The times., 1897-09-17
THE SAN PEDRO HARBOR.
Opinion OF the Attorney General
to the Secretary of War.

0pinipn OF the Attorney General
to the Secretary of War.
TIE following is the opinion of the At
| torney General in the San Pedro harboI
matter
Il have the honor To acknowledge the
receipt or your communication of August
3, In relation to San Pedro Harbor.
The inquiry you PROFOUND, which Will
be stated hereafter. grows out OF the prD-
vision OF the river and Earbor act OF
1896 and report of board Of engi-
neeis provided to be appointed by it.
You express doubts OF your duty and
power under the act aud report Of the
board as to whether the appropriation is
sufiic;ent To provide for d harbor both
or commerce and refuge. After some dis
cussi0n, you say.
= 1t is possible, however, that in order
to complete this harbor for commerce and
of refuge there may be private subscrlp
tlons by those VINO are financially inter
eSted in the matter, to enable the build
ing Of the break-Yyater, and also to create
or deepen the inner harbor and approach
| to the same. The opinion Of the AttOrney
General is therefore respectfully requested
! as To whether the War Department would
! be Justified in advertising for the whole
| work and in making depth OF twenty.
| five feet instead OF thirty feet as sug-
| gested in my communication of May O.
! heretofore referred To (which would be
amIle, III my opinion, for the present
| commerce of the Pacific eentering theTel.
| and also for an inner harbor (harbor II
/ commerce of say, bali the dimens ions
named in my letter Of May 81.
| This inquiry, maybe, should be answered
| In the negative, but [ think the law and
your powers under il and as determined
! by the report OF the iAdrd mag De con
sidered more broadly"
Here follows the provision OF the .iyer
| and harbor act.
/ The Attorney General continues:
The statHte, therefore, provided for \
deep water harbor for commerce and OF
| refuge at one OF two places-san Pedro
or Pert Los Angeles; and the appointment
o. board To select the place and de
terlnine NEhe plans Of Improvement
1t viii De Observed that the powers Of
the board are large.
There 10 q limitation Of the amount to
be expended; in all else tie Judgment OF
the board is free. They decide between
the places and the contracts OF the Sec
retary OF Var are To be according to
the project reported by them The de
ciston OF the board is final as to Ioca
ton, a1d it shah be their duty to ma Ee
plans, specifications and estimates for
said improvement, and upon their report
the Secretary nf War may ma ke contracts
| fer the completion of The improvement
according to the project reported
by them The law Itself, besides, Indi-
Gates the project. Both the places men
toned are open rOadsteads; III both, there
fore, breakwateT is necessary TO make
protected waters harbOr OF refuge-an1 J
this may be a harbor Of commerce as
well. Obviously So al Port Los Angeles,
as we shall see.
The report is yoluminous- much 50
to lie quoted, and yet it can hardly be
understood any other way The double
function Of the hoard to select and hence
compare sttes and report plans for both
led them into comments and comparisons
and an interningling of considerations
somewhat confusing. nor did they ac-
crFatel 3 discriminate that which as to he
Government work from that which was
to re the work OF private enterprise, or
that W hieI was necessary now aHd that
which might aecoune 80 with the advance
OF timC aud trade. / do not think, how
ever. that the qUays or piers or wharves
or the excavation OF the docks formed by
them are a part of the project reported
They are the n,eans by which private
enterprise may avail itself of the project.
Some piers We're already 50 erected at
| Port Los Angeles. They were the property
or the Southern Pacific company ana were
70 remain -. The law only required that
other transportation companies should be
allowed TO use them, but, however, upon
such Just ana equita ble terms as should
be agreed on. OF IL agreement fail 'theu
TO be determined by the Secretary of War
From d careful consideration OF the
report of the board, l am of the opinion
that the project reported by thetu is a
breakwater, and that it fulfiIs the pro
vision OF the law, and viii make within Is
meaning harior for commerce anu of
refuge. Respectfully yours,
Jos EPH M'KENNA,
"Attorney-General. "