New-York tribune., 1907-09-27
WATERFRONT WONDERS
MERCHANTS SIGHTSEEING
Ju,est;gafe Bush Terminal for Ideas
ON DeUeIoping Commerce.

+eT
4,ned forth yesterday by tugboat pF raiiI'fo
-, So. 5o;,,- tight rope stunts on shaky
.ngle plank bridges to investigate ne" iiief-t''
:. a.,-eloning the foreign trade and other COM
o-cgeg facilities of New Yo-ks Waterfront
r-,,s -rss another step IL the work begun pE iiO
r-,.,,re- of Commerce last January, anu 'ie
particular object in view was to see the arralse-
80 of the great tract covered by the BUSH
.,i,,aI In South Brooklyn, where there are INC
,;a-s In the world. besides warehouses
- factories all under one management
r. chairman Of the terminal committee.
z..h ms cae OF many appointed by the Chan-
or Commerce to carry out the work or IN
-,o-.;ea4ion. IS ex-Bridge Commissioner Nc
T,ourau Hawkes., who as an officer under mayor
- made a personal inspection Of the great
docks Of London and Hamburg He was enthu-
siasfic over what he and the others were shown
,ss-er5av and declared that the system used
On the Bush property was the final word IN
aoct, development. It was better, he SAID thah
anything else here abroad
As the tug Beatrice Bush hustled down from
rier !, East River, toward the far OH shoFes
of South Brooklyn. the party talked OF coIiie''o
and transportation and the building UP OF sed
norts Besides Mr.. Hawkes. there were WIN
him as members of the committee George r
Victor and Silas D. Webb. Gustav ID. Sch""O'
president of the committee foreign commerce
and the revenue laws OF the Chamber OF Colii-
,lerce who first suggested the present inveslIsa-
+,on 70 ,n,n-ove New Tork's trade, also gave the
Bush system his approval others III INC eio"p
were William Sloane OF W. q J. Sloane; AlTreo
u Foller of the engineering firm Of Boiler q
Hoaee: George Wilson. secretary Of the ChaIn-
b.- -. F'oh1merce: Charles A. Moore. eX-Mayor
Charles A. Schieren Sf Brooklyn and George
r,,,vaI chairman OF the committee on foreign
commerce OF the Merchants Association 1He
host and guide was e-President IL. II. Gar
diner. Of the Bush Terminal Company
The tug scurried along in the nipping wind
and rough water to the Pennsylvania Ralroau
terminal far down the South Brooklyn shore'
Turning she went closer and worked north'
passing In review the six piers already built by
1f,e Bust, company. Vice-President Gardiner
nonted out some OF the statistics OF these
efr,,et;sres Each is 1910 feet long, or more
.han q or,srter of 6 mile and $50 feet wide.
The slips between these piers are remarkable In
that they are go feet wide. with a depth OF 30
feet These proportions are greater than at any
Of the big North River piers. and the engineers
remarked that the Lusitania could be oocked
there with case But il is for freighters that the
piers were built. and three Of the 4o-foot
1ranps can be lined UP on each side or a shp'
.hile room f3 left for three more to be stalled
in operation thirty-six tramps Of the average
length of 400 feet can be unloaded at the same
time with plenty Of space for lighters and
barges TO wori. beside them in the slips. And
there is a seventh pier to be built at the north
ern end of the property.
But the sight of the great structures, with
their swarm of tranlps and line freghters from
.alI the seven seas, impressive. even without
the figures There was bomely touch given
ear. ta-e nF q
ston. nesting egninst the side OF the big Cali
fornian loading for another trip around the
Horn while over across the way lay gray,
dirty looking Rusrian, in from SebastopoL
Perhaps a better idea Of the cosmopolitan
trade was given when the committeeman and
engineers tramped Gown the long quarter-rnile
Of one OF the covered piers. On all sides were
strange. lntlsky elling wares Of the Orient,
piled neatly in hreps, that alternated with
stacked sewing machines and canned goods on
the outgoing list.
Railroad tracks the entire length Of the
PIERS so that freight may be loaded directly
into the cars Their these may be taken to the
warehouses and fact,ries in the yards shunted
on hoard lighters that run to the water ter
Tninals OF all the railroads reaching this port.
This and much moro were told the visitors.
After going over one Of the concrete ware
houses they Inspected the newest and most sig
niflCant feature OF the terfninal-the factory
facility. Two factory buildings six stories high
200 feet long and 50 feet wide, are already in
operation. liz them such varied industries as
the making OF candy and the grinding OF pumce
stone in operation. Il third factory build
ing is I'm course OF construction, and in getting
into this and about the floors the elderly mer-
chants showed they had not forgotten how TO
trip along narrow bending boards negotiate
piles Of lumber II was more exciting than
golf, and everybody seemed TO enjoy Il. Vice
President Gardiner snnoUnced that the company
would build eighteen more factories OF the
same size whose plans already prepared
or were being held for alteration by tenants who
had asked for accommodation The visit ended
with a ride on the railroad. which has track
age Of twenty miles interlacing the streets OF
The 2op-acre reservation and connecting with /
car slips and railroad terminals.
On the swift return trip Chairman Hawkes. |
raid TO Tribune reporter: You have seen
what is the third and final step in terminal |
planning Those factories situated right where |
they can get the raw material directly from the
holds OF the ships and shoot back the manu. |
facturec product with equal facility. either on |
the trunk lines by water. will have the |
greatest sort OF advantage. 1t means a clean
eliInization OF trucking. The same is true OF
the great storage space offered most self
evident reason FOR the Chambers investigation
is contained IN the fact that in 1890 New York
handled 521 per cent OF all the import and
export trade Of the country Since then the
Decline in her relative share has been steady
Prom statistics up to date her portion of this
trade for 1907 is az per cent. This. It appears
has been due to the limited storage accommoda-
tons and the expense of trucking and rehand-
ling"