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8 , MARINE REVIEW. MARINE REVIEW. DEVOTED TO THE LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. JOHN M. MuLRoonky, F. M. BARTON, HOMER J. CARR, - - - Associate Editor and Manager Chicago Office, 210 South Water Street. \ PROPRIETORS. Published every Thursday at No. 510 Perry-Payne Building, Cleveland, O. SUBSCRIPTION—$2.00 per year in advance. Convenient binders sent, post paid, 75 cents. Advertising rates on application. Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. CONGRESSMAN Chipman of Michigan, who is recognized as one of the ablest advocates of government improvements on the Great Lakes, and who was instigated a short time ago in inaugu- rating through the commercial organizations of Detroit the move- ment for another waterways’ convention, expresses preference for Niagara Falls as a place for holding the proposed convention. Some of the earnest advocates of a canal around Niagara Falls to Lake Ontario have also suggested that the convention, which will undoubtedly be one of the most enthusiatic gatherings of shipping interests that this country has ever seen, be held at an objective point, as was the case a few years ago when a conven- tion was held at Sault Ste. Marie in furtherance of the improve- ments now under way at that point.. While due consideration will undoubtedly be given to these suggestions, it is evident that the active interests in the lake marine of Chicago, Buffalo and Cleveland at least—and they are the most important ports on the whole chain of lakes—will hold that for a number of good reasons the convention should be held in Chicago, or at Minneapolis or St. Paul inthe northwest, Laying aside the objection that would be raised to the gathering at Niagara Falls on the claim that it would bein the aid of a canal scheme at that point, there is the great object in view in enlisting in the support of lake improvements the vast interests in the states beyond Lake Superior that are especially benefited by the reduc- . tion in carrying charges brought on by public expenditures for such improvements. That the members of Congress and repre- sentative commercial bodies in these states will take part in the convention there is no doubt. The convention will ‘not be con- fined to advocating such improvements as a 20-foot channel over the entire lakes and other projects already so far under way that their completion is almost as well as assured. The initial steps will be taken in a: formal manner for a waterway to the seaboard, and the Niagara Falls canal scheme does not meet with favor, either as a way of reaching the Hudson river by way of Oswego and the Erie canal, or asa means of finding an outlet for the great inland transportation business of this country in Canada by way of the St. Lawrence. ‘These are important mat- ters to be considered in the selection of a place for holding the convention. IN answer to an inquiry from the MARINE REVIEW asto the legal right of states bordering onthe lakes to organize and maintain a naval militia, Acting Solicitor of the Treasury F. A. Reeve says: ‘““Your inquiry presents a hypothetic question. ‘he attorneys general have uniformly declined to give speculative opinions on questions of law which do not arise in any case presented for action of an executive department of the government. As this view, of the duties devolving upon the attorney general is appli- cable to opinions that the solicitor of the treasury may be called upon to render, I must decline to respond to your inquiry.” This answer from the department of justice would indicate that no attention has been given by the federal authorities to'the question of treaty relationg between this country and Great Bri- tain interfering with the organization of a naval militia, and it will be necessary that some action be taken so that an executive _ cision in this matter. department of the government is called upon fora decision. Through the organization, last week, of two naval batteries at Rochester the federal authorities might find occasion for a de- It is useless to say that naval forces can be trained on land and that there is no need of the equipment of vessels in sucha manner as to risk the violation of the treaty which limits the number of war ships on the lakes. There would be little interest in a naval force that should at all times be con- fined to land practice. ONE of the Detroit papers a few days ago published a highly sensational article about a decline in ‘the water level of the lakes, and predicted an end to shipbuilding, disaster in store for owners of floating property, and a return to the primitive craft of early navigation. While it is true that the stage of water has been, according to records carefully kept in the office of Gen. O. M. Poe, U. S. engineer at Detroit, fully a foot to a foot and a half lower than at any time within a period of twenty years or more covered by these records, the decline being steady for the past five years, it is also true that similar periods of a decreasing wa- ter level are also noted in the same records. ‘The decrease in the stage of water during such periods have, however, been followed invariably by a rise more or less marked. Vessel owners, and especially those owning big carriers of 2,000 to 3,000 net tons capacity, have suffered heavy losses through being compelled to carry short cargoes and from damage through stranding in the connecting waterways, on account of low water during the pres- ent season, but there is no cause for the wild stories that are told in this connection. Various theories have been advanced regard- ing this rise and fall in the waters of the lakes, but the only rea- sonable one is that the water level varies as the precipitation is large or small. For the last five years the rainfall in the section of the country drained by the lakes has been below the normal. YRS: By THE light-house board has made its annual report to the secretary of the treasury and recommends that especial attention be given to aids to navigation on the lakes. Approval is given to nearly all of the lights and fog signals reeommended by the engineers in charge of lake districts. Rochester’s Naval Review. Rochester is the first lake city to proceed with the organiza- tion ofa naval reserve, and it is evident that the leaders in the movement have not considered the matter of treaty relations in so doing. At the state arsenal in Rochester, Sept. 29, seventy-three men were mustered into the naval reserve militia by Adjt.-Gen. Porter, assisted by Col. Thos. H. McGrath, A. A. G., and others. These men are sufficient to form two batteries _ toward a battalion which is to be formed in Western New York. It is certain that many other young men will join the batteries. Other batteries will be formed as the number of recruits grows large enough. Lieutenant Commander Franklin Hanford U. S. N., attended the meeting, and, in response to a request, explained the nature and purpose of the naval reserve and described the different kinds of drill. He did not doubt that with the increased interest in the navy, a torpedo boat could be obtained which would be suitable for practice. ‘The man-of-war Michigan was on the upper lakes and it would be easy for the Rochester bat- teries to run up to Buffalo in the morning, take a four or five hour drill and return the same evening. He also thought, — although of course he could say nothing official, that it would be possible to obtain the services of a regular naval officer as an instructor, and an appropriation for giving the battalion aweek’s rei every year on some of the regular men-of-war in New York arbor. oe Sp egies Pe At a meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers in New York on Wednesday, the 7th inst., one of the pee and discussed was contributed by Joseph R. Oldham, N. A. of Cleveland, and was entitled ‘ Tow Barge Effici ney on Northern Lakes of America,” or in other words “The Ameri Whaleback Steamers.’’ Another pa er presented to the meeting treated of ‘“‘Some Recents | ‘Xperim: y. on the Ocean Bar,” and. was written by C member of the society. =«s—™ C