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shoulders of a portion of those repre- sentatives of the agricultural west and south who are now demanding that congress appropriate untold millions for deepening the waterways of the Mississippi valley. These are the men who have resisted every appeal of American presidents for a few million dollars annually for the encouragement And surprised of American ocean navigation. these. men. nted not be if their demand for millions and mil- lions of money for their own people and their own sections should now meet with a cold response from the people of the seaboard and commer- cial states, in view of the spectacle the American. battleship fleet convoyed by presented next December of foreign colliers and enabled only by the courtesy of foreign governments to make the voyage from the Ameri- can port of Hampton roads to the American bay of San Francisco. FREIGHT SITUATION. Tt looks "as if navigation "were to close in a week. Brokers are having difficulty in placing vessels, as nearly all the shippers are about through. The Steel Corporation will suspend shipment of ore from the mines on Nov. 30, and after this week practi- cally no boats belonging to the fleet of the Pittsburg Steamship Co.- will be sent from Lake Erie for ore. Dur- ing the past few days the weather has been favorable to shipment of ore and a considerable quantity has been moved, but furnaces are so. well supplied that should weather condi- tions make it difficult to load, ship- ments will cease altogether. In fact, -everyone feels that all the ore has been moved that will be needed for a long time. Coal has been coming to Lake Erie docks a little more freely during the past week. Vessels that take coal to the head of the lakes this week will be laid up there. While more coal has been moved this year to Lake Superior than ever before, the consumption has been greater and the available supply is not large. The grain trade seems to be prac- tically.at an. end, HIGH LEVEL BRIDGES IN CLEVELAND. An important meeting of the har- bor committee of the Cleveland cham: ber of commerce was held in the li- brary of the chamber on Tuesday, TAE Mariwe REVIEW Nov. 19, and was presided over by Harvey D. Goulder. The committee on bridges was present by invitation as were also the leading vessel own- ers of Cleveland. The general sub- ject discussed was the height of via- ducts across the Cuyahoga river, though Mr. Goulder desired it to be understood that the Lake Carriers' Association as a body was in no way identified with the movement of fixing a definite height for these structures. The purpose of the meeting is well expressed in the following letter which Mr. Goulder caused to be sent to all of the ship yards on the lakes: "The matter of head room or clear- ance at fixed viaducts in Cleveland is before a committee of which I~ hap- pen to be chairman. <-it Jooks.as if at what is known as the Central via- duct a clearance of 100 ft. above the mean stage of water can be secured without special difficulty. At the Su- perior street viaduct it is claimed that so high a~clearance as 100 ft. can only be obtained by having four per cent grade from Water street or else by extending the grade up as far approximately as Bank - street. There seems no objection to a grade from Water street west to the bridge - proper, except as lies in the practical question of the permissible or appro- priate rate of grade. itation of the grade should require the beginning of the approach as far back approximately as Bank street, it would much inconvenience the ad- joining property and the crossing of Superior street between Bank and Water streets. "It is said that if ships could be accommodated with a clearance of 90 ft. a practicable grade will be had from Water street west. "The desirability of having in the future fixed viaducts is mutually im- portant to the ships and to those who have to pass over the river by means of the viaducts. A very dis- tinct disposition of mutual accommo- dation seems to pervade the whole question with a view to obtaining fixed structures without draws giving ships the necessary clearance and at the same time reducing the grade to a point reasonably convenient and, as far as possible, economical in the erection and maintenance of the struc- tures themselves and adapted to the convenience of those who are re- quired to use them. "The law requires a steamer to carry the head light 40 ft. above the hull, unless her beam is less than 40 ft., and then the limit is the beam of the boat. For. the after range light the requirement is that it shall not 'these If practical lim- 21 be less than 75 ft. abaft and not less than 15 feet above the forward light. "Some question has been made as to whether this is to be measured from the deck or the hull on even keel. As there is no reference to the deck or the hull in connection with the after fight, but its height is mere- ly required to be 15 ft. above the for- ward light, and taking into account the design to have a range consist- ing of the forward light and a higher after light, my understanding is that | lights should be so adjusted that in whatever trim the ship is the after light will be 15 ft. above the forward light for the purpose de- signed, that is, having a range. "Our committee would be very much obliged if you would go over this question as carefully as your con- venience will admit and give us such information as you can from the prac- tical standpoint of the ship designer." The replies to this letter were vari- ous, the most thorough: being pre- sented by Robert Logan, general man- ager of 'the American Ship Building Co., who held that the after light of a-modern ship would be 87 ft. above the keel, and. Charles Calder, general manager of the Toledo Ship Building Co., who figured it at 89 ft. Dr. Charles S. Howe discussed the needs of the city, ho'ding it to be divided into two parts, each a con- siderable city in atséli;= but' that if both are to be developed to their fullest extent there should be free, full and uninterrupted communication between them. The bridges should - be numerous and available at all times. A bridge with a draw is not available at all times, and is moreover a source of danger. He thought that all via- ducts spanning the river should be high level bridges. No problem is involved- in making the Central via- duct a high level bridge, but quite a serious. problem is involved in the Superior street viaduct. If the bridge is to have a clearance of 100 ft. above water level it will necessitate a four per cent grade, starting from Water street. This grade could be achieved without perceptible damage to prop- erty., The grade could be lessened by starting the approaches at Bank street, but not without serious dam- age to property on Superior street. Any attempt to start the approach at Bank street would probably result in protest from property owners. A four per cent grade of course would make it impossible for teams to carry their present loads across the viaduct. He thought that if vessel owners would be content with 90 ft. clear- (Continued on page 33.)