The San Francisco call., 1906-10-10
LACK OF WHARVEs
CAUSES CLASH.
Merchants Exchange and
the Harbor Board Not
on Terms of Cordially
TRADE Is DEFLFCTED

Since the April fire the relations be-
tween the Merchants Exchange and the
Harbor Commission have been grow
ing less and less cordial until today
the two bodies refer TO one another in
acrimonious terms. The members OF
the exchange. exasperated by the in
adequate facilities for handling the big
grain crop of the State, accuse the har-
Dor board of negligence and inconpe-
tenee, The harbor board replies that
the merchants are unreasonable Be
that as 1t may the fact remains that
the immense trade usually handled at
this pert has been detected for the
present TO Stockton, Port Costa, Port
land ard Seattle.
gets the business?r said President
Charles s. Spear of the Harbor Com
mission. We cent look after these
fellows individual interests.
The difference" according TO the
merchants. Hes IN the fact that this
business belongs TO San Francisco and
the State has appropriated vast sums to
keep 1t here. The grievance of the mer-
chants is that the Harbor Commission
has delayed month after month and has
not yet begun work on any great scale
to supply wharfage destroyed in the
recent disaster. The harbor board
states that it is going as fast as it
can.
SPEARS TART REPLY.
Those men are painfully slow and
we have been tremendously handi-
capped" said Secretary 7. G. Friend
lander of the exchange. They need
prodding. They have made promises.
That is all we get-just promises-and
we want wharves-"
I'VE are slow. are WEI" replies
Spear, well, don't see that the mer-
chants are so speedy themselves. They
were going to have their building
ready by November /. You tell Fried
lander that we will have wharves for
him when he has his building re-
paired"
1t had been tho custom to load grain
at the northern end of the water front.
referred to as the sea wall. and
transship from there without the reces-
sity of storing in warehouses. Now,
however, as soon as grain shipment
arrives it is necessary to have ii taken
to a warehouse and stored until ar
rangenents can be made for export
shipment. This method requires an ex
ira payment for teaming and a heavy
payment for storage charges The
storage charges have been doubled this
season. and by the time the grain men
pay all these extra expenses their
profits, they say, is wiped out.
NAHEhOCSES IN TRUST.
Incidentally the warehouse business
of San Francisco virtually has passed
into the hands of trust. which is at
liberty to boost its charges even be-
yond the present high figure. The
Haslett Company, whose warehouses in
the northern part of the city escaped
the flames, controls the situation. The
only opposition companies are McNab
& Smith and the Bay City. but such is
the similarity in charges that the ex-
istence of an agreement has been sug-
gested. The Haslett peoule deny that
there is a trust, but accepting Bryans s,
definition of a trust as corporation
controlling fifty per cent or more Of the
supply in any line of business 1t would
appear that the Haslett Company falls
into that category.
In order to escape these excessive
charges the merchants have appealed
repeatedly TO the harbor board for in
creased wharfage. Each appeal has
brought forth an excuse for delay, the
of the board to secure the creosoted
piles and the exact sizes of lumber re-
quired.
1t is a paradoxieal situation that,
while the board cannot secure the luu-
ber. the available wharves are so
crowded with lumber shipments that
other material cannot be aecommo-
dated.
The merchants have despaired of
handling the wheat and barley crops
as in former years and are now en-
deavoring to secure the wharfage to
enable them to take care of the bean
crop which will soon be on its way to
the city.