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24 MARINE REVIEW. [December 12, TEXT OF THE NEW SHIPPING BILL. An inspection of the new shipping bill, introduced by Senator Frye, reveals the fact that the senator has endeavored to meet the opposition which was raised to the measure introduced by him at the last session of congress. The new bill is short and simple and is divided into four titles. It does not provide American registry for foreign ships owned by Americans. It makes no distinction between fast and slow steamships, except as the former may obtain mail contracts under the act of 1891. It contains no specific requirement for export cargo, on the ground that it would be a violation or attempted violation of our treaties and further is unnecessary because the subsidy rate is so low that ample cargo must be carried in order to escape loss. The first title, "Ocean Mail Steamships," is devoted to amendments to the ocean mail act of 1891. Under the bill the postmaster-general is required to consider the national defence and the maritime interests of the United States, as well as postal interests, in providing for the transporta- tion of American ocean mails. The purpose of this is to free the United States from dependence upon the British, German and French auxiliary cruisers for its ocean mail service and:to substitute a purely American system. The present system of ocean mail contracts, ten years, is increased to fifteen years, to correspond with the limit of the recent German and French contracts. The present obsolete and unscientific classification of mail steamships provides only four classes, 20-knot vessels of 8,000 tons, 16-knot vessels of 5,000 tons, 14-knot vessels of 2,500 tons and 12-knot wooden steamships of 1,500 tons. The new bill provides seven distinct classes and is based on the progress of ship building and mail require- ments abroad during the past ten years. : Corresponding with the new classification in vessels are changes in the rates of mail pay. The present rates, $4, $2, $1 and 67 cents, were fixed by the house of representatives in 1891. The bill passed by the sen- ate that year fixed the rates at $6, $3, $1.50 and $1. The experience of ten years has shown that the present rates are too low for the faster mail steamships and too high for the slower. The Frye bill now in effect restores the old senate rate of $6 to 20-knot steamships, increasing from 8,000 to 10,000 tons the minimum size, restores the rate of $3 for 16-knot steamships, provided the size is increased from 5,000 tons, the present minimum, to 8,000 tons, the modern British and German mail size. The bill leaves at the present rates or reduces mail pay for slower and smaller steamships. It drops the obsolete wooden steamships of only 12 knots as no longer eligible for ocean mail service. The rates fixed by the bill are maximum rates. Mail contracts are open to competition and will be awarded at rates as much below the maximum as will secure an American mail service. The proposed maximum mail rates per gross ton per nautical hundred - miles are: Over 10,000 tons, 20 knots, 2.7 cents; 19 knots, 2.5 cents. Over 5,000 tons, 18 knots, 2.8 cents; 17 knots, 2.1 cents; 16 knots, 1.9 cents; 15 knots, 1.7 cents. Over 2,000 tons, 14 knots, 1.5 cents. Rates for mail steamships to the West Indies, Central America and Mexico cannot ex- ceed 70 per cent. of the maximum rates on account of their shorter voy- ages and smaller coal supply. The second title, "General Subsidy," contains the general subsidy for all vessels, steam or sail, which are not under mail contracts. This gen- eral subsidy is uniform, one cent per gross ton per 100 nautical miles, for not exceeding sixteen entries in one year. This amount is sufficient, according to the latest figures, to equalize the difference in American seamen's wages and in the cost of building ocean'steamships in the United States and Great Britain, referred to in President Roosevelt's message and Secretary Gage's report. To promote the building of new ocean vessels an additional allowance of one-fourth of a cent per gross ton is made for five years. Any vessel to receive this general subsidy must carry mails if re- quired and must train in seamanship or engineering one American youth for each 1,000 tons. The owner must agree to hold the vessel at the ser- vice of the government, if required, for defence, the pay for such service to be appraised by a representative of the government and of the owner. These requirements are taken substantially from the ocean mail act of 1891. Any vessel to receive subsidy must be class Al, and at least one- fourth of the crew must be Americans. A vessel going to a foreign. port less than 150 miles from the United States or making less than half its voyage on salt water is not entitled to subsidy. Barges, canalboats, tug- boats and wrecking vessels are also excluded. : The third title, "Deep-Sea Fisheries," provides an annual bounty of $2 a ton for deep-sea fishing vessels, and of $1 a month for American citizens when engaged in deep-sea fisheries. The fourth title, "General Provisions,' provides that a vessel shall receive only one form of subsidy, and that a vessel which has received a subsidy shall not be sold to a foreigner except by consent of the secretary of the treasury. The president shall designate heads of departments to provide regulations to carry out this bill. The bill was referred to the committee on commerce. The house bill, introduced by Representative Grosvenor, is identical with the senate bill. Representative Stevens, who led the opposition in the house last year to the old measure, says that the new bill is more acceptable to the western members, but that as yet they are not prepared to express their position upon it. Discussing the bill he says: "The new bill makes important concessions to the west. It does not meet the views of our people on the cargo clause but I know that Senator Frye explains this point by contending that it is not necessary to make specific requirements for export cargoes. Our people;are opposed to tank steamers and the new bill is silent on this point. It also omits the anti-trust provision for which we stood last congress. This is a provision against trusts in the ownership, management and building of ships. Sen- ator Frye has, however, abandoned the speed and size clause of the old bill and substitutes a clause for the reclassification of the postal subsidy | act. The bill makes no limitation of the subsidy to be paid., In the old bill the aggregate was $9,000,000 per annum. The western,members last year 'asserted that. the bill in its speed and size clause would give the bulk of the '$9,000,000 to, fast ships, leaving the freighters out, but this objection . to the new bill is removed. It also provides that vessels must carry a certain percentage of American apprentices and seamen. Another feature of the new bill is the construction bounty which is to remain in force five years. The new bill does not meet all the objections we urged but we have received some important concessions." Senator Hanna, who delivered an address before the Boston Mer- chants' Association at Boston Tuesday evening on the shipping bill, said: "We are building a magnificent navy and shall continue until we are second to no nation. We should also build something for that navy to defend. The amount now paid annually by American merchants into the pockets of foreign ship owners is $200,000,000. No country on the face of the globe could stand that drain but the United States. And why need we stand it? We can see how the subsidy is affecting England and her war with South Africa. The raw materials from our mines are lying on our docks awaiting transportation abroad." MONUMENT TO ROBERT FULTON UNVEILED. