Los Angeles herald., 1908-08-26
FREE HARBOR IS
BANQUET SLOGAN
MUNICIPAL WATERWAYS IS
GIVEN IMPETUS
BOOSTERS SURROUND FEsTAL
BOARD AT LEWIS
Joseph Call, Captain Fries and Others
Urge People of Los Angeles to
Claim Their Tideland
Rights

Wn1ch a Iree udTDOT Can W OSeeNS4A
at san Pedro, and any one of the three
WAYS can be utilized, whatever steps
the corporations may take to per1ect
| their titles to the tide lands which
| they claim now.
! These ways were brought out at the
first dinner of the Municipal water
ways association, held at Levy's last
night.
whereby the harbor commission is
4 preparing to bring suits against cor
porations to test their titles to some
of these tide lands and prove they are
not valid.
This test is to be made under the
state constitution which prevents the
granting of tide lands to private cor
porations within two miles of an IN
corporated city. AS many of these
grants were made after the incorpor-
alton of San Pedro and Wilmington
the harbor commission holds they are
not valid.
Another method was suggested by
Capt. Amos A. Fries, the government
engineer in charge of the harbor work
at San Pedro. He declared the ma
| tional government could take away the
lands granted under state patent in
| the interests of commerce without so
much as asking permission of the hold
ers He said the government had
never yet taken such drastic steps, but
it was within its powers to do so, and
advised the Municipal Waterways as
sociation to fight its cause in the ma
tional congress as we'll as in the state
legislature.
Right Of Eminent Domain
The third method was suggested by
Henry T. Hazard, former mayor, and
that is the right of eminent domain,
whereby the people at large have the
privilege of securing property they
want by condemnation proceedings.
That San Pedro can be made free
harbor by one of these methods In
spite of the grabs of private corpora
tions was cheering to the $50 persons
who gathered around the banquet
board last night
Everyone who discussed the harbor
subject was qualified to do so by long
study of its details, and 1t was cheer
| ing news those $50 boosters" as they
chose to term themselves, heard from
| the speakers. That free harbor was
not only a possibility, but almost an
assured fact, was dwelt upon by the
speakers, and the only thing needful
for Los Angeles to share in this great
boon was for the city to have harbor
| frontage, establish its public docks,
build municipal railways and ware
houses. The best and closest frontage
for Los Angeles, according to Capt.
Fries. is Wilmington, and the consol-
| idation of Wilmington and Los An
geles is one of the prime objects Of
the association.
Mayor Harper was president of the
evening and introduced r. F. Del Vale,
former senator, as toastmaster. Two
speeches of Bryan and tabloid grand
opera were reproduced on the phono-
graph by F. ]. Hart of the Southern
California Music company, to the de-
| light of the audience. 1t was intended
to give one of Taft's speeches on the
instrument, as the association is pure
ly non-partisan, but the record did not
arrive at the hall in time.
Harper Speaks
Mayor Harper told the object Of the
association. He declared 1t was little
body of "boosters" gathered together
and formed into an association for the
greater glory of Los Angeles. He de-
clared 1t was neither Republican nor
Democratic, Southern Pacific nor San
ia Fe, Methodist Baptist nor capital
ist, but organized for the purpose Of
boosting everything good for Los An
geles.
Del Vale characterized it as an or
ganization formed to carry on the
work begun by the chamber of COM
merce, the consolidation of city and
county, to the greater glory of both.
Joseph H. Call was the first speaker
of the evening and he made a telling
address. He confined himself to freight
rates and the development Of the wa
terways and the effect of one upon the
other. In the course of his speech he
showed how freight rates from Chi
cago to Los Angeles had steadily been
advancing under the interstate COM
nerce act until they had doubled,
tripled and quadrupled since 1886. He
declared the railroads incapable of
handling the commerce of the coun-
try and that millions of dollars worth
of crops rotted on the ground every
year for want of transportation. His
solution was the development of the
waterways and for Los Angeles free
harbor at San Pedro, where indepen-
dent vessels could have wharfage.
Under such method he said the
freight rates per ton would not be
over SO by water. whereas on some ar
ticles the railroads charge $52 ton.
Mr.. Call explained the difference in
freight rates for different commodities
Of practically the same bulk for the
same distance. The schedule of prices
for freightage, he said, was made and
maintained by all the railroads acting
in combination, and was the duty
charged on similar foreign manufac-
| BOOQ6 plus lA1C 1ACi6hi AdbCe
across the Atlantic. He cited several
J instances. but the one that took the
} best hold on his audience was that or
oranges. The duty on oranges coming
into the United States is $40 a ton
! The rate for transporting them across
the Atlantic is So a ton. The freight
} rate charged California orange grow.
! ers from Los Angeles to Chicago Is 81;
ton.
Need Municipal Railways
In showing the necessity for munich
pal railways Mr.. Call quoted the av.
erage freight rate from the Southern
Pacific wharves in San Pedro to the
depots in Los Angeles at SO ton. no
this amount he declared the same goods
could be shipped from New York t.
London by water. The development
of the harbor If public docks wer'
established would result in a SAVING
to Los Angeles and surrounding citiel
of $40, ,OO0, 900 every year, was one O.
his most forcible conclusions. Withou
public docks there would be no ad
vantage to Los Angeles Of the Panami
, canal, was another.
Captain Amos A. Fries was received
! with an ovation that brought warn
! blush to his cheek when he arose t
speak.
His topic was What Is Needed t
Make San Pedro a Free Harbor," an'
, he handled his subject ably. Sever
; hundred acres OF tidelands are to b.
reclaimed, who is to get them? wa
r a telling question he put He went OF