The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1911-05-11
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/. In taking up the matter OF cOn
merce through the port and before
scheduling the figures, we desire to
record in this report reasons why 1t
seems to us the United States Gov
ernment should assume the mainten-
ance of the channel of the Manitowoc
river.
2. Document No. 1867, Letter from
the Secretary of War transmitting
certain documents contains a classifi-
alton by the Board of Army Engineers
dividing harbors into three classes; LIST
page 81 where commodities are
brought in by water, transferred from
ships to lines of land transportation
and carried out for distribution. These
harbors are National in their character
and should be maintained by National
appropriations. The second and third
classes are ont pertinent to our har-
Dor and need not be referred to.
On Page of the document refer
red to there appears the following mat
ter which exactly describes the con-
ditions at the Port of Manitowoc:-
First We have those commodities
drawn from a wide extent of country
brought by land routes to the port
and sent across the sea And to this
belongs also the return cargoes of the
ships which is put upon the cars and
scattered over the country for con-
sumption. This class of commerce
in our country is of very great value,
and has much to do with the general
welfare, for it comprises the surplus
products of the farms, the forests and
the mines. But it is not of very
great local value to the harbor through
which it passes, for every considera-
ton of economy and efficiency de-
mands that the transfer between car
and ship shall be effected with the
least possible expenditure of money
and labor. Hence the less money Vt
leaves in the harbor the better it is
for the commerce. The wharves and
landing places for this class of COM
merce are frequently placed outside
the city limits, so that the trains do
not have to pass through the city at
all, and some successful harbors OF
this class are found where there is
no city, small village being quite suf-
ficient to accommodate all Of the peo-
pie that can gain livelihood from
the very limited employment that
this business of transfer affords.
Examples are not wanting w' ere
the Improvement of hcrl II 1f ,:l-
class White it mas led 10 d large IN
crease in volume of freight handled,
has actually diminished the total
amount of money that the traffic left
in the port Obviously such commerce
is of National and not local benefit,
and if harbors or parts of harbors are
specially devoted TO this class of com
merce alone, they could properly be
provided and maintained at the Ma
tional expense"
3. The use of the river at this port is
mainly for hauling of through traffic
and very slightly for the handlingof
traffic originating or terminating here
Therefore, instead of following precise
y the order of your inquiries We have
compiled the figures on traffic so .s
to show, first, the total number OF
tons of lake traffic passing out of or
into this port, second, the total num-
Der of tons of such lake traffic which
originated or terminated at this port
and third the amount of tonnage that
is rehandled here.
III.
= /. The gross tonnage entering the
port of Manitowoc and leaving that
port during each of the years begin
ming with 1895 and ending with 1910
is shown by the table attached here
to an compiled by Fred c. Schultz,
Deputy Collector of Customs. This
table shows the total number of YES
sells entering and celaring during these
years and their total tonnage. AS a
part Of the same report the Deputy
Collector has tabulated the amount
of commodities entering and leaving
the port during the year 1910. I'm
mediately following the report of the
Deputy Collector we have annexed
table in which the commodities have
been reduced to tons which shows SIG.
004 tons of freight shipped out of
Manitowoc by water in 1910 and 1881
3S1 tons entering by water during the
same year. This is the total lake traf
lic in and out of the port and includes
freight originating at Manitowoc and
sent east and also freight from east
ern points which stopped and was
consumed here. BY deducting the
freight originating at and destined
for Manitowoc we arrive at the net
amount of tonnage which passed
through the port from and to points
beyond east and west.
w
Taking up the amount of tonnage
originating and terminating at Manito-
voc we beg to report as follows
The number of tons of freight orr
ginating at Manitowoc and shipped