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers has just unveiled in Trinity churchyard, New York, a monument to the memory of Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat. Prior to the unveiling Rear Ad- miral George Wallace Melville, engineer-in-chief of the United States navy, and Dr. Robert H. Thurston, dean of Sibley college, Cornell uni- versity, delivered orations in the salesrooms of the New York real estate exchange in the Trinity building. Rear Admiral Melville spoke of Robert Fulton as one of the greatest benefactors of the human race and recited many of the benefits of steam navigation. His success, he said, was due to his progressive and unremitting labor. : "The mechanical seer," the admiral said, "is often unable to place his invention within the practical reach of humanity. Fulton's claim to the 'first invention of a practical steamboat cannot be disputed, and he com- mercially created it. He possessed the power of invention, or creativeness, and was at the same time a practical engineer." The admiral related briefly Fulton's career from his birth in 1765 in Lancaster county, Pa., to his success with the Clermont, the first steam- ship, 1807, and he read Fulton's letter describing the first trip of the steamboat to Albany, in thirty-four hours, and the return trip, made in thirty hours. As a marine engineer, the admiral said, he deemed it an _honor to pay tribute to the genius of Robert Fulton, who had created the the canal, but the report says this can easily be secured. ' granted by the Colombian government 'to the Panam | many years to run, and new concessions cannot be granted the United profession. The admiral described the steam propelled floating battery which Fulton constructed in the war of 1812, as the first steam war vessel of the world, and said that credit was due to him for the fact that Ameri- ca's war vessels now stand, gun for gun and ton for ton, equal to the greatest war vessels of the nations. Dr. Thurston's address was scholarly and was very much appreciated. A dedicatory service was next held in Trinity church. The Rev. Dr. J. Nevett Steele, vicar of Trinity parish, conducted the ceremony, being assisted by the Rev. Joseph Hill, the precentor, and the full vested choir of the church. The Rev. Dr. Robert Fulton Crary, a grandson of Robert Fulton, delivered an address, speaking of the genealogy of Robert Fulton and some of the exploits of his ancestry. He said that a number of Ful- tons today are eminent engineers in various parts of the world. He quoted from letters of Fulton to show how largely he was actuated by patriotism in releasing and putting in force the power of steam. He read a description of the funeral of Robert Fulton in Trinity churchyard in 1815. The Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix pronounced the benediction, and the mem- bers of the society and their guests then proceeded to the churchyard, pass- ing the tomb which holds the body of Fulton, and marching to the new monument, where the unveiling took place. Ex-Chief Engineer Haswell of the United States navy, and President S. T. Wellman led the procession to the monument, which is of granite, bearing on its face a bronze portrait of Robert Fulton in high relief, with the inscription: "To the memory of Robert Fulton, 1765-1815. Erected by the American Society of Mechani- cal Engineers, 1901." The ceremony at the monument was quite informal, the president of the society unveiling the monument, and those who were present filing by and dispersing. NICARAGUA ROUTEfFENDOSRED. The_report of the Isthmian canal commission has been sent to con- gress. The commission favors the Nicaragua route and makes an estimate of $189,864,062 as the total cost of construction of the canal through Nicaragua. The estimated cost of the Panama route is $144,233,358, but the report says it would cost $109,141,000 to obtain the Panama concession. The commission values the work done at $40,000,000. The report says that the Panama route is feasible as a sea-level canal, while the Nicaragua route must be by locks, but Lake Nicaragua will furnish an inexhaustible supply of water for the canal. The Nicaragua route has no natural har- bors at either end, but satisfactory harbors may be constructed.. Harbors already exist at each end of the Panama canal route, but considerable work must be done at the entrance of the harbor on the Atlantic side. With adequate force and plant the commission estimates that the Nicaragua - canal can be completed in six years, exclusive of two years for preparation. Ten years is estimated to complete the Panama canal. The total length of the Nicaragua route is 183.66 miles and the Panama route 49.09. The estimated cost of operating and maintaining the Nicaragua canal annually is $1,350,000 greater than that of the Panama canal. The estimated time for a deep-draught vessel to pass through the Panama canal is 12 hours and through Nicaragua canal 83 hours. The Nicaragua route the report says, is more advantageous for commerce save that originating on the west coast of South America. For the gulf ports the advantage is two days, and for most of the ports on the Atlantic and Pacific one day The Nicaragua route is said to be better for sailing vessels on account of favoring winds. Hygienic conditions also favor Nicaragua. The com- nussion says the United States should acquire control of a strip of terri- tory 10 miles wide, from sea to sea, through which to build the canal The consent of Nicaragua and Costa Rica must be obtained to construct The concessions a Canal Co. have States. The report concludes:as follows: "After considering all the facts de- , veloped by the investigations made by the commission, the actual situation | as it now stands, and having in view the terms offer 1ds, Having = te ed by the new P Canal 'Co., this commission is of the opinion that the mack practedHle feasible route for an isthmian canal, to be under the control, management a. ownership of the United States, is that known as the Nicaragua route,