Arizona sentinel and Yuma weekly examiner., 1912-05-30
RIVERS AND HARBORS
 BILL SHOULD PASS
SENATOR NELSON, IN A PREACH MENT, SAYS TERMINAL FACILl TIES ARE TOO RESTRICTED.

Washington, D. C., May 27.-(Spe
 cial to The Yuma Examiner). Sena
 tor Knute Nelson of Minnesota, chair
 man of the Senate Committee o1 Commerce, regards it as extremely E important that Congress adopt tht provisions in the Rivers and Harbors bill for a report from the Secretary
 of War as to adequate water termina facilities. I There is no doubt" said Senator
 Nelson in discussing the matter, "that
 under present conditions water termi
 nal facilities are too much restrict ed. Instances are numerous where the
 railroads control these facilities to the disadvantage of those engaged in wat
 CT traffic. The result is to minimize
 the possibility of a reduction in
 freight rates. If the transcontinental
 railroads are able by controlling the water terminals to prevent water car
 riers from discharging their freight direct to railroad lines, the cost of the | intermediate transfer must be borne | by the shipper, who must pay for hav- ing the freight carried from the wharf
 to the railroad shipping point. This proposition is elementary.
 'T believe, therefore that we should
 have report made to Congress by the Secretary of War (and the pres ent River and Harbor bill, now in ref erence, provides that this report shall
 be made) as to the existence and es- tablishment of both private and public terminal and transfer facilities, with an opinion as to their adequacy and efficiency.
 "The provision in the bill further requires that if there should be no public terminals, or if they are inad- equate in number, the Secretary shall submit an opinion in general terms as to the necessity, number, and appro- priate location of such proposed termi- nals, and also their necessary relations to the development of commerce.
 Such a report is of the utmost inn portance in connection with the inn prOvement of our waterways and har- bors. Docking and warehouse facili- ties should be ample and should be ac- cessible to the public, at reasonable and equal rates to everyone Above all, there should be no monopoly en- joyed by any private organization over such facilities. The inevitable result of such monopoly is to benefit the concern that has such a monopoly to the detriment of the great shipping public.
 Before any river or harbor is inn proved by public funds, the municipal governing same should be required | to give absolute assurance that ade- quate arrangements have been made for proper wharfage facilities for the handling of passengers and the ship nent of freight. The government cannot have this assurance until we have report upon the whole situa- ton, such as the Secretary of War, through competent engineers, is re- quired to make under the present River and Harbor bill.
 We propose if possible to have the War Department report also as to the and utilization of water power for industrial and commercial purposes, as we'll as upon such other subjects as may be properly connect ed with such subject
 'The two committees of the House and Senate are coming more and that has been made in recent years in the river and harbor appropriations. The public generally faces the matter of larger appropriations for waterways with confidence that the money will be expended for public good, and not for the benefit of some particular section of the country. It seems to me that this confidence will be increased by the of this plan of having estimates made by the Secretary of War for improving wharfage and dock age facilities. It can result in nothing but great general good.
 "In the investigation and study of these questions consideration is to be given only to their bearing on the of navigation, to the pos sibility and desirability of their being co-ordinated in a logical and proper manner with improvements for navi- i gation to lessen the cost of such inn and to compensate the for expenditures made in ]