal bunkers will in- crease her steaming radius of action one-fourth greater than it was before. She has also been made more economical to maintain in commission and by Admiral Bowles is regarded as practically an entirely new vessel. | _A huge sternpost for the American line steamship New York has arrived at the yard of the John N. Robins Co., Erie basin, New York. It is a steel casting in two parts. The lower one is a massive and compli- cated piece of work, weighing 15 tons. The work of cutting away the stern of the vessel will he finished this week and the reconstruction of the ship awill be commenced. About 140 ft. will then have been removed on he/keel line, including the plates, tanks, frames, floors and 'bulkheads. This work is irrespective of the removal of the ballast tanks for a distance of 325 ft. - RESTORATION OF THE AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE. BY RICHARD P. JOY. The deplorable condition oi the American merchant marine in over- sea trade has long called for national measures of relief. The condition that confronts the people of the United States is that they are now paying, as a nation, over $200,000,000 annually to foreigners for transporting passengers and freight between the United States and foreign countries. All of this vast sum goes out of the country, and the amount is indeed appalling. Senator Gallinger recently stated in the United States senate that "at the present time barely 4 per cent. of the steamship tonnage which enters and clears at ports of the United States in trade with Europe is under the American flag." The reports of the commissioner of navi- gation show that American tonnage of all classes engaged in over-sea trade has fallen from 71 per cent. of the total tonnage entered and cleared at the ports of the United States in 1856, to 8 per cent. in 1901, the small- est in our history, showing that our deep-sea shipping, which was one of the glories of the early days of the republic, has practically vanished. EARLY HISTORY OF THE MERCHANT MARINE. In order to fully understand the reasons for the decline of American shipping on the seas, a short review of the history of the American mer- chant marine is necessary. One of the first acts of congress under the administration of the great and wise Washington was to put into effect a system of discriminating duties highly favorable to American vessels, that is, goods imported in American ships were permitted to enter the United States under 10 per cent. less duty than goods imported in foreign vessels. This policy stimulated the upbuilding of the merchant marine to such an extent that the revenues of the government were seriously affected. The act was then changed so that goods imported in American vessels paid the regular duty, while goods imported in foreign vessels were compelled to pay 10 per cent. higher duty. Thus two objects were achieved at one time, namely, the revenues of the government were increased, and the building of ships in this country went on in an unpre- cedented manner. Shortly after this system was put into effect 90 per cent. of our imports and exports were carried on in American-built, owned, and manned vessels. In the treaty with England, signed at the close of the war of 1812, the United States agreed, among other things, to forever discontinue the system of discriminating duties, which had built up the American merchant marine, and this clause has been inserted in almost every treaty with foreign powers since that time. However, for many years after that time American ships continued to sail the seas, as the impetus of the system of discriminating duties lasted long after that protection was withdrawn, and as ship yards had taken firm root on American soil, and as timber was plenty, we could still build ships as cheaply as could foreigners. American sailing ships in those days were models of grace and beauty, and on account of their superior sailing qualities and quick voyages were sought after by shippers in all lands, and the fame of our ship builders was spread far and wide. In fact, many orders for ships from abroad were placed with American ship builders. The vacillating policy of the American congress in regard to the merchant marine is apparent from the history of the once famous Collins line, the first American steamship line between the United States and Europe. This line of steamships was called into existence by a mail sub- sidy granted by the United States government about the year 1846. Mr. Collins organized a company and built the finest and swiftest steamers then crossing the Atlantic, and successfully operated the line until the British government doubled the subsidy of the Cunard line, Collins' com- petitor. Shortly after that time the Collins line met misfortune in the loss of several vessels, and in this extremity congress withdrew the mail - subsidy and England's subsidized steamship line drove the American line off the sea. It is thus seen that congress has never pursued any fixed policy on the sea, while England has in every way encouraged British shipping with subsidies and wise shipping laws. During the war of the rebellion, England built several Confederate cruisers of the Alabama class, and these commerce destroyers were turned loose upon United States shipping, capturing and destroying thou- sands of tons of shipping, and forcing American ship owners to either let their vessels remain in port and rot or sell them abroad to for- eigners, to be sailed under the protection of a foreign flag, which many of our ship owners were compelled to do. From this wholesale slaughter the American merchant marine never recovered, and as the change from wood to iron ships was soon felt, England on account of being able to construct iron ships more cheaply than could Americans, having the advantage of cheap iron and low wages, in addition to the policy of en- couraging shipping by subsidies, soon distanced us in the race, and Amer- icans were compelled to abandon the sea. POLICY OF FOREIGN NATIONS IN REGARD TO SHIPPING. England, by encouraging steamship lines with subsidies, has built up British ship yards so that by competition between those ship yards the cost of building vessels has been greatly lowered, and ships of all classes are turned out annually by the hundreds. Government statistics show that the following nations pay annually in subsidies, mail pay, naval reserve subventions and bounties, as follows: Bip lade oa oe er eee $5,274,257 OA es a 1,885,880 PONCE ye ee ee 6,885,248 DAM oe re Gl ee et Es 1,904,968 MOU ee es ee ee 1,941,000 IRUSSIA ee et nee 1,211,000 VADAN Goo ee ee 3,786,000 The United States government paid to American vessels for trans- potting mails about $1,000,000 during the last year. However, this mail subsidy is entirely inadequate, and but: few vessels have been built to operate under the provisions of this act. UNITED STATES AIDING FOREIGN STEAMSHIP LINES. A peculiar fact is that while the English and other foreign: govern- ments have seen fit to grant subsidies and naval reserve subventions to their shipping, with the purpose of haying armed transports and, cruisers in time of war, the American congress has also. aided these foreign gov- erninents by paying during the past five years, in mail pay,,to the Cunard