The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-06-13
PRIVATE CONTROL
OF WATER FRONTS
Failure of Waterways System to
Do It's. Share of Transporta-
ton Is Explained.
Especial 10 rhe Tlmes-p,spa tch. !

=
Washington, D. c.. June IA
channel. the easiest navisable imag-
Unable, is worthless to water craft If
they have no place to load and un-
Load said Commissioner Herbert
Knox Smith, of the Bureau of Corpo-
rations Department. OF Commerce and
Labor. The statement marks the i'm
portance with which water terminals
are regarded BY thes branch OF the
government, which has made the most
thorough investigation of the COM
mercial aspects OF water transports.
ton In the United States. The com
missioner confirms the view OF Nation
the very vital Importance or the sub
lect OF adequa e~terminals Ii but poor
~ appreciated, even by many ardent
aa No s,s, Of waterway improvements
mat somethtng is wrong with our
waterway system. 1t does not do itB
full share OF transportation. The Blu
reau OF Corporations has been trying
to find where the trouble lay, and Its
two years study OF water terminals
mas convinced me that one of the chief
aelects was the terminal question.
Terminals are exactly as important as
channels, You might as we'll build
railway without stations or yards as
a waterway without terminals. And,
highway. its terminals must. to roa-
troll" -
notwithstanding the vast stretches
Of navigable water area in the United
States. this country is seriously remiss
IN attention to its own interests in
the failure OF the great commercial
fnd industrial centres. having excel
lent haroors, to acquire full control
and ownership OF their water front.
Private Interests Control.
sloner Smith. Control s nearly Go All Of
our active water frontage. Public
control exists in considerable degree
only at New, Orleans. San Francisco,
ly modified in New York by exclusively
private bases for long terms. Out or
nity OF our foremost ports. only two
New Orleans and San Francisco-haye
practically complete public ownership.
ana control OF their Active water 'front.'
age; eight have small degree of con-
. .s, and forty none al all. Out of
thirty,seven ports for which data is
availa BILE, exclusive of New Orleans
and San Francisco. only fourteen have
any publicly owned wharves. Out OF
e eWe,ntX,nve ports with available data.
cisco, only ten have wharves open TO
general traffic. with total Of only
forty-nine, the majority being Insight
meant and antiquated. Out OF forty
slX OF these ports. the majority of the
active frontage Is privately owned in
Iorty and In six but a small amount is
SO owned. Out OF Atty of the foremost
In which railroad ownership and oc-
eupancy cover over so per cent. OF the
active frontage. and twelve more he
tween % and 80 per cent
Two ports only, New Orleans and
San francisco, are noteworthy for
lneir nigh degree of public ownership
Sontroi. efhcieney and equipment. At
New Orleans the active water front is
admirably equipped and controlled BY
a. state board; most of the wharyes and
sheos are open for general traffic, and
or belt line railway giving co ordlna-
tion between the waterway, local in
dustries and trunk line railroads. AT
san francisco there is an excellent sys-
tenn OF wharves, under State control.
Kept open for general traffic. The
water terminal situation in these two
cities is by far the best In the coun-
try
1t is we'll known that the localities
are largely It fault for not availine
themselves OF what OF natural right be-
longs to them. Terminal charges, such
as excessive "dockage" and wharf
age" rates. have been SO excessive. es-
pecially in the great Mississippi River
sy stsd as seriously to have thindered
Such high landing charges" Com
missioner Smith remarks, together
with the absence of adequate termi-
nais, show forcibly the extreme lack of
| cooperation between the localities and
the government, the governments enor-
nous expenditures on channels being
In many cases largely neutralized by
the action or non action of local au-
thorities on terminals"
How the great German port cities
have helped themselves in respect OF
water frontage, as we'll as with regard
10 the ownership and operation of other
, ed In their great increase in commerce
and population. Disvrlmina ting Amer
lean writer's and travellers have recently
way which promises to bring about
! widespread waking up to self-reliant
action on the part of American cities.