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195x404 °. 8 1 8 1902.] MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. 25 direct-connected to a 4x3'%4-in. double-acting enclosed Buffalo engine. This engine runs at a speed of 400 revolutions per min- ute, and at this speed the fan has a capacity of 6,100 cu. ft. of air delivered at the register outlets per minute. The heater consists of five sections, each similar to those of the other heater, and contains 1,355 ft. The main supply to the steam receiver is 1% in. 'When outside conditions require, a pressure of 120 lbs. per square inch may be applied to the heaters. The engine works under any pressure from 120 to 250 lbs. per square inch. The cylinder of this engine was tested to a hydrostatic pressure af 2c0: lbs: The neaters thus described are of ample capacity to heat the quantities of air which the fans are guaranteed to handle and deliver through 105 registers to such a degree that the tem- perature of the ship can be maintained at 22° Celsius with an outside temperature of 4° Celsius, when all the air is taken from the outside and when the heaters are supplied with a steam pressure of 120 lbs. per square inch. ADDRESS ON THE J,000-TON BARGE CANAL. Mr. Herbert P. Bissell of Buffalo, at the banquet of the Tonawanda board of trade, spoke upon the 1,000-ton barge canal as follows: "We have been for several years confronted with the grave question of retaining that greatness and supremacy by the imme- diate and adequate improvement of our great highway of com- merce or of losing it by the abandonment of the Erie canal, which must surely result from the failure to soon improve it. The canal has been twice enlarged, the last enlargement being completed forty years ago and admitting of the operation of a boat bearing 240 tons of freight or 8,000 bu. of grain. Since 1862, however, there has been no consistent improvement whatever, while all other means of transportation have steadily improved their meth- ods and capacities. Only think of the increase in tonnage of the vessels upon the great lakes from the 64-ton vessel, which was built by LaSalle on the Niagara river in 1679, to the 9,000-ton ves- sels now sailing between Buffalo and western points. Consider also the increase in the capacity of a railroad car from 20,000 130X200 Marine Inyincering ting Equipment of the Dutch Cruiser Konigen Regentes. lbs. thirty years ago, to 80,000 lbs. today, while the tonnage of the canal boat is 240 tons today, just as it was in 1870, and just as it was in 1862. Is it not, then, high time that an enlightened statesmanship should be applied to the. canal policy of this state? Fortunately, for the maintenance of our imperial commercial position, three years ago an able, stren- uous and enlightened governor appointed a committee cf compe- tent and earnest citizens of which Gen.. Francis V. Green of New York was chairman and-Maj. Thomas W. Symons was one of the most efficient and industrious members, to consider the broad question of the proper policy which the state of New York should pursue in the canal matters. Two years ago this committce made an exhaustive and able report recommending that the canal should not only not be abandoned; but that it should be enlarged and improved so that barges bearing 1,000 tons of freight can be operated in fleets of four or six boats carrying from 125,000 io 200,000 bu. of grain. They recommended a plan to construct practically a new canal from Lake Erie to the Hudson river, fol- lowing the present route for something over two-thirds of the distance and new routes for the remaining distance of a little less than one third, utilizing the existing structure and prism so far as they can be made use of. While the sum of money required to put this plan into execution is large, being estimated at about $80,000,0co for the improvement of all of the canals, the resources of the state of New York are now so enormous that the financial burden will be comparatively light. Many times lighter, indeed, than was the burden upon the shoulders of our earnest and ener- getic forefathers when they appropriated $9,000,000 to be raised by direct taxation for the original canal. It requires only a superficial review of the history of the Erie canal to convince any' loyal citizens of the state of New York of its incalculable value to the whole state, while to us on the Niagara irontier a 1,c00-ton barge canal means an increase in wealth, population and prosperity impossible to estimate or fore- tell. Moreover, we should never forget that the great state of New York collected in tolls from the commerce of the Erie canal up to the close of 1882, when it was made a free waterway, the sum of $121,461,870, while the cost of maintenance to 1896 amounted to but $37,681,080 and the cost of the construction and improvements to that year were $56,164,073, leaving a profit to the credit of the Erie canal on the books of the treasurer of the state amounting in 1896 to $27,615,817. Such is the magnif- cent showing, in spite of all of the extravagance and mismanage- ment and corruption that were frequently charged up to that time. The $9,000,000 appropriation, concerning which there has been so much discussion in political