The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-13

side of the dredged basin: and along the top of this vertical wall Is mount cd one, or a number of cranes of vary ing capacity. In a small town these cranes are usually two--one worked by hand. the other by steam for occasion al and heavier use. These are under the charge of haven. master, who can charges a small fee for their use, The equipment is sometimes provided by the city. sometimes by the large for warding companies; but 1t Is always free to the public for the regular legal fee.
 Along the quay wall. back of the cranes, Is railway and a wagon road and back Of these a warehouse, also public, usully reached by a small car upon tramway but sometimes with In reach of the swing of the crane. (In big city apparatus the crane al- ways swings to the warehouse door = In larger cities the cranes are mounted upon rails. Tn Hamburg Haven there are 800 of these. of which at least 200 are set aside for loading and unload Ing river boats. and range from ten tons capacity upward Electric power is very commonly used.
 Public Owned.
 These installations almost invaria- bly belong to the public; and they are commonly erected by the city. They are almost always paid for by an Issue of bonds: and this bond isHkie is taken care Of. interest and sinking fund, by tax which represents but tithe of the amount the apparatus saves on trans-shfpment. I can give you sev- erAr such instances from abroad. One Is Breslau. on the Oder. Breslau has increased In the last few years from 200, 900 to 450.0D0 people, and Is busy and thriving city. It has long been the head of navigation on the river, and has been busy point for trans- shipment of coal from the railway from the Galician Mines for shipment-to Ser. lin. r.
 Tt had in 1884 trade of about l. OOo, ,O00 actual tons weight a year car ried on in barges in a river seldom more than. four feet deep, theoretically less than three feet and often but twenty-four inches depth in the chan mel, and not over f60 feet wide at the city In 1895 the Government canal
 ized the river fifty miles further and | nearer the mines, and by 1893 Breslau | trade had fallen to 100000 tons The | cItv was in distress. In this emergency the city called a conference or all the 1 interests concerned. and an agreement was made to build a harbor Tor the | city at public expense--a hArbor so modern and so economical that freight would again be attracted to 1t. Think what thfs means. The. city could not | Ret the rail rate cheapened, nor the river deepened, nor the traffic cheaper | in any way. It would cheapen but one thing the trans-shipnent. Breslau was moi an expensive loading point. It | has had public loading and unloading apparatus since 1871. and cranemas- 1 ter all that time.
 This time, however. it issued bonds
 for si. 800, 900, bought thirty acres of | land at the foot of an island, and built 1 these two great havens with four long stone quay walls, on which the railway | installed tracks. On the land beside | the haven the city erected coal-kip" ping plants of the best Agperican type: unloading grab hoists and general
 cranes. In addition they put up q su- | gar warehouse, a package warehouse | and a grain storehouse; and the round
 house. machine shop. etc. necessary 10 operate the whole. This cost Sl ,0oO'OOO'
 "The first year if was open but two
 months. 1t paid a profit over interest l of 5000, paid 1t by a charge on trans | fer SO light that it did not obstruct | traffic. Next year $35.000 and the next three times as much went Into the sinking fund. And what about the l trade? Remember Breslau had just dropped from 1000. 900 to 100000 tons.
 Tn two years it had climbed back to
 500, ,000, then to 100000. TodayNCosel | is shipping 100000 tons of coal. but