Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-09
A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
FOR PHILADELPHIA

ME HAVE no faith in the virtues of
w watchful waiting as an industrial
proposition. The most 1t does is to give
a good view OF your competitors rushing
by The conservative East had many a
laugh at the reckless manner in which
the Middle West grabbed hold of the
automobile industry, but before the laugh
ing was over the banks Of Detroit were
giving hurry orders for new vaults in
which to store their deposits.
Philadelphia a hundred years ago
smiled condescendingly at De Witt Gin.
tons proposal to build 400 or more miles
of canal to connect New York with the
Great Lakes; but by 1852 the debt for
that enterprise amounted to only $4,000.
900 and the annual receipts from tolls
were over $4,000 900, fairly good invest.
ment even If it had not in the meantime
driven New York to the head of Amerl.
can cities and laid the foundations for
its ultimate world pre.eminence. BY the
time the Erie Canal was opened Phila.
delphia quit smiling. for in that year,
1925, the Conestoga wagons vending
their way along the great turnpike be.
tween Pittsburgh and Philadelphia were
becoming fewer and fewer in number and
New York had become the most populous
city in the nation.
1t was a little late, but Philadelphia
then walked up the State, which began
a positively amazing program of canal
construction. BY the middle of the
century over a thousand miles Of canal
were in use within the Commonwealth.
But most of the mileage did not pay
the cost of operation. A new carrier,
the railroad, had come into being,
and with 1t the canals could not
compete. 1t does not do to watch too
long. A community must smell its way
along and be ready to take a chance. To
wait to see how new methods succeed
elsewhere is not to enter the race until
It is lost
Three years of war conditions have dem.
onstrated many things. but they have dem
,onstrated nothing more certainly than
this: transportation facilities are the key
to success in both war and business. We
had freight embargoes last winter not
because our carriers themselves were in
adequate, but because the entire terminal
system Of the country simply collapsed.
It was not built to stand the strain. 1t
was out-of-date and antiquated.
The railroads cannot get an increase in
rates and they cannot get the money to
build the kind OF terminals they need.
Therein lies the opportunity of Philadel.
phia. A railroad with the cash might
build it's terminals wherever It pleased.
A city can construct its own. If Phila-
delphia provides adequate facilities, we
won't have TO sit and watch foreign ship.
ments being hauled through our streets
to New York piers. We can magnetic
our waterfront so that no commerce can
pass it by. We have. in other words, an
Incompatible opportunity to tie the West
to us once more and revive our ancient
prestige as a port. In this undertaking
the Belt Line is vital factor, and the
nght the Public Ledger is making to
put kick" into its management is of the
utmost Importance. We need numbers
of modern piers and wharves. but It is
the Belt Line that must make them
accessible. A terminal system efficient
in some parts will do little good; it must
function properly throughout.
The business men OF Philadelphia
ought to get this fact firmly fixed in
their minds: What the Erie Canal did
for New York a modern terminal system
can do for Philadelphia