SHIPPING ON THE GREAT LAKES. 



697 



Society hnd received $13,174, and its expendi- 

 tmvs had taen $12,550. An attempt was mak- 

 ing, in connection with the "Carey Centennial," 

 eat hank offering of $5,000. The mission 

 in Shanghai, China, returned 4 foreign workers, 

 '' native jurai-hors, 1 church, 2 preaching places, 

 .'!(> iiu'iiihcrs, and 4 schools, with 6 teachers and 

 71 pupils, and an average Sabbath-school attend- 

 >f 50. At the dispensary, 8,752 patients 

 had been treated. From the other foreign mis- 

 sion at Haarlem, Holland progress was re- 

 ported. Home mission work was carried on at 

 many points in the several district associations. 



The general conference adopted resolutions 

 declaring t he work of Sabbath reform to be the 

 distinctive work of the denomination ; deprecat- 

 ing the prevalence of loose views and practices 

 as a serious drawback to the effectiveness of ef- 

 forts in that direction; recommending, as the 

 only sure means of checking the growing evil of 

 apostasy to the Sabbath, "the cultivation in 

 children of a sensitive conscience, both by pre- 

 cept and example, to exercise a careful discrimi- 

 nation between the right and the wrong not 

 only in Sabbath observance, but also in all mat- 

 ters of thought and action." Special committees 

 were appointed to prepare addresses on the doc- 

 trine of the Sabbath (or Seventh day) as of di- 

 vine obligation upon every man, to be presented 

 before the annual and general conventions, etc., 

 of the different Christian bodies. Provision was 

 made for the establishment of a Seventh-Day 

 Baptist Employment Bureau. 



SHIPPING ON THE GREAT LAKES. 

 According to the best authority, the number 

 and tonnage of all sea-going vessels of 100 tons 

 or more, for all the countries of the world in the 

 year 1889, were as follow : 



For several years there has been a continuous 

 decrease in the number of vessels afloat; and 

 this feature is again apparent, the number being 

 fewer by 864 at the end of 1889 than at the close 

 of the previous year. But while the number of 

 vessels nas decreased, the aggregate tonnage has 

 ini ivased by 1,102,947 tons. Evidently larger ves- 

 sels take t he place of those that disappear. Since 

 the end of 1885 the number of vessels has dimin- 

 ished by 8,110; and yet, despite the fact that for 

 two years there was a diminution of tonnage, the 

 extent of tonnage afloat at the close of 1889 was 

 643,795 tons greater than at the close of 1885. 

 According to the table, the United States con- 

 tinues to be the second ship-owning nation. This 

 is due to the large extent of sailing tonnage 

 owned in the States. But if a steam vessel be 

 considered as equal to three sailing vessels of 

 the same tonnage (which ratio has been accepted 

 frequently), the United States falls to the third 

 position, the relative efficient tonnage of the 

 ship-owning countries next in importance to the 

 United Kingdom being as follows: 



Ton*. 



Germany 8,247188 



United States of America 2,858,670 



|^ ance 2,664.298 



Norway 2,177,698 



The materials of which the steam sea-going 

 vessels existing in the years 1888 and 1889 were 

 built is shown by ,this table : 



The figures for 1890 show a still further tend- 

 ency toward the decrease of wood and iron ves- 

 sels upon salt water. According to the report 

 of the United States Bureau of Navigation, ves- 

 sels were built during 1889 and 1890 as follows : 



A comparison with 1887 and 1888 shows a 

 constantly increasing number of vessels built, 

 and an increased tonnage, in all of the divisions 

 but the Pacific coast, where both the number and 

 the tonnage have fallen off since 1888. The 

 number of vessels built during the year ending 

 June 80. 1890, compared with the gross tonnage 

 of the same, showed the remarkable fact that 

 the average tonnage for each vessel built was as 

 follows: Pacific coast, 188 tons; Western rivers. 

 1.V.I tons; Atlantic and Gulf coasts, 286 tons; 

 Northern lakes, 577 tons. The iron and steel 

 vessels built in the United States during the fiscal 

 yi-ar 1889-'90 amounted to 80.878 tons. During 

 the fiscal year there were built at the lake ports 



