The New York herald., 1870-05-06
Our wharves and Piers.


The Commissioners of Docks have, by their
prompt organization, given evidence that they
feel an active interest in the important matters
entrusted to them, and we look with confidence
for an early result of their labors. No sub
ject connected with metropolitan improve
meLts is second to this one. We are, in fact,
century behind the necessities of commerce,
and the wonder is. that, with the wretched ac-
commodations afforded to It, we have any
commerce at all. For years our merchants
and shippers have been forced to submit to
annoyances, delays and expenses calculated to
destroy any trade or occupation in the world.
Certainly no city which, like New York, owes
its existence and prosperity to commerce,
ought to hesitate to provide that commerce
with oil necessary and decent facilities. AS 1t
is now, with hardly a solitary exception, our
wharves and piers are the most offensive, most
dilapidated and most unhealthy portion of the
city. The slips are filed with mud, and re-
quire constant dredging. The wharf construc-
tions are either cribs made of logs and filed
with stone, or wooden piles driven into the
beds of the rivers with platforms built upon
them. These piles decay above the water line,
and are replaced by new ones alongside OF
the old. No arrangement could possibly be
devised which would be better calculated to
check the tidal currents to collect the refuse
which is thrown into the rivers and to aid
sedimental deposits. The consequence is that
the vilest refuse matter, including dead AMI
mails Of almost every description, can be seen
at oil times floating backwards and forwards
with the ebbing and flowing tides. Vice and
filth seem to rovel In these precincts. Ragged,
thieving boys and debauched men and wo-
men, rubbish and old lumber, rickety shan
ties, grogshops and all manner Of low
dens meet the eye in every direction.
Such is picture Of the wharyes Of
the first commercial city of the Western
Continent-instead Of being solid orna-
ments to the city, spacious in their pro-
portions, permanent in their construction,
affording ample room for shipping and
for the delivery of merchandise. What
contrast is afforded by the enterprise and fore
sight Of the leading commercial cities Of
Europe Liverpool, for instance, which might
still have remained poor fishing village but
for its convenient docks, which not only pro-
duce to the town and corporation large re-
venue, but insure to the merchant every pos
sible facility in refltting, loading and discharg
ing his ships, whatever their burden or cargo
may be. The number and magnifcence Of
these docks correspond with the extent of the
vast commerce attracted by them. Over one
hundred and twenty million dollars has been
expended by the city of Liverpool to secure the
most perfect port accommodation ever formed
by the skill Of man, and experience has proved
it to be the best investment that could have beeu
made. A portion of this large sum was re-
quired to improve the harbor and the anchorage
for shipping whereas we have been blessed
with the finest natural harbor in the world,
which does not require the expenditure Of
single dollar; hence our neglect to provide
suitable wharf facilities is the more culpable
and short sighted.
Let the Commissioners, therefore, proceed to
business at once, and devise as speedily as pos
sible complete and comprehensive plan which
shall embrace all that experience has proved
to be useful and all that skill can devise, to
give us solid, permanent and capacious
Wharves.