Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-12-15
rammANY GRAFT AND PERTH AMBoY DEVELOPMENT

Mayor Hylans narrow poncy regarding ne ueNelop-
ment of the Port of New1ork as planned by the Port of New
York Authority is not hard TO understand. Mayor Hylan is
a creature of Tammany Hall. Tammany Hall lives on graft
obtained at the expense of the taxpayers of the City of New
York. One of the greatest sources of graft for Tammany, as
has been shown by recent Investigations, is the leasing and
control of the piers along New York's waterfront. Should
The countrol of the Port of New York be placed in the hands
of a bi ESTATE commission such as the Port of New York Au-
thority, the control of the piers along New 1orks water
front would to a large extent be turned over to this
commission. This would be a hard blow to Tammany,
hence T%ammany's opposition TO the scheme. Hence Mayor
Hylan's opposition,
Mayor Hylan opposes the bi- state development scheme on
The ground that it is mainly for the benefit of<New Jersey.
We fear the mayor is afflicted with near-sightedness SO
thai he is unable to see across the Hudson river. He is like
so many other New Workers who think the sun. rises in the
East river and sets in the Hudson. That Manhattan island
and possibly Brooklyn since mayor lives in Brooklyn-ls all
there is to the world.
II, the mayor could only increase his vision he you'd
be able TO see those great railroad terminals on the New
Jersey shore that connect New York harbor with all the rest
of the continent. OF course, the mayor, in his present delu
sion, does not know that there is any more to the continent
beyond Manhattan. but he has a rude awakening coming.
Nature has given the New Jersey shore a decided adj
vantage as far as shipping terminals are concerned. II New
York decides to play a lone hand in this port development
scheme New Jersey can take the money that she otherwise
would have put into the bi-state proposition, most of which
would have been used in helping to relieve Manhattan, and
spend it on her own waterfront. She can build great termi-
nails where steamships can run up along side the railroad
sidings leaving the greater part of the New York side of the
harbor to struggle along the best way it can.
It stands to reason, if Mayor Hyan is willing to listen
10 reason, that it is decidedly more advantageous and more
to bring the steamships up to The railroads on the
New Jersey side of the harbor than to build elaborate tun-
nels under the bay in order to enable the railroads to reach
The New York side to meet the vessels. Except for the par
licular benefit of New York, and especially Brooklyn, there
is no present need for any tunnel under the bay whatever.
MI -~,A- lhn eUn1 a fupnaI NvnulH nnS mich hptfpp h /
spent building up the New Jersey shore where the railroads
already are and where the steamships could easily come
much more easily than the railroads could be carried to the
steamship piers on the Brooklyn side. 1t seems like a great
waste of money to develop Long Island at the expense of the
port as a whole when it would be so much simpler to put
the terminals on the New Jersey side where the railroads
already are.
New Jersey. however, is inclined to look with favor on
the port project as a whole, being willing to bear her share of
the development on both sides in spite of the economic adj
vantage that she has. Yet, if New York should choose to
follow Mayor Hylan's lead and continue TO go it alone New
Jersey certainly cannot complain. Within a few years the
terminals that can be built along the New Jersey shore
with direct rail connection would afford ample facilities for
shipping without any elaborate tunnel system, the cOnstruc-
tion of which will take so many millions of dollars.
Of course, no one expects that New Jersey will ever put
New York out of business as far as The port. is concerned, but
if the bi-state plan is to be rejected and it is a case of each
state for itself, New Jersey is ina much more strategic posi-
lion than is New York. As a matter of fact, as far as the
Raritan section OF the port is concerned, there IS reason to
believe that it would be better off to go it alone. Shipping
would naturally come here with the right kind of water
front development.
Realizing, however, the underlying motive of Mayor
Hylan in opposing the port development scheme as planned
by the Port of New York Authority it is to be hoped that the
project in its comprehensive state will go through. Nature
has made this particular part of the Atlantic coast ideal for
shipping. After all, all sections of the harbor are inter-de-
pendent and there is no doubt that the greatest good can be
accomplished by cooperation.
With each section developing its own waterfront local
", just as Perth Amboy is planning TO do with its million
dollar project ON the Rarian river front, and with all Of these
local developments knit together by the belt lines, tunnels
and the big distributing yards, the Port of New York regard
less of imaginary state boundary lines will easily rang first
among the great harbors of the world. 4