The Washington times., 1903-11-08
Convinced That HarborS
WHh Much Traffic SROuid
Haze Channels of THIRTY
Feel OF More IN Depth,
PRINCIPAL WATERWAYS
SHOULD BE SUFFICIENT
FOR DEEP DRAFT SHIPS
Pressing Need for Better Ap-
ProacheS 10 CenferS of
Trade Along the Sea-
board.

Representative Burton of Ohio. chair
man of the Committee on Rivers and
Harbors in the last House, has returned
to Washington for the extra session
with many nsw ideas on the need of
large appropriations for carrying on the
work coming under that head. Since
the last session OF Congress he has
travelled extensively abroad, making an
exhaustive study of waterways there.
and returns with the belief that the
maritime trade of the great cities of
America is much hampered by the lack
OF sufficient Improvement work on
rivers and harbors.
Mr. Burton declared it would be no
eSaggeratiOn to say the sums expended
on channel and harbor improvements in
London and Liverpool alone exceed the
amount Appropriated here for ali The
ports Of the country. On this point he
said:
Ahead of This Country.
European cities are in advance Of the
cities of the United States in river and
har5or improvements, especially in their
Willingness 10 incur great expense il
the permanent quality OF the improve
ments made and in The provision for
future growth.
There is very long list OF these
~A~-~@ N-AeAA tc-sN DEGll MDLdDAE progress
sive in wat6rV-a- improvements. I would
cite especially. liverpool. Glasgow. South
ampton. a castle, and Cardiff, in
Great Briisi Rutterdam, in Holland;
Genoa, in ltaly; Havre and MarseHIes,
in France. antwerp. in Belgium. and
Hamburg and Bremen. in Germany
Very large improvements have been
made or are under way in odessa, II
Russia. and Barcelona, in Spain.
Build Artificial Harbors.
I'm some of these cities. as in Ham
burg and Bremen. channels of seventy
miles or more TO the sea have been
dTedged, while in all areas OF water
have been inclosed for the anchorage
or mooring Of ships. In most OF them
these inciosed areas have been made
necessary in part by the very high rise
of the tide.
This is especially true in the north
westerly part OF Europe. On the Black
and Mediterranean Seas there Is little
tide, but expensive breakwaters have
been constructed 10 protect places OF
anchorage from the waves Of the sea
Tile breakwater at Marseiiles is per
haps the best IN all Europe. In the
improvements have been included the
construction OF quays built, in almost
all cases. OF stone. and walls around
basins These walls also are of solid
masonry. In addition TO this cranes for
leading and unloading and warehouses
have been constructed. In some IN
stances elaborate systems OF railway
tracks have been constructed, though in
other cases railway tracks have been
built By railroad companies or agencies
other than those providing the harbOr
improvements.
The European System.
1T viii be noted that it Is difficult to
! make a comparison between harbor i'm
provements IN the United States and
those in European cities. because sc
much more is comprehen0ed in the i'm
provements made IN Europe. In this
country the Government only improves
channels or provides by the construction
OF breakwaters for places Of anchorage.
In Europe the same agency, genera.
government. state. municipality. or Dri-
vate corporation. improves the channels
and constructs warehouses and termi-
nails"
How do the expenditures made 10 i'm
prove the water facilities OF. say. Glas-
gov, Liverpool. and other European
cities compare with the expenditure
made for New York, Boston. Philadel-
phia, and other Eastern ports%'
THE expenditure has been much
greater in Europe. but it is difficult 10
make comparisons, because improve
ments IN Europe, as already stated, in
,lude SO much more than in this country.
For example. the United States Gov
eminent has expended less than Sl0000.0 600
uDon New York Harbor while the city
has expended considerably in excess Of
S5oOO0.OOO in the construction Of wharves
along the water front.
LiverpooPs Expenditures.
s~The Mersey Wharf and Dock Com
pany at Liverpool has expended 10 date
$3.50, 10000 in developing the harbor Of
Liverpool This is in addition to a very
large amount expended before the COM
pany was org9 tdzed. The municipality
and citizens o. Liverpool have provided
for this expenditure
improvements for the port Of Lon
don. Including the channel of the
Thames below London. have cost a much
larger amount. / think Il Is no exas-
Keration 10 say that he amounts ex-
pended for these Two ports exceed the
total amount expended by the Genera
Government OF the United States since
the formation OF the government;
though IL should. Of course. be borne
in mind that the cost of the improve
ments OF London and Liverpool includes
what has been furnished by municipall-
ties, companies ana private individuals
.'More than 10000 has been expend-
&C for the canal from Manchester 70 the
s,a IL IS worthy Of mention that Man
hcster has un que location II IS the
only city IA the civilized world Of 100
80 inhabitents OF more located so short
q distance from the sea which does noc
have a natural waterway TO the sea
AT Marseilles the total expenditure
has been between $780, 900 and $4,000
600. and further improvements are now
81 contemplation
Hamburg and Galveston.
cat Hamburg. including dredging the
Elbe to the sea, more than $40 0Oo 90 has