The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-12-16

First, and above all, in the making of
Savannah into a great seaport it was
necessary that the eighteen miles of
waterway down the river to the sea
be a deep, sure channel for vessels
and that was done by the national gov
eminent in series of appropriations.
part of which passed through the
hands of the Gaynors and Capt.
Carter. But the Gaynors and Carter
were only episodes.
The work of clearing the channel
and making the jetties went on
through a series of years, until now
Savannah is one of the finest fresh
water harbors in the world.
The fact of il being a fresh water
harbor means a vast deal in this lati-
tude. The teredo cannot live in fresh
water. but he will honeycomb and put
out of business the strongest piling
that can be put under dock in salt
water hereabouts. and 1t will take him
only three or four years to do it.
Deep sea vessCls drawing twenty-five
feet of water now come up right into
the city, so that their yards peer in
at the windows of the warehouses that
line the city's water front. One day
a week or so ago, twenty-five foreign
vessels were counted at Savannah,
loading cotton from the acres of bales
that lay strewn about the landings.
Cotton shipments.
AS to the cotton shipments of Sa-
vannah, the last report, dated Nov. 1,
1902, of j. P. Merrihew, superintendent
of the Cotton Exchange, contains some
interesting statistics. The receipts of
cotton at Savannah for the year end
ing Aug. 30, last, were 1,15S,6 bales,
which is larger in gross by 1854 bales.
or 7.3 per cent, than those of the pre-
vious year. Here it may be explained
that by gross receipts" is meant the
receipts of cotton sent not only direct
to Savannah for shipment, but those
also which are sent here from other
ports. as Charleston. for instance. The
met receipts" are those alone which
are sent direct to Savannah from the
interior.
The net receipts for the year ending
Aug. 30, last, were 1,15S,14S bales and
were 1918 bales larger than those of
the previous year, constituting 1892
per cent. of the total cotton crop, as
compared with 1926 per cent for the
year 10000. The totR cotton crop of
1901-02 was 10, 701, 453 bales, as compared
with 10, 425, 141 bales for the year 10000,
showing an increase of 276,S12 bales,
or 2.64 Der cent.
In connection with the movement of
this cotton crop of the year 1901-02, as
compared with that of the previous
year, there are some figures which are
of interest as regards Savannah. For
instance. of the total crop of 1900-G1,
New Orleans received 1856 per cent,
whereas of the total crop of 1901-02
that city received only 2125 per cent.
OF the crop of 10000, Galveston re-
ceived 21.45 per cent, where of the
crop of 1901-02 Galveston received but
2O.5S per cent Savannah received 1888
per cent. of the crop of 10000 and
1882 per cent. of the crop of 1901 -02.
In other words, of the three chief cot
ton ports of the United States Savan-
nah was the only one that gained in
before. whereas the other two New Or
deans and Galveston show a falling
off
Norfolk, Wilmington, Charleston,
Mobile and Brunswick, which come in
that order in their relative importance
as cotton shipping points, all showed a
slight gain, as did the Florida ports.
Spokesman for the city.
Speaking of the present era of pros
perity in Savannah a few days ago, ].
p. Williams. president of the Cotton
Exchange, said:
I'VE are now about entering on a
twelve-month that promises great i'm
provements In the city, a broad expan-
sion OF our commerce and an extern
sion of our trade and industries along
new and profitable lines. Everything
indicates that Savannah is at the be-
ginning of an era of unprecedented
impulse.
During the season just ended Savan-
nah more than maintained its suprem-
acy as the chief port of the South At
lantic. Not only as regards cotton. but
The handling Of .
this section, it easily distanced all COM
petitors. Its exports of phosphate rock
SHOW large increases. Lumber, despite
the greater distance from the sources
OF supply, passed through here in the
same enormous volume. Naval stores
were only diminished through the de-
creased production. and with the vart-
Gus other commodities which go to
make up large proportion of an coast
wise shipments, pig iron, manufac-
tured cotton. etc, the statements of
the steamship companies show an ex-
ceedingly healthful condition. To New
York, Philadelphia and Baltimore the
volume of freight has been exceeding
~ heaVy, and the line to Boston. dis
continued some time ago, has been re-
sumed. much to the advantage of ship
pers.
There has been a very large in
crease in the volume of legitimate
banking business, as the deposits OF
savannah have largely increased. and
the volume of business handled nv
them for interior banks is much larger
than 1t has ever been in the history of
Savannah banking.
Chief among the important move
ments initiated within the past wear
which are calculated materially to adj
vance SaVannah's interests were the
organization of trust company win
ample capital, the chartering of
company for the building of a dry
dock capable of accommodating the
largest vessels visiting this and neigh
boring ports, and steps toward es-
tablishing an extensive coaling station
and erecting a United State Marine
Hospital for this district.
Three modern bank and office huild-
ings are to be erected during the COM
ing year, large cigar factory. which
will employ some 1000 hands. is about
to be established, and it is now plain
beyond question that Savannah is no
longer town dependent upon one or
two branches of commerce and trade.
Analysis of 1le crop statistics for
the past two years shows that Sa-
vannah's percentage of the total re-
ceipts has increased and that it's DO
sition as cotton port has apparently
been strengthened and not weakened
by the mergers and consultations of
railroads having their terminals here.
Ten years from now the South will be
the great cotton manufacturing sec
tion, not only of the United States
but of the world and Cavappah sho,,1l