campaigns, must be de- ducted from this profit, and it mav be that that amount was almost wholly wasted, but even then there is a net balance to the credit of the Erie canal-on the books of the state treasurer of about $20,000,000. Such is the business showing without any consideration of the enormous benefits accruing from the develop- ment of the cities along the line of the canal, from the develop- ment of the cities of New York, Buffalo and North Tonawanda at the termini of the Erie canal, from the development of the commerce upon the great lakes and from the development of the territory in the northwest. "We have been accustomed to regard the canal as mainly use- ful for the transportation of breadstuffs, coal and lumber. You are well aware of its usefulness and value in the transportation of lumber, and I will pass it by and present to you as an attrac- tive illustration of the benefits to be derived, both in the Tona- wandas and Buffalo from its improvement and development of the iron and steel industry on the Niagara frontier. A few years ago William A. Rogers and his associates of Buffalo rebuilt in North Tonawanda the blast furnaces which had lain for many years in ruins. Clear headed business men have recently turned their attention to the favorable location of the Niagara frontier for the iron and steel industry. The Lackawanna Steel Co., with a capital of $40,000,000, has removed its large plant from Scranton and is now completing one of the finest steel plants in the world at Stony point. Mr. Rogers, associated with the Messrs. Goodyear, has arranged for the construction of extensive blast furnaces on Buffalo harbor, while the firm of M. A. Hanna & Co. of Cleveland, is now operating three large blast furnaces on the Buffalo river. Now, why has the Niagara frontier been selected for this industry? It is due entirely to the magnetism of the cheap transportation facilities; it is because the raw mater- ial for the manufacture of iron can be assembled at Buffalo and Tonawanda at as cheap a rate as at any point in the United States, and cur location for the cheap distribution of the manu- factiired product is more favorable than any other point in the United States. In centuries past nature deposited a great mass of thousands of millions of tons of iron ore in the regions of Lake Superior, and this ore can be brought to the foot of the great lakes by water transportation as cheaply as it can be brought to Cleveland or to Conneaut, and from Conneaut it must bear freight charges to take it to Pittsburg, which has heretofore been the most advantageous point for the manufacture of iron. "Now, when a suitable waterway and enlarged 1,000-ton barge canal upon the plan of the canal committee is provided through the state of New York, it is as certain as anything in human fore- sight can be, that.Western New York, the route along the line of the Erie canal, the Mohawk valley and the Hudson river will become the great industrial beehive of this country. The proposition is absolutely true in commerce that the country that can produce the cheapest ton of iron will hold the leading place in the world's prosperity. This is as sure as that the sun will rise tomorrow and with cheap transportation facilities, the state of New York will reap the lion's share of this prosperity. The Lake Superior region to. which I have re- ferred last year produced 20,000,000 tons of iron ore and it will this year produce about 25,0c0,000 tons and this iron ore can be brought by water to Buffalo and Tonawanda cheaper than iron ore for the manufacture of iron can be laid down at any other point in the world and the Erie canal, enlarged and improve, will give the shipper of iron manufactured at either Buffalo or Tonawanda, an advantage of at least $2 per ton over Pittsburg iron in the eastern market. Consider, then, the possibilities of the iron and steel manufactures at Buffalo and Tonawanda and at other canal points in the state. The ore will be brought down to us from the Lake Superior region at the same cost as to Con- neaut, O. 'The ore may be sent forward on the 1,000-ton barges to blast furnaces along the canal or the pig iron may be manufac- tured at Buffalo or 'Yonawanda and be forwarded in the 1,000- ton barges down through the state at such a low rate that in- numerable manufacturing concerns requiring the melting of pig iron will flourish here and multiply and employ labor to such an extent that a new impetus to great wealth will be given to the entire state of New York. 'This argument will apply with equal force to every city along the line of canal, but the Niagara frontier cannot fail to enjoy especial benefits because, added to those I have already mentioned, a great, manufacturing center must also result from the development of the vast amount and low cost of electrical power at Niagara Falls. With this great im- provement made, the Erie canal will become commercially more important than the Suez canal or the proposed Nicaragua canal, for not only shall we enjoy in a greater degree the advantages of the grain trade, the lumber trade and the creation of a great manufacturing center, but also the control of the iron industry of the world by the citizens and manufacturers of the empire state.' :