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3 VoL...{11. ARINE REVIEW. CLEVELAND, OHIO, THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 1891. No. 13. Eleven Bids for the Light-Ships. Eleven lake builders bid for the work of constructing the “ light-ships for the Straits. The bids as received by the light- house board were as follows: Craig Ship Building Company, Toledo, $40 800; Wheeler & Co., West Bay City, $42,000; Rie- boldt & Wolter, Sheboygan, $42,700; Cleveland Dry Dock Com- pany, $43,092; Murphy & Miller, Cleveland, $44,622; Globe Iron Works Company, Cleveland, $45,000; James Davidson, West Bay City, $48,000; Union Dry Dock Company, Buffalo, $51,028; Burger & Burger, Manitowoc, $53,100; Detroit Dry Dock Com- pany, $55,000; D. Bell Engine Works, $51,000 for steel hulls. . The Craig Ship Building Company, the successful bidders, will be required to have the boats finished by the middle of Angust as they must be at their stations in four and half months after the contract is signed. The Outlook in Freights. The total amount of ore sold for next season’s delivery will not exceed half a million tons and no vessels have been engaged in connection with the sales, notwithstanding rumors to the con- trary. The question of ore freight rates is no nearer a settle- ment than it was six months ago, although it is generally ad- mitted that figures will be low. Some of the ore sold is ata reduction of $1.25 a ton on last year’s prices, but even this is not a great decline, as most of the ore sold during the boom fall of 1889 was at prices fully 50 cents a ton above the two previous years when business was unusually brisk: The present sales do not, however, demand much attention, as purchases were made in small blocks by a few Wheeling and Pittsburgh furnace men who have been supplied and are now out of the market. The situation is not a settled one as large buyers are not ready to make purchases and probably will not be until after April 1 when the trouble in the coke region is expected to end. The movement from Jake Erie docks is a little more active, and at Ashtabula and Fairport the dock space is fully equal to that of a year ago, but on the N. Y. P. & O. dock, Cleveland, there is about 450,000 tons, and there is certainly more than 1,000,000 tons on all of the Lake Erie docks. A story widely printed around the lakes quotes J.C. Smith, of Alpena, as authority for the statement that char- ters for iron ore from Ashland to Buffalo have been made at 90 cents per gross ton, and from Escanaba to Cleveland, Sandusky and Buffalo at 65 cents per gross ton. J. C. Smith, of Alpena, whoever he may be, is not known in connection with either vessel or ore interests, and he is certainly misinformed regarding the state of affairs in Cleveland. A Milwaukee owner claims that he knows of 100,000 tons of ore being offered without takers at 75 cents from Escanaba to Ohio ports. Several boats have been chartered during the week for coal from Cleveland and Toledo to the head of Lake Superior at 50 cents and from Cleveland to Milwaukee at 55 cents,some of them to load next month. Short trip charters are also being made at 30 cents to Detroit and 35 cents to Port Huron and Marine City. The early trade in bituminous coal is, of course, uncertain, on account of the demands of Ohio and Pennsylvania miners. On April 7 a very important meeting will be held in Pittsburg when the representatives of the coal mines and operators of Ohio and Pennsylvania will consider and determine on the scale of prices to be paid for mining coal during the year beginning with May r. At this meeting not a few difficulties will face the trade. Ac- cording to the intentions expressed at the national convention of the United Mine-Workers’ Union held in Columbus, a month ago, the miners of both states want reforms made in the methods of pay as well as the rate of pay, which average about 7 per cent. advance in wages. The operators will likely propose a reduction of about 7 per cent. in wages for the Pittsburg district at least. If the miners continue in their determination to enforce the eight-hour rule this question will also cause some trouble. Newspaper Service to Lake Interests. There is probably no single line of business in this country more costly to newspapers than that of furnishing special reports of vessel movements, freights, accidents, etc., during the season — of navigation on the lakes, and yet it is probably not fully ap- — preciated by the vessel interests. In a few cases similar to the New York Herald’s wonderful collection each day regarding — : ships in all parts of the world, the service is more costly, but vessel owners on the lakes seldom realize the expense to which — newspapers are subjected in collecting every twenty-four hours — 2,000 to 3,000 words by telegraph covering all ports on the lakes. The service is especially costly on account of being confined to less than a dozen leading papers on the lakes. In all other lines of news matter these papers have the benefit of press associa- tions, through which telegraph tolls and other charges have been reduced to very low figures. In the lake service during the past three years, however, the expense has been greatly reduced by a Detroit corporation known as the United News Association and managed, mainly, by Elliott G. Stevenson and Colin Fox. This association has, through a consolidation of the different interests, given the newspapers a telegraphic report at a marked reduction in both labor and cost. One corps of correspondents serves the asssociation and the re- ports are then sent out by a special telegraphic circuit from De- troit to the different lake cities. The system has greatly simpli- fied the work and the newspaper managers have reason to feel thankful when the heavy charges and annoyances of past years are considered. Some of the newspapers employ competent men who have seen years of service in this work but itis unfortunate that in many cases the men are hardly given time to become ac- quainted with the geography of the lakes before they are trans- ferred to other departments. John Chapin, and later Homer J. Carr, of the Chicago Tribune,were men very thoroughly acquain- ted with the lake marine and the Tribune was looked up to by vessel owners during their time. Louis Bleyer, of the Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin, and J. L. Schrader, of the Buffalo Courier, are veterans in this line and their columns show a knowledge of the business. Divided Among Three. A dispatch from Detroit says that the decision in the Ohio- Siberia collision case calls for a triple division of damages, the propeller Samuel L. Mather being a party to the libel, which was for $30,000. ‘This case resulted from the sinking of the Ohio in the Sault river last season. ‘The Ohio, bound up, met the Si-. beria and Mather, bound down, in close quarters in the Sault river. ‘he Mather passed the Siberia, and the latter, taking a sheer, went into the Ohio,