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DEVOTED TO EVERYTHING AND EVERY INTEREST CONNECTED OR ASSOCIATED WITH MARINE MATTERS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. Published every Thursday by The Penton Publishing Company, CLEVELAND, OHIO. CLEVELAND: WADE BUILDING, CHICAGO: MONADNOCK BUILDING. DETROIT: HAMMOND BUILDING. Correspondence on Marine Engineering, Ship Building and Shipping Subjects Solicited. Subscription, $3.00 per annum. To Foreign Countries, $4.50. Subscribers can have addresses changed at will. The Cleveland News Co. will supply the trade with the MARINE REVIEW through the regular channels of the American News Co. Entered at the Post Office at Cleveland, Ohio, as second Class Matter. MARCH 10, 1904. Readers of the Marine Review will notice that with _ this issue some changes have ben made in its appear- ance and make-up that it is hoped will meet with the general endorsement of its friends. The re-arrange- ment apparent has been made 'with the sole idea of rendering its appearance more acceptable from a liter- ary and artistic viewpoint. Others that are under con- templation and which will be introduced gradually, will, it is hoped, all lend their influence to making this one of the truly handsome publications of the world. If there is any one tendency of mankind that has been at all times consistently adhered to in all ages and in the various changes that have been wrought in nations, governments and peoples since the beginning of time, it has been the consistent development of the "artistic" in the human race. In the first rank always among the arts has been the youngest of all, the "Art of Printing ;' and as far as it may, with justice to itself, the Marine Review will endeavor hereafter to be a leader as an artistic publication that every subscriber and patron can be proud of. It will take time, but each succeeding month will bring with it changes of such a minor character that they can perhaps hardly be observed, but in the aggre- gate they will, when added together, count for much towards the accomplishment of the desired end. We very much desire to ask every reader of the Marine Review for two substantial favors: First, we MARINE REVIEW want each one to feel that any criticism of any feature of this paper's appearance or contents will at all times be in order and welcome; and second, we shall be very glad to receive contributions on any subject that would be appropriate for our columns. The Marine Review covers a wide range and a wide territory, and no matter in what part of the world our friends may be we shall be glad to hear from them frequently. Not a single contract has been let for a vessel for the foreign trade of the United States for more than two years past. Such a sentence does not adorn the pages of American industry, but it points a moral, nevertheless. Here is a country whose exports are unrivaled among the nations of the earth without a single ship ordered for over two years to carry away its freight. That such a condition should obtain in a country so resourceful as this proves that there is some- thing inherently and radically wrong. American ship- ping in the foreign trade is waging an unequal battle. It is not being given a fair show. It is struggling under the handicap imposed upon it by an American Congress. With every other industry protected, why shoula this one, the most important of them all, be neglected? This country has grown rich under the sheltering wing of a protective tariff. Every tribu- tary that flows into the vast stream of American ex- ports is patroled and guarded at every turn; but the very means by which its volume has been swelled to such huge proportions has caused the American ship to swing listlessly at its moorings and to finally decay. Protection has so raised the standard of wages and the plane of living that it is impossible to build a ship in this country, or to operate it after it is built, at any- thing like the figures for which foreign ships are built and operated. If protection is to be granted to any industry it should be granted to all. American shipping is not knocking at the doors of Congress for bounties, for discriminating duties, or for subsidies; it is simply asking that it shall not be discriminated against; it is simply asking for fair play. Congress has laid a heavy hand on American shipping and it is high time that it was taken off. It is estimated that last year $200,000,000 was paid in carrying charges on the foreign commerce of the United States. Of these enormous earnings American ships secured only 8 per cent. Does any one pretend to say that the statistics of our export trade would not have been enriched to this extent if the sum paid for carrying goods abroad were added to the value of the goods themselves? Space in a ship is a commodity just as much as a ton of steel is. It is as deserving of protection as is the ton of steel. Both were made to be sold in competition with the products of countries whose scale of life is lower than ours. If one is pro- tected and the other is not the unprotected suffers a double disadvantage. It suffers the disadvantage im- posed upon it by its own country by reason of higher wages and higher initial cost; it suffers the disad-