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a telief touthe country .at large, and prove to be most interesting reading, we doubt not, to Congressman Burton. DEBATING SHIP.SUBSIDIES. In a circular issued by the state su- perintendent of public instruction of the state of Washington, addressed to the accredited high schools of the state, we learn that the subject of subsidizing' our ships will be debated to a finish by the debating teams of each of the th.rty-one high that Vollowing is the proposition: commonwealth. "Resolved, That the best and most practicable meth schools. of od of upbuilding the American merchant marine is the system of subsidies to Qn Dec. 15. the The winning teams American-built ships." first debate begins. must hereafter again debate the proposi- tion with each other, until one team is tri- umphant. During the course of the de- bate it is expected that the winning teams may be. compelled, a. number of times, to. take both the affirmative and the negative side of the question. A public-spirited citizen, whose name is not announced, has offered a prize of $100 for the best debating team, and another prize of $50 for the best de- bater, in charge of the contests is Prof. A. R. Priest, of the State University, Prof. Charles. Timblin, of the State College, and Prof. J. H.. Morgan, of.the Ellens- Copies of the cir- in. the contest. The committee burg normal 'school. cular may be obtained by addressing Hon. Ro. B:. Bryan; public instruction, Olympia, Wash. superintendent of Doubtless these debates have been stimulated by the offers of the Merchant of Cleveland, O., 'of $1,000 in four prizes for the four best essays on how to build up our shipping Marine League, in the foreign trade. League officials inform us that the demand for litera- ture and documents from the state of Washington is unprecedented. A few --weeks ago we stated that the entire class in economics in one of the state colleges were contestants for the Merchant Ma- rine League's prizes, and now the entire state's high schools .are to discuss: the subject to .a finality that should leave but little to be said. We. confidently predict the victorious affirmation of the proposition. "TAE MarRINE REVIEW FREIGHT. SITUATION. The lake season is closing. practically featureless. Weather conditions moder- ated at upper lake ports during the early part of the week, making the loading of ore somewhat easier than last week. Owing to the domination of the contract system the ore rate has remained: prac- tically stationary throughout the season and there is little doubt but that the rate of 75 cents from the head of the lakes, 70 cents from Marquette and 60 cents from Escanaba will be the pre- vailing rate next year. In fact, some shippers have already closed their bus- iness for next year upon that basis and undoubtedly before the year is out all the leading shippers will have entered into contracts. The ore shipments for November were 3,734,167 tons, making the total move ment up to Dec. 1, 36,973,002 tons... As this is only a few cargoes short of the 37,000,000-ton mark, the total shipments for the year will probably be about 37,- 300,000 tons. With the all-rail shipments added, the total movement may reach 38,000,000 tons. Coal rates for the first week in De- cember were advanced 10 cents to the head of the lakes...The grain trade ad- vanced to 2 cents, but the amount avail- able is not large. Following 'are the grain shipments from Duluth last week: Receipts. Shipments. Dec. 1. ; Nov. 24. Dea 1, 'Nov. 24. Wihes ire) 210,804 2,060,765 2,672,592 2,020,897 ODIs here Hata elaer ee nvenekesers Far Cot eee inte ole cee saan oe ein ae Oats.) 68,975 6e/37 176,533 94,950 Barley 488,524 548,748 741,200 923,222 <: Rye... 18,420 TOsB39 oe 28,349 Flax. .1,304,985 106,840 734,450 1,557,365 MARINE INSURANCE. SEASON. According to one of the most prom- inent marine underwriters, the lake business this past season has been a losing one.' For one cause or another, he says, the vesselmen have looked to the. underwriters to pay for every- thing, and the natural result is that this has been the case since the Zim- merman-Saxona collision right down to the loss of the Theano, the sinking of which means 'another $150,000 in the loss column. The. heavy losses have been added to by the abrogation of the insurance clause known as the "deductible av- erage." Where there was an. incentive before to. keep vessels off the bottom and out of harm's reach, the knowl- -edge that the boats would not have to pay for any part of the damage has had a demoralizing effect. At least this is what may be inferred from the talk of the underwriters. Just. how the insurance men abro- gated the deductible average is an. in- teresting story, the main feature of which is hard competition. It. ap- 'pears that the foreign companies led -the bottom' of thelake. .29 'the van by doing. away with the clause, and in. order to get a fair share of the business, it seems that the domes- tic companies had to follow suit or get lost. in the race. for business. But this is only one feature. eee According to the underwriters, the deductible average -was*the. best: safe- guard the: vesselman' has. evers;had, principally: becausethe boats are not insured against» loss: of time, whiles in dry docks; with the average towthink of, extraordinary care. would: be »used in operating a boat when slight dam- ages would necessarily come out of the boat itself, without it, the. under- writers say; but: the profits of a sea- son are eaten into when a boat is docked, even though the wear and tear on the boat is paid from the in- surance, as does not always happen when the crew is shown to have been overzealous. That the owners have reached the limit in size is»the firm opinion of many of the marine insurance men. For this reason; it is: stated the next evolution will be a thorough study of permanency, durability,. safety in con- struction. and: skill in.«management. Experience. along these new lines, it is declared,.may:show the owners that the present leviathans are not. needed, that they are really too big. .It may also result in bringing the business back: to its normal state. Just what causes so many accidents the underwriters are not prepared to - state, but it is a significant fact that one man in figuring over collisions, said he could not recall any. instance where boats came together from any unavoidable cause. Urging its force strongly, this same man declared the late W. B. Robinson, supervising in- spector, spoke. truly when he said captains should be punished by im- prisonment instead of loss of their license when avoidable collisions oc- cur. An overamount of zeal to outdo the other fellow is acknowledged to be the cause for numerous accidents, and so long as the..tinderwriter. pays,.there has never. been much worry. The.cap- tains say they are. not to.-blame:be- cause their.owners. haul them over-the coals if they do. not: make fast time and keep even with the other. fellows, or more often ahead.of them. ;,Butithe - underwriter. says this is poor policy, because boat property. rapidly. depre- ciates and should. be protected: on:the theory that it is more valuable when in operation than im: dry dock:on at In thinking of their immediate benefit, the vessel- men lose sight of their prospective disadvantage.