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

NTE HAVE no faith in the virtues of
Nv watchful waiting as an industrial
proposition. The most it 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 Clin-
toms proposal to build 900 or moro miles
of canal to connect New York with the
Great Lakes; but by 1852 the debt for
that enterprise amounted to only $17, ,OOO,.
900 and the annual receipts from tolls
were over 100000, a fairly good invest.
ment even If it had not in the meantime
driven New York to the head of Ameri.
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 little late, but Philadelphia
then walked up the State, which began
q positively amazing program of canal
construction. BY the middle of the
century over a thousand miles of canal
But most of the mileage did not pay
the cost of operation. A new carrier,
the railroad, had come into being
and with it the canals could not
compete 1t does not do to watch too
long. A community must smell it's 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
sonstrated 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.
1t was not built to stand the strain. It
was out-of-date and antiquated.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 a vital factor, and the
night 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 1t 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 modern terminal system
can do for Philadelphia
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