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

22 MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. [Dec. 18, diameter and 11 in. long. The propeller is 14 ft. in diameter. The engine is fitted with steam as well as reverse and turn-over gear. The air pump and cooler pump are worked by means of levers from the low-pressure cylinder cross-head and the bilge pumps from the first-intermediate cylinder cross-head. The feed pump is of the independent type. Sizes of pumps are: Air pump, 40x12 in., single-acting; feed pump, 14 and 18 in. by 12 in., sim- plex, double-acting; auxiliary feed pump, 14 and 8% in. by 10 in., duplex; fresh water pump, 6 and 7% in. by 8 in., duplex; sani- tary pump, 6 and 7% in. by 8 in., duplex; ballast pump, 10 and 16 in. by 12 in., duplex. In the engine room is also placed a double 9xi12-in. vertical, line-shaft hoisting engine, as well as electric lighting and refrigerating machinery. The steam is supplied by four cylindrical boilers, 12 ft. 6 in. diameter by 11 ft. 3 in. long, each fitted with two 44-in. inside diameter corrugated furnaces and 242 3-in. tubes, 7 ft. 9 in. long between tube plates. The boilers are built for a working pres- sure of 210 lbs. and fitted with Howden system of hot draft. The machinery of the vessel is designed for an average of 2,500 H. P. with 100 revolutions per minute. REORGANIZATION OF-THE LAKE CARRIERS. A very important meeting of members of the Lake Carriers' Association was held at the Colonial hotel in Cleveland on Sat- urday last. Another meeting is to be held Saturday of this week. Still others will follow before the annual meeting of the association in Detroit, Jan. 22, as a general reorganization is proposed and the aim is to overcome, if possible, in advance of the annual meeting, certain drawbacks to reorganization that exist on account of conflicting interests that have grown up in the old body. These meetings are open to members of the association only, and the Review will nct, therefore, pretend to report them authoritatively or in detail, but after close touch with affairs of the association for a great many years past, it has not been diffi- cult to gain a knowledge of the scope of what is now proposed. Members who take an active part in the association have realized for some time past that a stronger organization, one of more force and responsibility as regards executive officers, is required if some of the important problems that have come up during the past two years, notably the labor question, are to be properly handled. It is no secret that the interests of the package freight lines of Buffalo have nct always been the same as those of the individual vessel owners or the ore companies owning ves- sels, or that differences between these interests have several times proved troublesome in the association. 'The interests of the indi- vidual vessel owner are also opposed in some important respects to the transportation companies that are controlled by the steel combinations and the large mining companies. To more thoroughly unite these classes of membership and have them agree upon the best common ground is the object of the meet- ings now under way and which are preliminary to the general Detroit meeting. The first meeting was attended by President Livingstone of Detroit, and by several of the line managers from Buffalo, and is said to have viven every assurance of re- organization. Under the new order a liberal salary is talked of for the president, who is to give his entire time to the association, and it is proposed also to pay members of a small executive com- mittee, probably one from each of the large lake ports, for time spent upon affairs of the association. The reorganization cer- tainly does not mean opposition to organized labor. On the con- trary it means dealings with the unions after the practice of the dock managers, but first contemplates the right kind of organiza- tion among vessel owners to undertake such dealings. CONSOLIDATED LAKE SUPERIOR CO. At the meeting cf the board of directors of the Consolidated Lake Superior Co. (Clergue enterprises at the Sault), held in Philadelphia last week, Mr. F. S. Lewis tendered his resignation as president of the company to take effect immediately. Mr. Lewis has served as president scarcely two months, having suc- ceeded Mr. FE. V. Douglas, resigned, during the last week of Octcber. He made no explanation of his resignation further than to say that he desired the directors to be perfectly free to negotiate with the banks. The directors issued a statement that the quarterly dividend, payable Dec. 15, would be deferred. The stocks, both common and preferred, broke sharply, the preferred dropping to 3334 and the common to 6. It is understood that the company has arranged for the loan of $1,000,000 from vari- ous trust companies of Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore. The rail mill at Sault Ste. Marie had shut down for want of pig iron, but Mr. Clergue wired the directors that it would resume on Dec. 22. Mr. Clergue looked upon the stock flurry without alarm. He was inclined to think that the break had occurred through sensational reports sent out from Sault Ste. Marie to the newspapers