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August, 1914 causing a dense smoke. The fireman should be in- structed to watch the steam closely, not allowing fires to get too low, and when it is necessary to fire, one furnace should be fired at a time and that very light- ly. Light firing in port will comply with the require- ments of any reasonable smoke ordinance. Navigation In Fog THe Marine REviEw has received a communica- tion from a master, who does not sign his name, regarding the editorial on Navigation in Fog, pub- lished in the. July issue. It is not usual to publish anonymous contributions, but this one is quoted be- cause it offers an opportunity to reiterate» what the leading managers have been for some time past en- deavoring to have their masters comprehend. It apparently seems impossible to make certain masters understand that speed is not preferred to safety. The only thing to do is to weed them out as fast as they can be discovered. The keynote of the instructions given to the masters at the various annual meetings of the steamship companies is safety, and it is extremely exasperating to have these instructions delib- erately violated. This communication reads as _fol- lows: Epitor, Marine Review:-- Your article in July number on Navigation in Fog is very good, but if the owners want their masters to handle their boats as if they owned them themselves, why is it they follow the rule and always have of promoting the captain that gets there Eli? You know that and so does every owner. If one is a reckless son of a gun and gets through the season one trip ahead of the other fellow, he is a hero and gets promoted. I'm in the game and know what I am talking about. If I can't do as well as the other fellow I am a back number and get set back instead ahead. No vessel manager will ever rebuke his master for getting through in a fog if he gets through safely. They never have. They have encouraged it rather unless they have a mighty change of heart all at once, and you know it. This rebuking the master they are between the devil and the deep sea. Talk about rebuking them better get after Mr. Manager and see how he has done his promoting in the past and you will find the key to the whole situation," The author of this communication is probably one of the kind that dies hard. He has an idea riveted in his head that apparently he cannot get rid of. It is probably true that some years ago ships were driven at full speed regardless of circumstances; it may be true that some are so driven today, and it also May be true that here and there is a detached manager Who, having no special financial investment at stake, winks at the law; but it is also true that the leading fleets are very much in earnest that their masters shall absolutely obey the law relative to navigation in fog. _ When some of these masters begin paying fines out of their own pockets for violating the rules, they THE MARINE REVIEW 313 will probably begin to understand that they are violat- ing the rules upon their own responsibility. It is a foregone conclusion that the government will exact fines from now on for violating the pilot rules and these fines will not be paid by the owners. At the annual meeting of the Pittsburgh Steamship. Co., Mr. Coulby told his masters that he had never considered the amount of cargo that a ship had car- ried or the number of trips she had made in a season when promoting a master, but that he had been gov- erned by freedom from accident and care of the ship. In the present issue of THz Marine Review there is quite a long communication from him to his mas- ters on the subject of collision in fog and the state- ment is very distinctly made that if he finds any viola- tion of the pilot rules, even though the ship may not meet with disaster, he will take such action with reference to the navigating officer as though there had been a collision. The Lake Carriers' Association incorporated the editorial of which this master speaks as a part of its July Bulletin to vessels enrolled in the association, and it would seem as though the situation ought to be quite clear to every master that the owners desire moderate speed in fog. Lake Trade Lifeless Another month has gone by and, if anything, lake trade is in a worse condition than it was a month ago. There was some hope of an improvement about July 1, but it did not materialize, and, if anything, the trade is more listless than ever. Sales of ore have been extremely light and vessel after vessel has gone into ordinary. Now that the first rush of grain is over, it is clear that there have been too many ships in commission all along for the business offering. No material change is now expected until the fall months. Grain has been carried at figures that leave no profit to the ship and the rates for future chartering are very low. Were it not for the fact that crops are very heavy, there would not be a single ray of sun- light in the whole situation. Scores of mines have shut down, some because they cannot sell the ore and others because they cannot be profitably operated at present prices. All along the line the whole bus- iness is being conducted at a loss and there has never been a time when things have been as dull on the lakes as they are now. Sorry sights are to be seen at all Lake Erie ports, Dozens of ships are moored broadside to broadside be- hind the breakwaters. Some have been there since the season opened, some have made_.a trip or two and some more that are now making. trips will be added to the idle fleet as soon as they discharge present car- And some people say that the depression is only sentimental. We wonder what they consider a real depression to be. The depression of 1893 was certainly not as complete as the present one. goes.