Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-03-02
ATLANTIC CITY ALL THE TIME
By E p. RISLEY

usually takes III waterway matters in
the winter season, only to lose again
when navigation opens In the spring,
is nanifesting itself this year In opposi-
ton to the most important of all water
way projects which affects New Jersey
coast resorts, namely: the proposed ex-
tension of the State Inland Waterway
by the United States Government, from
Bay Head, at the upper end of Barne-
gat Bay, to New York Bay just back
of Sandy Hook.
Cape May county people, who are
sufficiently interested in public aft airs
to keep in touch with matters of this
sort, will remember that the movement
for the liberalization OF the State inland
waterway was inaugurated by the
Chamber of Commerce, of Cape May
county, at a meeting held In Cape May
In the autumn of 1915, or the early part
of 1916. AT any rate, at that meeting
resolutions were adopted, requesting
Congressman Bachsrach to use his eff
forts to obtain government aid upon
the proposed extension of the waterway
10 New York Bay and it's reconstruc.
ton to a depth sufficient to make it
available as an inside route for torpedo
boats and similar naval craft In time of
" ar. Copies of these resolutions, to-
gether with an explanatory article
printed In most of the county papers,
were for warded to Congressman Bach
srsch and acknowledged by him. Last
year, just prior to the adjournment of
Congress, friends of this project were
pleased to receive word t ON Congress-
man Bacharach, stating that the mat
ter had been made an item in the
River and Harbos appropriation
bill and that the officer in charge of
this territory had been directed to make
an investigation of the commercial
possibilities of the waterway, In order
that the question of , survey might be
determined. 1t was hoped that the
project, thus Launched, would be follow
ed W by its sponsor in Congress and
that some tangible results would event.
ually be obtained.
ATLANTIC CITY's OPPOSITION
/ received a hint last summer that
Atlantic City did not regard the water
way extension with any too friendly
an eye, hence the lengthy article in the
Philadelphia Ledger Of Sunday, Feb
ruary Oath, under an Atlantic City date
line, was not wholly a surprise. Com
ing, however, from the source that it
does, Commissioner Allen K. White,
member of the State Board of Com
merce and Navigation and a distin-
guished yachtsman, the article, ex-
pressing views that are altogether ex-
t~raordinary, is worth tie space it takes
to reproduce it, at ~leastin part:
1.-THE first survey ever made of
the seashore resort business of New
Jersey to demonstrate the import
ance of that industry as an argu-
ment for liberal State aid for the
inter-resort coastal waterway has
been ordered by the Chamber of
Commerce.
Occupied with this action, pro-
posed by Commissioner Allen K.
White, of the State Board of Com
merce and Navigation, is a move
ment to develop the interest of the
seaboard counties, as well as the
shore cities, through the establish
ment of a steamer line, operating
from Atlantic City to Philadelphia
and New York, with the inter-re-
sort waterway as a feeder.
"Commissioner White questioned
the %advisability of the proposal to
federalize the waterway. now ex-
tending for ia miles from Bay
Head, on Bsrnegat Bay, to Stone
Harbor, at Cape May (sic,D as a
part of the national d defense system.
Such q project, he believes, would
necessitate the extension of the
waterway on the north to a junction
with lower New York Bay, and the
digging of a link across Cape May
to connect with Delaware Bay.
This would involve an outlay of
millions of dollars"
FAvORS A PORT-NOT A WATERWAY
Commissioner White appears to be
somewhat mixed as to the geography
of Cape May county, as the harbor at
Cape May, with which the State in
land waterway connects, is Cold Spring
harbor, not Stone Harbor. For the
rest, it may be said that the proposed
extension would reach New York Bay
on the north, although the proposition
To ont a canal across Cane Nav county