regarding the temporary stoppage of work in the steel mill. Congressman Ryan has introduced a bill in the house of representatives to authorize the Mather Power Bridge Co. of New York to construct a power bridge in the Niagara river near Buffalo. The bill provides that a clear span of not less than 200 ft., maintained by means of a pivoted draw, shall be provided for vessels. AVERAGE LAKE FREIGHTS--SHIP EARNINGS. Earnings of the lake freighters in the season just closed have been about the same as in 1901, notwithstanding the great delays in port, especially at the ore docks of Lake Erie. Of course there have been some exceptions, but as a rule the big steel ships have been able to divide on the season's work about 10 per cent. among stockholders, in addition to retiring the usual portion of bonds. Some of them have even done better. On the other hand some of the wooden vessels of the older and smaller class have undoubtedly had a hard time making both ends meet, mainly on account of the short coal movement and the delays which they encountered in getting coal cargoes after be- ing chartered. The effect of the strike of anthracite coal miners on the lake trade of the past season has probably not been generally understood. It was at first thought that the influence of the strike would be confined to the hard coal movement, which is not a very large item in the lake trade as a whole, and not im- portant compared even with the soft coal movement. But an immediate effect of the strike was to divert soft coal to the dis- tricts that had been supplied with anthracite, and it is there- fore about right to conclude that the great increase in the lake shipments of iron ore has almost been offset by the shortage in hard and soft coal. It follows also that but for this shortage in soft coal shipments the season would certainly have been somewhat more profitable for the vessels. 'There is, of course, some consolation for the vessel owner in the thought that a short coal supply in the northwest this year means more coal to be moved in 1903. A glance over the freights paid from day to day during the past season on what are known as wild cargoes shows the in- fluence of the big shippin~ organizations in maintaining a steady market up to the period of final shipments late in the fall. In the old days a season of radical fluctuations in freights was not uncommon. 'This year the market has been held practically to _the basis of ore rates on which season contracts were made in the spring. The fall movement of grain from Duluth brought some little change and high rates were paid on a few tail-end cargoes of cecal, but the effect on the season's average is in no case important. The big item of about 28,000,0co gross tons of iron ore, covered largely by season contracts, has been the ruling factor. A fair movement of grain out of Chicago after the first of August helped to uphold the Escanaba ore rate, but grain either from Duluth or Chicago is no longer an important factor in the trade, except for short periods and under extraordinary conditions. The ore movement overshad- ows the smaller items. A few of the average wild rates for the past season are: Iron ore, Escanaba to Ohio ports, 58.8 cents; Marquette to Ohio ports, 66.1 cents; Duluth to Ohio ports, 77.2 cents; soft coal, Ohio ports to Duluth, 34.5 cents; to Milwaukee, 46.7 cents; wheat, Chicago to Buffalo, 1.5 cents. In the following tables will be found average lake freights for 1902 and for a great number of years past. It will be noted that these averages relate to rates prevailing from day to day, a record of which is kept in the office of the Marine Review. They are not tonnage averages. The Review hopes to publish a little later on, the average rate at which all iron ore, wild and contract, was moved from the head of Lake Superior in 1902, comparing the same with sirhilar averages for several years past. : AVERAGE DAILY RATES OF FREIGHT ON THE GREAT LAKES. 1902. 1901. 1900. Cents. Cents. Cents. Tron: ore, Escanaba-to Ohio 'ports... |. 58.8 63.9 69.5 Iron ore, head of Lake Superior to OMG ports, gross ton... . 2. 6.023. U7 89.3 84.5 Iron ore, Marquette to Ohio ports, POSS COM ei ne ee 66.1 IBF ® 78.3 Wheat, Chicago to Buffalo, bushel.... 1.5 1.4 1.8 Wheat, Duluth to Buffalo, bushel..... 1.9 2:3 20 Soft coal, Ohio ports to Milwaukee, : Det (OU a eee a 40.7 48.9 45.4 Soft coal, Ohio ports to Duluth, net ton 34.5 38.3 40.2 Soft ccal, Ohio ports to Portage, net ton 31.8 30.5 41.3 Soft coal,, Ohio ports to Manitowoc, Met pol... : 5 ea 41.9 48.1 43.6 Soft coal, Unio ports to Sheboygan, et Os a ce ee. 41.9 45.3 43.6 Soft coal, Ohio ports to Green Bay, - MeL AON 605 ee i 46.7 48.7 45.0 Soft coal, Ohio ports .to Escanaba, Net tO a ce 41.4 46.0 40.0 Hard coal, Buffalo to Milwaukee, net ton 42.3 50.2 48.5 Hard coal, Buffalo to Chicago, net ton.. 42.3 50.2 48.5 Hard coal, Buffalo to Duluth, net ton... 32.8 38.4 30.5 Lumber, head of the lakes to Ohio ports.254.9 206.0 233.7 AVERAGE DAILY FREIGHT RATES, TEN YEARS ENDING WITH 10902. Cents. Iron ore, head of ake Superior to Ohio ports, gross ton.. .84%4 Tron ore, Marquette to Ohio ports, POSS (ON 6 ee 73% Iron ore, Escanaba to Ohio ports, gross ton................ 61