Los Angeles herald., 1909-04-09
COMMITTEE ON
CONSOLIDATION
VIEWS HARBOR
BOARD MAKES INSPECTION OF
PORT AT SAN PEDRO
MEMBERS LEARN MUCH REGARD
ING WATERWAYS
Escorted by Captain Fries Party
Passes Day Studying Conditions.
All Are Very En-
thusiastic
UHE Los Angeles consolidation COM

| HIHE Los Angeles consolidation COM
mittee learned much but talked
- little yesterday while on an all
day tour of the harbor district as the
guests of Capt. Amos A. Fries Of the
United States corps of engineers. The
| committee has decided to work hard
on consolidation, but to take the posi-
| tion of a Jury with ears to the
ground, listening frequently but say
ing nothing" as the president, Stod-
dard Jess, said
The committee started at the Salt
| Lake drawbridge across the entrance
to Long Beach harbor and went all
over the water portion of the harbor.
The land side, including Wilmington
and the Los Angeles strip" and the
matter of approaches and harbor high
ways were left for another trip, which
| the committee is anxious to take in
the near future.
1--WE shall meet often" said Presi-
dent Jess while on the tour, "and shall
be ready to confer with anybody who
| has interests at stake or can give in
formation. A meeting will be held next
week, and we shall keep at it until
we have the question well in hand.
What we shall do however, is not
matter for anticipation"
Mr.. Jess expressed similar thought
! in a. short speech to members of the
| committee which he made on the gov
ernment dredger San Pedro just before
the party temporarily broke up for
! lunch
Interests" Alert
at want to say a word on one subject
| connected with the work of this COM
mittee," he said. cit is evident to me
| and to other members--I have no doubt
| to every member of the committee
that there are numerous interests. pri-
vate and corporate, who are watching
very closely to learn what action we
may take. In the short time since the
| committee was appointed we have
| found a great variety of interests in
volved in the problems before this COM
mittee. Great corporations have their
| own ends to gain, private parties nave
| large interests to guard, and there are
| various factions with ideas as to what
| should be done and how to do it. Many
have asked what we are going to do.
| "Our attitude should be, I believe,
that of a jury. Every member should
| keep his ear to the ground, listening
| carefully to the different views of citi-
zens, but nevertheless preserving his
own opinion. We should weigh this
matter carefully and thoroughly. but
! | do not think we should discuss tho
| action we propose to take until after
| it shall have become of record.
"All of us appreciate fully the cour-
Fries, and we are glad to have this
opportunity, for undoubtedly no man
is better able to tell us of the details
of harbor improvement. ! feel sure
! that 1 can express the heartiest thanks
of every member of the consolidation
committee to Capt. Fries and his force
for their assistance"
All members of the consolidation
committee were as reticent as the pres
ident regarding plans and probable ac-
tion, but they were unanimous in say
ing that the days trip was exceedinelN
profitable and that they had gained a
large amount of valuable informatior
Frequent Visits Necessary
eve ought to come down here fre-
quenty," said William d. Stephe r,
and the others agreed with him.
have been down to the harbor great
many times, and each time | aaVn
found some new phase of it's poss toili-
ties, but I have never learned so n.uch
as / have today. This trip has pee1
a great deal more profitable than had
anticipated"
The committee met at the Pacific
Electric building, but for some reason
they were compelled to watch the
Long Beach car leave with but six
members of the party on board, while
the others were held at the gate half
an hour. The only other incident to
a number who bought round trip tick
cts with the understanding that the
return portion would be good on the
San Pedro line, where they were re-
fused.
'I want the newspaper men to note
that we all paid cash for our tickets,
said Joseph Scott "else they will be
asking if any of us Travelled on free
transportation. There were no passes
in this crowd"
The party walked over the Salt Lake
drawbridge and inspected its big bas-
cule span. The water was so rough
that the two launches waiting for
them at the dredger in the Long Beach
channel could not come to shore, and it
was necessary to walk the pipe line
across to the dredger which every one
did with agility The spectacle of f1f-
teen of the most prominent men in Los
Angeles making Zine over a fifteen
inch pipe with rough water under
meath them was one which they them
selves seemed to appreciate. None Of
them hesitated when Capt. Fries said,
There's no way out but to hit the
pipe"
Capt. Fries assumed charge of the
first launch, in which were William
d. Stephens, A. P. Fleming, Stoddard
Jess, Willis H. Booth, M. p. Snyder.
John A. Fox, Homer Hamlin, Leslie
r. Hewitt and John B. Elliott Capt.
Fries carried maps which showed feat
ures of the harbor development. and
he explained these as the launch went
through Cerritos slough and the east
basin.
In the second daunch, with Lieuten-
ants Leeds and Ehrnbeck of the United
States engineers office were J. NJ
Schneider, F. w. Braun, Frank Sirnp-
son, Fl. Jevne, James A. Anderson, Jo-
seph Scott, M. H. Newmark, o. f.
Parish, Frank J. Hart and several
newspaper men. d. e. Hughes, harbor
expert of the engineers office, ex-
planned the maps and answered ques-
tions about the harbor.
View Ship Construction
After passing the Craig shipbuilding
plant where the party had an excel
lent view of ship construction and the
salt works, launches went up to the
(Continued ON Page TwoA