The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

February, 1914 American money without paying tolls. Why then may it not carry a cargo from New York to San Francisco or Seattle or San Diego without paying tolls? In none of these services can the foreign ship engage. The port to port trade of the United States has been reserved to vessels of American register since the beginning of the government and millions upon millions have been expended to make the har- bors accessible to them. No foreign ship has ever carried a cargo between any of these ports and there- fore is not in competition. If an American ship passes through the Panama canal in coastwise trade without paying tolls it will not put foreign ships at a disadvantage, because they cannot engage in the trade anyway. Lake Carriers' Association It is probably true that no organization of employ- ers anywhere in the world is endeavoring to work out the problems of management with a finer regard for mutual rights than the Lake Carriers' Association. During the recent meeting in Detroit not even so much as mention was made of the commercial end of the business, but the whole time was devoted to the human element. The questions considered were those of personal injury, of education and of sanitation-- 'things that make for saner, safer and better living. Practically since it became an incorporated body, notably so for the last five years, the Association has pursued a campaign of enlightened intelligence to the end that the personnel of the lake fleet might be im- proved. It is only necessary to look backwards to note how marked the improvement has been. No association has done more to demonstrate the fact that the interests of employer and employed are common. In this it has read aright the signs of the times. Impure Lake Water Dr. Allan J. McLaughlin has just submitted to the International Joint Commission a report on the water supply of the Great Lakes, which should be procured by every vessel owner and copies furnished to all masters. It is a highly important document on health. Dr. McLaughlin and his associates made tests of the water from Duluth to the outlet of Lake Ontario into the River St. Lawrence and their discoveries are cer- tainly astonishing. One would naturally suppose that the water of St. Mary's river would be among the purest on earth, and it is very astounding to learn, therefore, that it is grossly polluted and unsafe for consumption. The waters of Detroit river from Fighting Island to its mouth and out into Lake Erie practically to the islands are condemned as not only . unfit for domestic consumption, but cannot be made safe in a raw state by any known means of purifica- tion. In fact, the report states that there is no point from the foot of Lake Huron to the islands in Lake Erie from which vessels may safely draw their water THE MARINE REVIEW 75 supply. The report has great value in indicating those portions of the lakes in which the water remains in its pristine purity. Lake Superior water in general is pure except for local pollution, and the waters on Lake Erie at various points, and especially at Buffalo, within a reasonable distance out from the breakwater to practically the boundary line are pure. A danger- ous situation is indicated to exist at Lewiston, where the Niagara river enters Lake Ontario, thoroughly mixed with sewage, which the winds have been dem- onstrated to carry from ten to sixteen miles out into the lake. The La Follene Seamen's Bill While there is little probability of the La Follette seamen's bill, inspired by Andrew' Furuseth, president of the International Seamen's Union, passing the house, yet an unflagging alertness is necessary to pre- vent any mischief being accomplished. This bill is absolutely one of the most pernicious measures ever introduced in congress and is very cunningly devised to put the entire control of the crews into the hands of the union. Among the provisions of the bill is one that desertion is proper and that a seaman in any port can demand half the wages due and leave his ship, regardless of his obligations under the shipping articles. Under this provision any liner could be put - out of business, because the entire crew could demand half their wages and leave the ship and there would be no authority under law to compel them to return. The thing that would happen would be that the Sea- men's Union would dictate with the steamship com- panies for reshipping the crew at higher wages. More- over, under this provision how easy it would be for an undesirable alien who would not be admitted to the country as a paying passenger to enter as a deserting seaman. The defeat of the bill is of vital importance not alone to American shipping, but to the shipping of all nations. -Under the provisions of this bill the Imperator, which now operates with a crew of 885 men, would have to increase the number to 1,275. The provision that each life boat should be equipped with two able bodied seamen would put every passen- ger steamship line in the United States out of business. The conditions of inland water navigation are fre- quently such that life boats are not necessary. It would be far safer proceeding in numerous instances . to beach the vessel rather than to waste time in launch- ing life boats. Moreover, the superstructure of a great many of the vessels plying on inland waters is such that it could not sustain the weight of these life boats and davits. The pernicious feature of this bill, however, is that it makes it absolutely to the interest of the officers of the Seamen's Union to persuade foreign seamen to leave their ships in American ports and go to the various boarding houses that are conducted under the auspices of the Seamen's Union, where they would be practically at the mercy of the union and where their boarding house debts and union dues would be collected before they are reshipped. Senator La Follette says that Furuseth spent every Sunday morning with him for a period of four years teaching him the law of the sea. It is surprising that in four years' time it did not dawn upon La Follette that the teaching was of a very specious character. It is high time that the public understood Furuseth and his methods.