work. Unfortunately, the "combine" is now American in only its majority ownership and management. Its vessels are nearly all foreign

and effective which has enabled German competition to cut deeply into the British steam marine. But German shipyard and shipboard wages are probably not so much below British as British wages are below American. One purpose of the new Cunard subsidy is to equalize British and German labor cost. Mr. Morgan, Mr. Griscom, and their comrades are as patriotic as any of their fellow countrymen. But they can scarcely be expected to pay $11,300 a month for an American crew of 380 men, while a British crew of 427 can be hired for $9,891.* Nor will they, without some especial inducement, give $1,846,000 for an American steamship, while a

MR. P. A. B. WIDENER.

built; they are officered abroad and manned abroad. They fly British, or in a few cases, Belgian colors. The four fast ships of the American line, of course, sail under the Stars and Stripes. So do the 17-knot Finland and Kroonland already mentioned. Besides, there are six American ships in process of construction at Camden and Baltimore for the Atlantic Transport line; that is, there are just a round dozen Yankees, present and prospective, in the huge fleet of the combination. The four small

iron steamers of the original American line have now been drawn away to the Pacific coastwise trade, and are scarcely to be included; but if they are reckoned, there are only 16 Americans out of 141!

As to whether this small Yankee squadron shall grow, time and the wisdom of Congress must determine. The American managers of the combination earnestly desire to increase the number of their American ships, but they cannot afford to sacrifice British subsidies in order to achieve this. The new subvention to the White Star steamers requires absolutely that they shall not only keep their British flag and register, but be controlled and navigated by British subjects, and held rigidly as a part of the Royal Naval Reserve.

Moreover, there is the further problem of wages. It is labor at once low paid, intelligent,

MR. CLEMENT A. GRISCOM. (President of the International Mercantile Marine Company.)

British craft of exactly the same dimensions and speed can be constructed for $1,419,000.* It may be said right here that the tariff has nothing whatever to do with the question of the relative cost of American and British ships, for a. full rebate of duty is allowed on foreign materials used in the construction or equipment of ships for deep-sea service. American shipbuilding. therefore, is substantially on a free-trade basis, so far as ocean vessels are concerned.

*These figures are not conjecture; they are absolute facts. of official record.

and requires only twice as large a fireroom force, as a 10-knot steamer. As a matter of fact, the difference, instead of being as two to one, is as seven to one. The United States Commissioner of Navigation, in his report for 1900, gives the cost of coal and handling for a 10-knot steamer as $33,180 a year; for a 20-knot steamer, $231,000. It is probable that the economic limit of speed progress in our present steam propulsion has been reached at about 17 knots, in such excellent cargo and passenger ships as the Finland and Kroonland of 12,500 tons, just built for the American line at Philadelphia. According to the commissioner's computation, such ships could be navigated with a fireroom bill of $131,000 a year, as compared with the $281,000 of the 21-knot St. Paul or St. Louis.

Left to themselves the steamship companies, or at least the American and British, would build few vessels of above 17 knots. If higher speed is desired for mail ships or "merchant cruisers," it must be libérally paid for by government, and charged off against the postal or war account. A very large majority-probably four out of five-of the steamers built for the chief Atlantic companies in the past half-dozen years have been given only moderate engine power and a speed of from 13 to 17 knots, with a relatively large cargo capacity and a fair space, generally amidships, for passengers. Most of the new German ships are of this description, and it is reasonable to assume that it is these "steady-going liners" which "pay best." The greyhound of 20 knots or more is an occasional luxury, useful for advertising purposes,-indispensable, indeed, to a certain impatient, shortseason passenger trade, but, something whichcan be indulged in only seldom, and not at all by the American and British lines without

government assist

ance.

The International Mercantile Marine Company, through its own lines or its partnership with the Germans, controls all but six of the eighteen fast ships of 20 knots and upward in the noble, great trade between America and Europe. The six exceptions are the four Cunarders Campania, Lucania, Etruria, and Umbria, and the French La Savoie and La Lorraine. Thus, the combination controls directly or indirectly two-thirds of the first-class steam fleet on the North Atlantic. But the four American and three British fast ships of the combination are, after all, only one-nineteenth in numbers of its whole great fleet. All the rest of the 136 are of moderate speed, efficient but economical. is chiefly in these "steady-going liners" that the strength of the "combine" exists; to them it must look for its largest and most constant dividends.

THE RT. HON. W. J. PIRRIE. (Manager of the great Belfast shipping firm of Harland & Wolff, and prominent in the White Star Line; also one of the leading men in the recent great ship combine.)

THE "COMBINE" AND AMERICA.

It

One thought which the great shipping combination brings home instinctively to all of us is, -what effect will it have upon shipbuilding and shipowning in America? At present any reply to this vital inquiry must be mere guess

work. Unfortunately, the "combine" is now American in only its majority ownership and management. Its vessels are nearly all foreign

and effective which has enabled German competition to cut deeply into the British steam marine. But German shipyard and shipboard wages are probably not so much below British as British wages are below American. One purpose of the new Cunard subsidy is to equalize British and German labor cost. Mr. Morgan, Mr. Griscom, and their comrades are as patriotic as any of their fellow countrymen. But they can scarcely be expected to pay $11,300 a month for an American crew of 380 men, while a British crew of 427 can be hired for $9,891.* Nor will they, without some especial inducement, give $1.846,000 for an American steamship, while a

MR. P. A. B. WIDENER.

built; they are officered abroad and manned abroad. They fly British, or in a few cases. Belgian colors. The four fast ships of the American line, of course, sail under the Stars and Stripes. So do the 17-knot Finland and Kroonland already mentioned. Besides, there are six American ships in process of construction at Camden and Baltimore for the Atlantic Transport line; that is, there are just a round dozen Yankees, present and prospective, in the huge fleet of the combination. The four small

iron steamers of the original American line have now been drawn away to the Pacific coastwise trade, and are scarcely to be included; but if they are reckoned, there are only 16 Americans out of 141!

