The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-14
EXPORTS INCREASE
MOBILE PORT HAD FINE BUSINESS
 YEAR.
Despite Disastrous storm of Early September, Alabama Gulf City's Trade Shows Fine Advance for
 Thfee Months.
Advertiser Bureau.

Thfee Months.
 Advertiser Bureau.
 Mobile. Jan Is.
 Measured in bales of cotton. the four months ending on the last or this month will show general exports to Europe from this port within lo,Voo bales of the total exports from tnls port to Europe for the entire tWeiVe months ending August sl, iast, say The Herald today, and this despite me handicapping aftermath of the great storm of last September and the fact that the direct export business has deyeloued in the past three or four years much more rapidly than It nas been possible to improve in the harpor facilities and JOCKS.
 This seems like startling, an al- most impossible, statement. It IS made, however on the authority or John B. Waterman, Elder Dempster and Co.,, agent and president or me Maritime Exchange and Shippers As- sociation. When asked last evening to discuss the condition or Mophe harbor, docks and shipping business. he said:
 Mobile, that I am glad to do so. 1T the present rate of export tspeaki ng for the direct exports to Europe. from this port and not considering the Cu- ban. coastwise and Latin American trade) continues, Mobile will nave exported as much on January 3l In three months since November l last as this port sent out in the whole twelve months ending on the last day of last August.
 Last September and October prove nothing, In the first place, September is always a small month for dlrect ex- ports to Europe. and in October the shipping waa far from recovered rom the immediate effects of the storm. For that matter. we have not yet en- tfrelv recovered. which makes the showing g sali thks more rsmar ble < < s.iSince November l, however, there has bsen an exceptionally heavy move. ment. the greatest in the history of lsths port for such a periodx- Less tna. tetn thousand bales of cottou wouia represent the difference between tne exports to Europe for the three months ending the last of this month and the wear ending the last day of August. base this statement on what has been nnt aboard transatlantic vessels and hooxings for clearance before. Febru- ary 1. This is in spite Of the damage to docks, slight injury to the ch3unei in the lower bay, the congestion ot freight us a result of the storm, ana inadequate dock facilities.
 "From November last to January s1, both inclusive, the general cargo sailings direct, including cotton snlp- ments. will show twenty steamers of an average capacity of 10000 bales. This is several fold the tonnage or a whole year g few years ago. 90 much for the growth of the shipping business. -.- ... baen to Liverpool and Bremen, about eoually divided between them, due nrobabfy to the fact that grades are not up to the standard of Havre re- uuirements. Demands for tonnage TOT Hayre have been less active than usual this time of the year. though the Havre marehants have been strong buyers when satisfactory grades developed.
 "The prospects for the season after January 31 are problematicai. Mo- hile will of course, get her snare, ana what cotton is developed in this sec tion is the guide to the probable Flu ropean exports from MSolle atter reo- ruary l.. .. l. haan the increased size of the trans Atlantic steamers coming here for car goes, which, supplemented by the large ircraasa in the number of vessels makes the port facilities for taking out exports very greatly improved. Or the other hand, the comparative slacH of dredged space in the river narpoi and inc insufficient depth of the main channel below the city are handicapf which need correction.
 pThe average vessel carries general cargo or pitch pinus, and when fuily loaded draws twenty-three feet salt wa ter, or 23.5 feet in this harbor In' asmuch as to secure best results she should be fully loaded, which Is prac- ak T MnhtIe harbor. and as the already exception ally fine export business Is capable Of immense further development, the ne- cessity of deep and larger harbor ts obvious and the wisdom of the joint Rivers and Harbors Committee of the local exchanges in asking for $l,OOO,OOO at once anu $100,000 year<for nVe years Is most fully justified.
 "sro the export shippers, the docks are second in importance only to the channel and dock depths. Dock facil ities come second in present necessity and this applies to all branches ant phases of the shipping industries, trans Atlantic, general, Cuban, Central Amer lean, and pitch pinus. Particularly tC the sailing vessels destined 10 all guar t1rs of the globe are the dock condi lions of especially vital importance. Owing to the dock conditions, the nresent methods of handling the ship ping business in Mobile would be con sldered obsolete in most other ports and a comparison of conditions here and elsewhere will show that delay to vessels here is greater than In other ports though not great in view or the contrast of conditions.
 still, the delay here on trans-At- lantic business operates to our disad- vantage as a port and as commercial community No one Is to be blamed for this condition. for the reason that the business of the port has Increased much more rapidly than the dock and horbor facilities could possibly he i'm proved. All the shipping people, what ever their connection with the vessels realize this. and are taking the neces- sary steps to vastly improve conditions And there is every reason to believe that by the opening of the next bus mess year. the dock facilities here vii fhf