Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-03-08
CITY MUST HELP
IF HARBOR DEPTH IS
TO Be MAINTAINED
War Department Has Put it Up
to Wilmington TO Show
Necessity.
PROJECT is RECOMMENDED

There appears Ia bc much concern
among thosr Interested IN the Develop
nicnt of The port uf Wilmington. that un-
less the llarbor Commission. Chamber ui
Commerce and other civic bodies that
have the growth of the city through
increased wafer transportation on heart
show some signs of actual progress. the
channel IN the Christiana river may he
permitted to I'LL up to such an extent as ta
halt the movement of all deep draft craft
At the present time the War Depart
mrnt has an appropriation for s3o'Mo
for the dredging al the thr.stlana III ltS
budget, and should congress approve the
keeping opcn of the Christlana channel
for the wear. beginning june II Will be
provided fut But because nt the some
what pcsslmlstlc attitude taken by Var
Department otGcial~ relative ~ the
necessity Of thc Christiana channel being
maintained ut . depth oi more than -
feet It IS question oi whether the
government officials viii continue to
approve Of Recommendations tor apprp-
prations providing tnr q channel "i II IL
Fl feet a. Is necessary # hig vessels arr t.
hc launched and the growing commerce
"a this port maintained
Frank & Warner ultcd States DIS
tIict Engineer. in charge II the work tor
The government lead considerable diff
guilty II convincing War Department
on erals this year thH au appropriation oi
$500 was needed for the 1hrs'lapa
channel Colonel Newcomer Stationed ~
Washington supervising ne WORT for thus
section. raised TIE question IT whether
l1-loot chanucl would not -atisf, All II fho
riyrr tr.tfhc an the thrlStIana
Mr. Warmer has recommended m AZ
propriatIon oi S70n0N tor the work. hut
tins was cut a. $50 O0n II then became
necessary for Nr Warmer to show VIII,
the lS-faot channel Was nocdod Tic
called upou the Wilson line officials for
their views and thcv rcr.tcd that for the
host navigation of thcr passenger tleet.
3 foot channel such ~ Wts authorized
In tho SO~ Was necessary Ihs MIR
Warner embodied Ia l1~ nnal rccnmmcnda-
tfons to tho War Department The middle of
January. thus year IL addition Mr.
Warner sa,d
Before the war made q scarcity 81
vessels the American Car aud Foundry
Co had cargoc> 81 lumber IA vessels
drawing as much rs u icet and the Harlan
and Hollngsworth Comrauv had vessels
ior repair taking the same draft, ami the
same conditions viii probably obtain
after the war
"The CITY ot " llmpgt,p IS actually
planning for an extensive port develop
Incnt not only along the Delaware river
front, hut alsa ln the thustana river
under harhor Commission authorized
AZ the last session III the legislature ms
commission has employed an expert
harhor engineer aud plans IRE now hcing
prepared Il TINS development IS carried
out a> now appears prohahle. channel
depth Of not less than ; irct viii IT, r.
quircd The actual cost IF maintaining
an lS-foot channel Is very little IN excess 81
that for l--foaf channel and therefore III
view Of all the facts ard the probable
extensive port development N the near
future. recommend that # the sub
project sor Il Iect Is modlacd II be for
channel not less than Is feet 1T mean 10 y
water
DEFENDS ov I.oc>l ACTIVITIES
The latter recommendation showing
,hat Mir Warmer based much ot has aTgu-
mcnt for the malntcnauc, of the channel
IN the prospective future ot the port Of
Wilmington through the activities ot the
Harbor Commission would place that Of
.cial in somewhat embarrassing position
# nothing Is done about port development
within the next twelve months
Mr. Warner Is very frank about II.
He wants To provide an adequate channel
for al the needs of the { 'hriSrIaua con-
merce lie also wants u aId II every
possible way. the future advancement OF
the port But hls recommendations 81 an
to maintain an lN-toot
channel would N time prove futile Il the
city did not do ltS part
Colonel Newcomer when seen at " ASH
ingtun SAID that he WAS at the opinion
that l.5-toot channel would suffice for the
commerce on the Chrl,rjaua But he SAID
he h;ni placed the whole matter up 70 the
district engineer 'Air Warner pom |
his recommendations Colonel Newcomer |
rested the fate Of he appropriation nov III |
the War Department budget
That is the statu, of the sItuatIon.
Mr. Warner aid stress upon the future |
development OF the port through the |
Ifarbor Commission in It's preliminary |
~ its plans
AT the present truc tho dredgc Nllnquas |
j. employed exclusively ia dredging the |
Christiana With the SJ00O0 .ppropri4- |
tiun recommended thi, year. the work Of !
an 1N-foot channel can be +
continued for year The conditions oi +
the ChrlStlan3 require constant dredging
rs the rivcr he'd keeps continually shoal |
ing into the channel The channel IS now
from the Delaware river to the
pulp works
In some places d depth Of u feet has
been reached but only for a
short period, because Of the river filling IN.