Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-02

III TRAM Il. FLINT.
This telegram from Senator Flint to
his secretary. Frank Buren, brought
| the positive information from Wash
ington that the victory of the people
for free harbor at San Pedro is in
sight. The telegram was not received
| until the middle of the afternoon, but
was communicated promptly by Mr..
Buren,, not only to those named, but
| to many others interested.
Mr.. Flints telegram means that sec
retary Taft has in effect overruled
Assistant Secretary of War Oliver and
Chief of Engineers Mckenzie in their
| instructions to procure quitclaim deeds
before the harbor lines to be estab-
lished would be made permanent. 1t
is understood Mr.. Flint will be home
the last of this week.
The sentence Secretary of war Will
approve the report Immediately If sat
| isfactory to the commercial organiza-
! tions" is taken to mean that Los An
geles, Long Beach and Wilmington,
acting together, as they have been, are
to say what they want and 1t Will be
granted. This was the construction
put on the dispatch by both Mr.. Stew
art, president of both the harbor COM
mission and the chamber of commerce,
and by Mr.. Fleming, secretary of the
commission.
Small Impediments
The board alluded to by Mr. Flint in
his dispatch Is composed of Lieut.. Col
John Biddle of San Francisco, Capt
Amos A. Fries and Lieut.. Charles L.
Leeds, both connected with the United
States engineers office here. OF this
board Capt. Fries and Lieut.. Leeds are
protagonists of the harbor as outlined
and reported to the war department
December IT, Capt. Fries has been
| the genius of the harbor project. Thus
with the commercial organizations sat
| isfied and they approving all that the
| army engineers have proposed. few
1 can see but small further impediment to
! the free harbor fights success-a goal
! thai has been near but far for eighteen
| years.
This board is to meet at Wilmington
June 1S to hear all who may want to
present suggestions as to the perma-
nen, determination of the harbor lines
| or to suggest alterations or modifica-
| tions in those tentatively approved and
adopted. 1t is at this meeting that the
harbor subject will be closed and the
board will set to work on its final re-
port. In this work there will be ample
opportunity to satisfy the commercial
ORGANIZATIONS, which include the cham
ber of commerce, the harbor commits
sion and the Merchants and Manufac-
turers' association of Los Angeles, the
Long Beach chamber of commerce and
the Wilmington chamber of commerce.
Capt Fries does not believe the board
will complete its report before July l.
Specific Authority
The harbor lines determined by Capt.
Fries and his corps were sent to the
war department December IL and have
been the tentative harbor lines under
consideration. While the moving IN
terests felt the law authorizing the war
department was sufficient in a general
way it advised a joint resolution of
congress specifically authorizing the
establishment of the harbor at once.
This resolution was placed In the
hands of Senator Flint. The resolu-
tion as reported to him by the war
department proved Objectionable to the
commercial organizations here because
1t contained q provision requiring quit
claim deeds from all claiming interest
or title in the tide lands. Mr.. Flint,
when his attention was called to this,
procured the omission of, this phrase
and the resolution passed the house by
concurrent action March 10, directing
the unconditional establishment OF the
harbor lines.
Nothing more was heard of the quit
claim feature until instructions were
sent by Robert Shaw Oliver, assistant
secretary of war. that the board was
to establish the lines, but they were
not to be made permanent until quit
claim deeds or releases had been re-
ceived from all parties claiming IN
terest or title
When this was discovered the COM
mercial organizations and the harbor
commission appealed to Senator Flint,
who responded by taking the subject
directly to Secretary Taft over the
heads of Gen. oliver and Chief Of En-
gineers A. Mckenzie. The result OF
this appeal is told tersely in Senator
Flints dispatch of yesterday.
Fear of QuItcIaims
There is, however, in the breasts of
some of those deeply interested in the
| free harbor plan fear that the quit
claim feature may have to be met again
| in some other form before the victory
| is sure Information has already been
received here that the Southern Pa
cific. the Bannings and others have
filed with the war department releases
or quit claims and that they have re-
ceipts for them. This is not what the
friends of the free harbor movement
wish. as they hold that the acceptance
of such releases may prove an obstacle
| on the part of the government when
| it tries to establish it's lines, or 1t may
appear again when the government
asks a permit from the attorney gen
eral of California to use the name of
| the state in setting stakes for the
| harbor.
If these friends of the free harbor
have their way the board will act and
the action will be approved by the
secretary of war without any reference
or recognition of any claims whatso-
ever of tide water rights. They see
as thew would give more than a "toe
hold'' for contest of the questions in
yolved later. They want the govern
ment to determine what lands are
necessary for the purposes of naviga-
| ton without reference to anything else
(Continued Page Two)