As to whether this small Yankee squadron shall grow, time and the wisdom of Congress must determine. The American managers of the combination earnestly desire to increase the number of their American ships, but they cannot afford to sacrifice British subsidies in order to achieve this. The new subvention to the White Star steamers requires absolutely that they shall not only keep their British flag and register, but be controlled and navigated by British subjects, and held rigidly as a part of the Royal Naval Reserve.

Moreover, there is the further problem of It is labor at once low paid, intelligent,

wages.

MR. CLEMENT A. GRISCOM. (President of the International Mercantile Marine Company.)

British craft of exactly the same dimensions and speed can be constructed for $1,419,000.* It may be said right here that the tariff has nothing whatever to do with the question of the relative cost of American and British ships, for a full rebate of duty is allowed on foreign materials used in the construction or equipment of ships for deep-sea service. American shipbuilding. therefore, is substantially on a free-trade basis, so far as ocean vessels are concerned.

*These figures are not conjecture; they are absolute facts. of official record.

of the combine" is Mr. Bernard N. Baker, of Baltimore, the head of the Atlantic Transport line; another, Mr. P. A. B. Widener, the Pennsylvania capitalist who was a leader in the International Navigation Company. Still another American director who bore a strong part in the forming of the "combine" is Mr. Charles Steele, a member of Mr. Morgan's banking firm. Mr. George W. Perkins, also a member of the banking firm, is associated with Mr. Steele on the executive committee of the "combine."

Thus the American managers of the shipping combination include both great steamship managers and great financiers. Indeed, in the dis

Photo by Pirie MacDonald, N. Y.

MR. GEORGE W. PERKINS.

A word as to the personnel of the ship "combine." First and foremost, of course, is the master-mind of the whole gigantic enterprise, Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan. For long years the ablest steamship managers on both sides of the ocean had dreamed of a union of interests to enhance the stability of the great trade, and to make it at once more efficient and more prosperous. Not, however, until they invoked the genius of the mightiest financier of his time could they reach the goal which had enthralled their imagination.

Mr. Morgan's chief lieutenant in America is naturally our greatest shipowner, Mr. Clement A. Griscom, president of the International Navigation Company; his chief lieutenant in Great Britain is the Rt. Hon. W. J. Pirrie, head of the famous Belfast shipyard of Harland & Wolff, which receives the important right to build all the new British vessels of the combination. Mr. Pirrie is closely allied with the White Star in terests, and to his influence is credited the winning over of that important line, as well as the soothing of the fears of the British Government. Another notable figure on the Board of Directors

MR. CHARLES STEELE.

tinguished president of the concern, Mr. Griscom, steamship manager and financier are united. These gentlemen have brought a colossal undertaking to final victory. They are sure of their profits-sure of the stability of their investment. Their project cannot but bring large benefit to Atlantic commerce. Whether it will hasten the revival of American shipbuilding and shipowning for deep-sea trade, now so pitiably shrunken, depends not so much upon these gentlemen as upon their country. They have done their part; they have made their beginning.

L

AKE SUPERIOR, covering an area of 30,000 square miles, belches forth every minute into Lake Michigan from 3,600,000 to 7,000,000 cubic feet of water. This overflow, rushing through a channel a half-mile long and a half-mile wide, with a fall of 20 feet, makes the Sault Rapids; and the Sault has a minimum force of 130,000 and a maximum force of 260,000 horse power.

on a machine to make dry pulp. They succeeded in doing this, but it was now so nearly like paper that they were unable to export it as raw pulp. Then they painted little red spots on the great rollers over which the pulp in sheet form is rolled in the drying process. The pulp would not stick to the paint spot, and the result was a row of half-inch holes right across the sheet at regular intervals, and these holes let it pass to the export market free of duty, for nobody would buy "paper" full of holes.

Seven years ago the Canadian village of Sault Ste. Marie "Sosantmary" as they hurriedly pronounce it here,-was dead. A young engineer had longed to use this mighty power of the Sault, digged a canal, broke the town and his own heart, and sat brooding on the bank of a big ditch that was no good to anybody. An explorer in search of water power stumbled over the engineer. "Let me take your ditch," said the stranger; "I'll dredge it and deepen it, sell power to the town, and to others who will rush in to build shops and mills here on the great rapids,-come, you shall help

me."

But when the canal had been completed nobody came to rent the power, so the fortune-hunter organized the Consolidated Lake Superior Company, built a pulp mill, and began making ground wood pulp. Immediately those who thought they controlled the pulp market of the world put the price down 25 per cent. The pulp made here and elsewhere at that time contained over 40 per cent. of water, so it could not be exported.

Instead of a misfortune, this temporary embarrassment proved a blessing to the Sault company, for the president, having gathered about him by this time a number of skilled men,experts in chemistry and other lines, set to work

The next achievement, or invention, was a chemical pulp plant. It was a success from the beginning, but the sulphur necessary for the successful operation of this plant had to be brought from Sicily.

Mechanical and chemical wood pulp are both made from spruce. Mechanical, or ground wood pulp, is made by simply holding a stick of spruce sidewise to a grindstone, by means of hydraulic pressure. The whole stick is ground