Great Lakes Art Database

Marine Review (Cleveland, OH), 13 Sep 1906, p. 28

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28 $17,000,000 they collect back $200,000,- 000 or $300,000,000. It will be evident they not only keep the $17,000,000 in their own country, but they get an enor- mous flow of money from our country to theirs for ocean traffic. It has been said that England has as much income per year from her ships as the total value of the American wheat crop is to this country. Then in the case of war we are com- pelled to have transports. With a large naval reserve, including the best ships of the merchant marine and a full equip- ment of men and officers in the merchant marine, we are always splendidly pre- pared for war. In the late war with Spain, the United States spent enough money buying transports to pay all the subsidies that would be required for a number of years to come. In addition. to this, what she got for the money is practically already gone, because what was available to be bought was mostly old hulks that were nearly; worthless and in all cases inferior ships. Her main reliance was on those American merchant vessels which had been main- tained by mail contracts which were practically subsidies. ee Both the majority and minority of the marine commission concur that the con- dition of the American merchant marine is deplorable. That the remnant which is left is simply the dying remnant. That something ought to be done to re- vive it. . That the people not only ap- prove, but demand that something be done to revive it and that all that is necessary is to agree upon a feasible plan. THE NECESSITY FOR REVIVAL. _ The necessity for this revival is be- coming daily more acute. Serious as the need of the navy is for transport vessels in the event of war, the produc- tion of American manufacturers has be- come so great that there is imperative need of foreign trade. The only possi- bility of properly developing this is to have American ships manned by Ameri- can seamen and officers, who are inter- ested in the extension of American com- merce, go to the foreign ports and offer American goods from under the Amer- ican flag in the foreign port. Here lies the most immediate and pressing need. If we can develop a domestic commerce by means of railways that exceeds that of any other nation in the world, surely we can develop a foreign trade by means of building and owning vessels that are capable of taking care of the surplus production by our factories. What sort of fix would our domestic trade be in if we permitted the English and Ger- man government to send engines and trains and crews over here to do a busi- ness on our railroads and_ sufficiently subsidized to justify them in underbid- THE MARINE REVIEW ding our own 'railroads just enough to do the commerce. if we let them send all the income: from 'this traffic back home, we would then be in practically the same position with reference to our domestic. commerce that we permit ourselves to be put in by tha present situation on the high seas. _ We are building the Panama canal at a cost of what will probably ag- gregate $200,000,000. Unless we can change our present shipping situation this canal will be for the use of Eng- lish and German ships in peace and -either nation might take it away from us in war, because war with either or both would find us without transports to serve our navy or carry our army to the fighting ground. ae The stimulating influence necessary to rehabilitate our merchant marine, whether by the plan of preferential dut- ies or by the plan of making the ships part of the navy reserve and by mail contracts, would not need to be indefi-' nitely continued. SHIPPING ON THE LAKES. The shipping on the lakes reserved for American use only, has attained a position against which no foreign coun- try could now compete, if the field was made open. I have not verified the statement that has been made to me, to wit, that our lake tonnage is greater than the aggregate deep sea tonnage of the world, and the freight charges less. Whether this is true or not, the de- velopment of shipping on the lakes shows that Americans can develop a shipping trade if given navigation. Eng- land has always practically pursued the policy of reserving English goods for English ships. Aside from payments in cash or loans, this policy alone car- ried out as England has adroitly carried it out is subvention with a vengeance. Any measure that would constrain American goods to be carried in Ameri- can ships would give a basis upon which our deep sea marine service might be not only brought parallel with that of foreign countries, but there would seem to be no valid reason to doubt that. we might bring it to approximate the de- velopment of shipping on the lakes, and of our transportation on land by rail. LAKE STEAMERS LAUNCHED. Two more lake freighters were launched. on Saturday last, the Henry A. Hawgood at the Cleveland yard of the American Ship Building Co., and the E..L. Wallace at the Ecorse yard of the Great Lakes Engineering Works. The Henry A. Hawgood is the last of three big steamers that were ordered by the late Henry A. In addition to this Hawgood, the others being the Har-. . vey D. Goulder and the J. Q. Riddle. Miss Helen A. Hawgood christened the vessel in honor of her father. The launching was successful in every way, The Hawgood is 552 ft. over all, 532 ft. keel, 56 ft. beam and 31 it. deep. She will have thirty-two hatches spaced 12-ft. centers. Her engines are triple- expansion with cylinders 23%, 38 and 63 in. diameters by 42-in. stroxe, sup- plied with steam from two Scotch boilers, 141%4 ft. diameter by. 11% ft. long, fitted with Ellis & Eaves draft and allowed 180 lbs. pressure. The launch was witnessed by Miss Helen A. Hawgood, Mrs. Henry A. Haw- good, Miss Pocunier, Miss "Thomas, Clark: = D:-° Adams, Sheldon: Parks, Charles' Stocker, H. Clark Gould, ° 'Phatcher. Parks; Sheldon. Patxs 'Jr., Capt. and Mrs. Arthur H. Hawgood, Harvey Hawgood, Miss Aldyth Haw- good, H. B. Hawgood, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Ellis; Robert Wallace, O. J. Fish, O. N. Steele, and Miss Virginia Mar- tin; The steamer. E. LL. Wallace. was christened by Miss May Hudson, of Fremont, O., and the launching was perfect in evefy way. The Wallace is 445 it. over all. 420 ft. keel, 52. ft. beam and 28 ft. deep. She has twelve hatches: spaced 24-ft. centers. Her en- gines .are triple-expansion with cylin- ders 20, 33% and 55 in. cylinder diam- eters by 42-in. stroke, supplied with steam from two Scotch boilers, 12 it. - nine inches by 12 ft., allowed 175 lbs: pressure. She will be operated by the Dearborn Transit Co. and will be com- manded by Capt. John McAlpine. Her chief engineer will be John Genunhard. Those present on the launching stand were: Mrs. Hudson, wife of Dr, Robert. A: Hudson, of Fremont, O.; Mrs. E. L. Wallace, De- troit, mother of the Wallace brothers, and in whose honor the steamer was christened; Mr. and Mrs. Eric Simp- sou, Chicago: James |. and Frank 8B. Maliace. Mr and Mre. Thomas f. Leete Jr.; Miss Lillian Leete; Miss Mary Leete; Mr. and Mrs. J.. F . Duntley; D. M. Ireland and daughters, Misses Rose. and Mamie, all of Detroit; and . Wis. Harper, of Chicago; = Mes: J. S. Keightley, Miss Emily Keight- ley, Capt. John McAlpine, John R. Rus- sel, all of Detroit. Walter OL Port Huron. one of the oldest marine engineers on the lakes, died at his home while sit- ting on the veranda talking with his son. Mr. -Treleven was seventy-two years old and had been ill for about eight months. Treleven,

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