The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1908-06-16
PEOPLE BETRAYED
BY SOMEONE
Work of Lake Shore and Baltimore &
Ohio Roads In Filling Mouth of
River Paralelled Only By Unscrup-
ulousnesS Of Tactics to Defeat
Legislation.

That the railroads In Indiana and es-
Hammond along the shore of Lake
Michigan have combined ON a fixed un-
aIternble policy OF opposing the deveI-
Opment OF harbOr at Wolf lake is the
as the first champion of this great pro-
ject, is now as much concerned over the
efforts of the railroads to close the
mouth of Wolf river as he was years
ago when he was known as "Harbor
EnOtts.1
BAR. Knots told of his efforts to make
Wolf river great inland winterfng
harbor and showed how he was thwart-
ed sn his plans, first by the railroads,
secsndIy my Mayor Patrick Reilly and
q council which betrayed the city, and
fhfrdIy BY the lethargy and dfsinfer-
estedness O9 cifixens who couId now
s<isssve hza sfIzs sstszaacfkon Of seeEng
Hammond the greatest port In Indiana
II they ha& risen N sa-sns agaiHst the
cOuncil and demand that Ii cease it's
Opposition TO harbOr development.
Mr.. Knots was elected to the 1egisla-
ture on platform. the principal plank
bill which would authorize the taxing
of property within certain zone for
the purpose of constructing the sem
blance Of a harbor and afterwards have
It taken over by the government and
improved.
Knots Studies Problem
Mr.. Knots had made enough of g
study of the opposition to know that il
would be useless to attempt to interest
the government in the enterprise unit
two conditions had been created. The
first was to provide for the proper sur
veys and through the taxation of the
contiguous poperty raise enough money
to dredge a channel. as was done at In.
diana Harbor, and then ask the gov
ernment to take hold of it, The second
was to locate enough industries on tn,
edge OF the canal to make it appear tC
the government that the commercial
demands of the harbor warranted al
appropriation.
Mr.. Knots began his activities at
time when Indiana Harbor had not beer
thought of and before Gary was ever
dreamed of. Had he been successful
the prestige of Hammond would now b,
unquestioned and the city would hav,
been rated as one of the most importan
in the state.
AS soon as Mr.. Knots arrived a
indianapolis and it became known tha
he was there for the purpose of redeem
ing his election pledges to provid
Hammond with a harbor; the railroad
from all over the district, regardless
of their interest in the proposition
united against the project and deter
mined to defeat it.
Field Admits CoIIusion.
Second day Mr.. Knots said to Judg
Fields of the Monon, either you ar
crazy or I am. Here the building O
this harbor can not possible injure yo
in the least; it may even benefit you
road by increasing the commercial i'm
portance of the city, and yet you oppos
it." Mr.. Knots said Judge Fields the
admitted to him that his road had en-
tered into an agreement with the othe
roads to fight the proposition.
At that time the only other harbo
on Lake Michigan in Indiana was tn
one at Michigan City. That was dwind
ling in Importance and the people of tn
whole state were with the Harmon
man in his efforts to make this city
great port AMI secure for Indiana a par
OF the great lake traffic which was eve
at that time leaving Chicago of it
Inadequate harbor.
Knots secured the passage of a bi
which made the taxes on boats at tn
port registration so much lower +ba
they would winter in the proposed Wol
lake harbor rather than at Chicag,
This law is even now being taken ad
vantage of at Michigan City wher
boats now winter even though they d
not touch the port of Michigan CITY /
the open season. The idea of the Ia,
from an Indiana standpoint was ths
If Indiana got no taxes from boats am
way It would be better to accept half
loaf than none at all
Lobbyists Do the Work
When Knots bill came up for cor
sideration it was defeated in the hous