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20 DEVOTED TO EVERYTHING AND EVERY INTEREST CONNECTED OR_ ASSO- CIATED WITH MARINE MATTERS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. Published every "Thursday by: The Penton Publishing Co. CLEVELAND. BOSEON 6.205 t esos sess 73-74 Journal Bldg. BUPEPALO 0565 oo vc be ee cence es 932 Ellicott Sq. CHICAGO. iis ese ee 1328 Monadnock Blk. CINCINNATI.......First National Bank Bldg. NEW YORK... 0. cus <> 1005 West Street Bldg. PITTSBURG. 6. csaccee ess "si 0l0: Park. Bldg. SRATI GE olds soak ice oes 302 Pioneer Bldg. Correspondence on Marine Engineering, Ship Building and Shipping Subjects Solicited. Subscription, U. S. and Mexico, $3.00 per annum. Canada, $4.00. Foreign, $4.50. Subscribers can have addresses changed at will. Change of advertising copy must reach this office on Thursday preceding date of publication. The Cleveland News Co. will supply the trade with the Marine Review. through the regular channels of the American News Co. European Agents, The International News Company, Breams Building, Chancery Lane, London, E. C., England. Entered at the Post Office at Cleveland, Ohio, _ as Second Class Matter, ~ December 31, 1908. CONFERENCE ON INSURANCE. Insurance rates on the great lakes during the past year have been so exicessive that vessel owners have taken up the subject to the end that some plan of co-operation may be de- vised. whereby risk can be lessened 1907 valuation was at $40 per gross ton and rates lowered. Prior to register. During 1907 it was advanced to $48.50. per gross ton for first valu- ation. The insurance rate was. 4%4 per cent with 3% per cent for protection and indemnity and 134 per cent for total loss. The deductable average was $500. Vessel owners thought this policy pretty stiff, but the 1908 policy was more drastic yet. Valuation was based at $53.50 per gross ton, the rate advanced to 5 per cent with % per cent for protection and indemnity and Under- losses 13% per cent for total loss. that - the made the advanced rate imperative. writers contended Some vessel owners considered this policy prohibitive and operated their THE /*\ARINE REVIEW fleets during 1908 without insurance. The most radical vessel owner, how- ever, does not like to operate his ships without insurance. Acccordingly a feeling has grown up among them for risks. concerted action to minimize Obviously there are certain risks which can be avoided, such as over- loading, crowding in narrow passages and- the desire to get ahead of the other ship. There is some talk of the owners carrying fa certain per- centage of the risk and in addition to put the loading of vessels 'and op- eration in the rivers under the reg- ulation of a committee. While the whole thing is as yet in embryo, a meeting of the vessel men will be held in Detroit Jan. 18 immediately preceding the annual meeting of 'the Lake Carriers' Association to formu- late some plan of concerted action. The annual meeting of the Lake Car- probably be riers' Association will postponed unit) Jan 20: CO-OPERATION ON A WIDE SCALE. The center of the industrial stage abroad is at present held by Sir Chris- topher Furness, and quite rightly. In an endeavor to prevent labor disputes at his West Hartlepool yard he of- fered either to sell the yard to the workmen at a reasonable valuation or to form a plan of co-partnership. The workmen would have nothing to do with the proposition of buying the yard, but have voted to give the co-partner- ship plan a trial. Briefly the plan is this: The workmen will have 5 per cent deducted from their earnings, to be expended in buying the shares of the company, upon which a minimum dividend of 4 per cent is guaranteed by Sir Christopher. li there is a sur- plus profit at the end of the year, the first and after depreciation and reserves are employers receive 5 per cent, provided for, the remainder will be divided among the whole of the share holders, including of course the work- then who have taken shares. In order that this plan might have a reasonable chance for working out, Sir Christopher himself placed orders with the shipyard for twelve steam- ers on behalf of another enterprise in which he is engaged. He did this in spite of the now existing in the shipping trade, saying that he disagreed with those who maintained that there is a surplus of ships. He believed that of the 13,- 185,855 tons of vessels registered in the United Kingdom nearly 2,000,000 tons He maintained that a million tons of new widespread depression are practically obsolete. tonnage to replace this would be of national advantage and advocated the scrapping of worn-out vessels as true economy. These twelve ships were let at prices that had been secured from the Clyde, the Tees, the Wear and the Tyne, and in order to keep faith with these bidders Sir Christopher distributed contracts for eight vessels among them. He announced himself as pre- pared to stand personally any loss on the experiment. He expected, how- ever, that by the time the vessels were completed that the state of industry would have generally revived and that they could be sold at a profit to ship owners wanting steamers. He stipu- lated that any profit on the re-sale of the steamships, however, should go to the present firm of Furness, Withy & Co., in consideration of its services in negotiating for their disposal. He ex- pected by the end of 1909 to find in- dustrial conditions generally prosper- ous and maintained that the future of this scheme gave him no concern what- ever. He believed that having once experienced the practical workings of the scheme the workmen would be his co-partners for the balance of their lives. Certainly if co-partnership upon a wide scale is ever to be successful, it should 'be successful in this experi- ment, because the company has elimi- nated every chance of failure that it is possible to foresee. SHIP EMBARGO SUSPENDED. In order that the Canadian ship- ping interest may have ample time to suitable ves- CONStEUCL or "procure sels of a gross tonnage above 1,500, to replace foreign vessels barred from the Canadian coasting trade, after