Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-22
FRIES PLEADS
FOR FREE PORT
ENGINEER SHOWS ADVANTAGES
OF PUBLIC HARB0R
SCORES S. p. FOR EFFORTS TO
CONTROL WATER FRONT
Noted Construction officer Makes
Telling Arguments in Favor Of Mu-
nIclpaIy Owned Frontage for
Greater Los Angeles


the audience did not know he was or
dered to washington, but they received
him as a friend of San Pedro an'
oheered him heartily. The telling points
he made for a free harbor at san Pedrt
and his exposition of the inevitabl!
great development around it were re
ceived with frequent Interruptions o
applause.
The grip that Captain Fries has or
the affections of Southern California
people was exemplitied in the oYatloi
given him at the opening and close o
his address. The announcement tha
Captain Fries will be sent away was
not made until the close of the meeting
Cant, Fries made one of his straight
forward speeches, bristling with figures
and facts relative to the possibilities o
a world harbor for Southern Cantor
MIA Those who have heard his former
addresses thought that he had exhaust
ed all the argument favor1ng a grea
port, but he presented
great deal of new argument last night
In his address Capt. Fries said:
The Modern Garroter
The garrote was an old Spanish
device for executing those whom
they desired to kill by strangling.
II consisted of an iron collar with a
set screw to fit around the neck, so
arranged that by the turning of a
screw the person would be strangled
fast or slow as the executioner de-
sired.
The modern garrote for harbors
Is a band of steel called railroad,
fitted with a set screw called rates,
by which the harbor can be
strangled swiftly or slowly as
the railroad czar.
In the old Spanish days the only
wa, a man escaped death by the
garrote was by keeping his neck
out of the iron collar, and the only
way a modern harbor can avoid
strangulation by railroads is to see
that their bands of steel do not sur
round it.
We are here tonight to try to
gave San Pedro harbor from being
strangled by the Southern Pacific
railroad. For no matter whether
franchises be asked by the Ban
ming company or their agents, or
the Southern Pacific company di-
rect. it is the same thing-South-
ern Pacific only.
Twenty years ago the Southern
Pacific did everything in its power
to kill San Pedro by having the
breakwater built at Santa Monica.
And such was their power then that
notwithstanding three special re-
ports-one by it's engineer officer in
charge and two by special boards
of engineers-all favoring San Pc
dro, they prevailed upon congress
to have a third board appointed on
which no engineer officer had a
place, in the hope that they would
kill San Pedro's chance for har-
Dor by recommending better site
at Santa Monica.
San Pedro the Place
But that board said, as did the
others. "San Pedro is the place"
the principal reason being the
great inner harbor that could be
built at San Pedro, while none
could be built at Santa Monica.
But the Southern Pacific never
sleeps. Before the report of the
board came out they set to work
to get hold of all San Pedro's 'front.'
age. And they are at it yet. Get
control of the harbor. Beg, buy or
steal it, but get it!' is their motto.
Huntington, with his railroads,
was a free man until after he got a
San Pedro concession, when he was
forced to submit to Harriman's
terms.
The old Terminal railroad was
free until it became transconti-
mental route, after which its owners
were likewise forced to join the
Southern Pacific. No doubt the
Southern Pacific could have bought
.,1 lf "a fT
price, but they hoped it would be
a failure and fall into their hands
for nothing. Besides, they didn't
care for it as long as it looked like
a failing proposition, but the mo-
ment it became a real competitor
the word went out to get it at all
costs. And so it is today.
They don't care what the public
is doing in the harbor unless they
think it is going to be a success.
The more work the public does so
long as it helps them and doesn't
compete, the better they like 1t.
So long as Mormon island was use
less to the public they didn't care
for it. True, they asked to improve
It by making 1t a sort of appendix
to the Salt Lake land by running
a peninsula parallel to the Salt
Lake railroad. but that was only
reclamation scheme. They didn't
agree to build any frontage. They
simply wanted to get grip on it
so neither the public nor anyone
else could use it.
No Improvements Made
Look back over the history of the
harbor and show me where they
have done anything to improve it
except build the Southern Pacific
slip and a few wharves.
For several years now an aver
age of more than a million tons
of freight a year has gone through
the harbor, every bit of which
except the little used in San Pedro
has paid exorbitant freight rates
to the Southern Pacific.
Every million tons means far
more than a million dollars to the
Southern Pacific, for their cheapest
rate so far as I can find is 81 per
ton on grain in carload lots only
for Los Angeles, and grain COM
prises far less than per cent of the
whole amount. On other articles
the rate is from s1.10 a ton on lum-
ber in carload lots up to $3.50 ton
on certain kinds of merchandise in
less than carload lots.
Out of all those millions not a
dollar has gone to improve the
channel.
mo" they say; 'let the people
dig the channels, and dig them
they have to; we don't have to do
that kind of work. We don't want
a harbor at San Pedro, anyway,
and If the people do build one Wen
grab the frontage and make them
pay US several prices for getting
to the c--annels they have dug!"
Look at San Pedro today. Not a