The sun., 1898-11-15
LETTERS PROY TB9 PEOPLE

channel $50 feet wide and . feet deep,
and that some of the contractors were
looking for convenient place to dump
the mud. This channel ID % be cut from
the mouth OF the Christiana To Moore's
paper mill, and in reality 10 for the &C
commodation OF the Harlan & Hollings-
worth Company.
Now, sir, in my opinion this is another
useless expenditure Of such large
amount OF money, sos, 600. 1t won't
be of any advantage to the city OF Will
mington in commercial way one dollar,
and the conservative idea entertained
by our people actually means no pro-
grees. ~
What is to keep up the nine.foot walls
of this mud channel? Why nothing.
Gravity of the mud falling into the
channel will level the whole bed OF the
river. Not only that but the ebb and
flow Of the tide and the wash from the
steamboats, propellers has tendency to
fiji up tho channel, also TO pull the mud
banks into the channel and cause wide
spread overflow all over them.
Ny standpoint is, anything worth
doing is worth doing right, il COM
mercial way for Greater Wilmington.
For instance, there is straight cut
from the Pennsylvania bridge to the
Delaware river. He is q large expanse
OF water at the copfluance of the Chris
tiana and Delaware river-Now if this
small piece of a straight cut was piled
and cribbed on both sides, out as far on
the Delaware river as the line OH the
wharves on the river front is contem-
plated it would be needle as a starter
and q very good one too. The mud
taken out between these two wharves
would be ample to fill up the ground
high enough for all purposes. Besides
having wharves to do business on yon
would have large basin for large vessels
to lay to, either for repair or shipping
cargo. A channel could be cut out to
the channel in the Delaware river, max
ing it rs feet deep, just what the Della
ware river cHanne! is now from the sea
to Philadelphia.
This piece Of q river after it was
finished would be the beginning Of other
river improvements adjacent to it. There
could be an elevator built that would
be patronized by all the railroads run
ming into our city. This $685. 900 would
do all this. Let our large workshops
build an erecting shop and put up large
shears and they need not move their
plant as they can make the work at the
shops and float it down to their pier and
take it up with their shears and place it
where they want.
This is the way the great Irish firm,
Harlan & Wolf, do their business. They
employ from $4,000 to IL, 900 men all the
year round and build the largest and
bert steel ships afoat, with shops cover
ing the whole Of Queens Island.
They have steamship with no deck
on half of her and she goes round to the
several shops where the work is to be done
and picks it up with pair of shears
and places it in this open hold of the
steamer.
She takes it round and is picked up
with pair Of shears, which is connected
by screw to bedplate OF lathe which
is worked by steam power. They fasten
these large shears to large boiler or any
other heavy work and hoist it out OF the
steamers hold the steamer hauls out.
The steamer goes in is put under and
made fast to the wharf, and the boiler
lows into place by these adjustable
shears.
By few men each giving the sign to
the other by their hand, in place Of hal
lowing, the whole thing can be done in
from one to two hours, in the most ac-
curate way. What Harlan & Wolf can
do in Belfast we can do here, if We have
the money and brains to do it. Last
summer some of the smart Alecks of
our city got up excursions down the
Peninsula to come up and patronize
US in wholesale way. They had mass
meeting in Crosby & Hills building and
invited the Hon. Charles B. Lore to ad-
dress the meeting, thinking there was
something new to be said for Greater
Wilmington as city of supplies. | at
tended. Judge Lore very wisely remarked
that not being in the merchandise bus-
ness he could not give them much infor-
nation on the subject, but if it was on
the law he might enlighten their minds
on that, but said he had been to Sails
bury, Md, and had seen retail hardwar
stores that have as large stock on hand
as some of our wholesale stores, which
was withstanding that Sails
bury, Md, is an inland town-which
makes it impossible for the people to 20
elsewhere to buv goods in their line, as
they sell goods all through at the lowest
minimum. Notwithstanding these facts
Messrs Megary, sisler, Kennard, Null
lin and a few others ulged the
bringing up of our Peninsula
friends. They had two excur-
SONS. They were taken to tnc tnvalre
and run around our town on the trolley.
They wound up at Shellpot, where they
saw the merry go.round and the Dover
Beauty's Menagerie, which was COM
posed at that time of few prairie chick
ems, three small, ring-tailed monkeys,
and small crocodile about six inches
long. The laundryman, George Hollis, !
chaperoned the excursion, he being of
prepossessing appearance and success
full business man. l never heard what
amount Of goods the excursionists
bought, but it was whispered around he
won Id not have any more excursions
carried out on that plan, that it was i'm.
possible to do business unless he had the
facilities for doing it. Shortly after these
excursions one of our smartest and best |
solicitors went down country to solicit
trade for cold storage, thinking after
showing the people the sights in our city
he would have good pull Oh them. He
talked storage to the man in question in