New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-12-25
MORSE HAS SHIPS
TO MOVE FREIGHT
BUYS Four Lake Boats in
His Campaign to
Break Tie-Up.
VESSELS WILL ENTER
COASTWISE SERVICE
Inland Lines, Sealed by Federal
Rule, May Saw Craft in Two
to Reach Seaboard.

-Four freight steamers now In ser
vice on the Great Lakes are 70 be
brought to New York to relieve the
unusual freight congestion at this port.
This latest attempt to improve trans
portation conditions here was engi-
neered by Charles W. Morse, who
signed a contract yesterday 70 pur-
chase the ships from the Mutual
Transit Company, of Buffalo, their
present owner. The transaction in
wolves more than half million dollars
The four ships are now locked for the
winter at Buffalo. They will be equipped
with steam condensers and otherwise
retitted for ocean trade at once, and Will
be brought through the Welland Canal
to New York as soon as the ice mas
broken up in the spring. The boats
arc the william Castle Rhodes, 81
Paul, Minneapolis and Huron.
Dir. Morse said yesterday afternoon
that he planned to use the lake boats
in the Atlantic coastwise trade. He
explained that the Mutual Transit
Company, whose boats are owned
Lehigh and Lackawanna railroads, sold
the vessels on account Of the recent de-
cision of the Interstate Commerce Com
mission forbidding boats owned by
railroads to operate on the Great
Lakes.
Big Price Asked for Boats.
Negotiations for the sale Of the lake
freighters have been under way for
several weeks, but Harry S. Noble, as
sistant manager Of the Mutual Com
pany, insisted on a price which Mr..
Morse was at first unwilling to pay.
Mr. Noble, who is well known in inland
transportation circles, returned TO Buff
falo yesterday.
The sale OF these freighters prac-
ticaly exhausts the supply OF boats
on tho Great Lakes available for ocean
service. Others which are large enough
to weather voyage on the open sea
are too large 10 pass through the Wei
land Canal. They can be brought to
this port only by being cut in two and
passed through the canal a half at a
time. This can be performed with the
aid OF temporary wooden bulkheads
and about $4,000.
The Mutual Transit Company was
organized in Buffalo in 1903 and oper-
ates a feet OF eight boats, besides the
four just sold. In discussing the prob
ability Of having these boats shifted
to ocean traffic Mr.. Noble said before
leaving yesterday:
"The Interstate Commerce Commits
sion's decision has left US up in the
air. We are not sure vet what we can
DO In the coming season, but at pres
ent we are not accepting any orders for
freight. | hope arrangements may be
made by which we can operate our
ether eight boats, although | have
heard that ocean shippers might be
after them.
az cannot tell what will happen to
the freight business on the lakes on the
railroad owned lines. All We can do
now is TO sit tight"
The transaction just completed marks
another step in Mr.. Morse's strong fight
to win back the place among leaders OF
the financial world that he lost when a
fifteen-year sentence TO Atlanta prison
in 1908 for misapplication of the funds
of the National Bank of North America
left him bereft of reputation and fort
une.
Since he was pardoned, in 1912, the
former ice and steamboat king has set
about reestablshing his former posi-
ton. The Bermuda-America Line, the
Hudson Navigation Company, the
Stamford New York Line and the New
York and Buffalo Line are among the
monuments to his ability to come
back"