Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-11-26

maze DY Inc Evening news tudl Ill le puDHCly bOlhS SfN"
The port development scheme Raritan bay is all but ignored
while Jamaica bay seems to be pushed to the front at every
opportunity. The Evening News criticized the essay contest
which the educational council of the Port of New York Au-
thority is conducting because among the suggested topics
for essays was the Culture of Jamaica Bay" while Rarltan
bay was not mentioned.
The director of the bureau of Information replies that
it would be impossible in the short available space to men
ton the names of all of the one hundred and five m%unicipali-
lies within the port district and to draft a subject directly
appealing to each" But Raritan bay is not a municipality,
neither does its development concern any one municipality.
It is, perhaps, the largest body of water within the port dis
trict. Yet it is scarcely mentioned in any of the publicity
given out by the Port of New York Authority. 1t already
carries a vast amount of shipping including ocean steamships
and has a channel of twenty-one feet while in the harbor of
Perth Amboy proper there is from thirty-five to forty feet
of water. A little dredging of the high spots in the channel
and Raritan bay could accommodate any ship afloat.
For size and depth of water and accessibility to the
open sea Raritan bay is second only to Upper New York bay,
and even New York bay is not as accessible. With the broad
fairway all the way up from Sandy Hook vessels could make
their dock here more quickly than they can at Manhattan or
Brooklyn because they would not have to reduce speed to
any extent until they were in sight of their dock whereas in
going into Upper New York bay speed has to DE greatly re-
duced upon reaching the Narrows.
In every respect Raritan bay exceeds any other part
of the port for relieving the congestion about Manhattan.
No great system of tunnels is needed here to form a con-
nection with the trans-coninental trunk line railways as
would be necessary for Jam2dca bay; no tortuous channels
have to he navigated to reach port as is the case in Newark
bay. Yet for some reason or other when it comes to sugges-
ting possible topics for school essays the only parts of the
harbor that come to the minds of those having charge of the
contest are Manhattan, Queens, Newark and Jamaica bay.
The latter is a mud flat compared with Raritan bay and
simply because a lot of Tammany Hall politicians are carry
ing on an extensive campaign in an effort to have Jamaica
bay developed so as to boom the marsh land that they own
in that vicinity is no reason why the Port of New York Au-
thorty should further their cause in its endeavor to boom
the port.
The director of the bureau of information declares that
Jamaica bay publicity does not start in the office of the Port
of New York Authority. This, no doubt, is true. But Raritan
bay, apparently, gets no publicity whatever in the Port of
New York Authority.
The Port of New York Authority insists that its purpose
is to develop the port as a whole without regard to what Sec
ton may be benefited. That being the case the fact that
Tammany politicians have been carrying on an elaborate
campaign for years in behalf of Jamaica bay while Raritan
bay has had no such vast sums of money spent in its behalf
should make no difference whatever as far as the publicity
of the Port of New York Authority is concerned. The sec
lion with the greatest natural advantages where development
is the most feasible so as to relieve the congestion in Upper
New York Bay ought to be the logical section of the Port of
New York Authority to push.
Strictly on its merits, Raritan bay with its twenty-one
foot channel leading to forty feet of water in front of Perth
Amboy; with its broad fairway and nearness to the open sea
and with its excellent railroad facilities, is second TO none in
The way of developing the Port of New York as that port has
come to be known. 1t would seem to be the duty of the
council of education connected with the port authority to
spread TO all the other sections of the port some knowledge
of what Raritan bay really is. Also, it would seem to be the
duty of the bureau of information TO inform the rest of the
port-of such possibilities for development as this section of
the port possesses.
Why confne all the publicity and educational features
TO Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Newark and, incidentally,
Jamaica bay? Why should an impartial board, as the Port
of New York Authority undoubtedly is, treat Raritan bay as
merely an after thought?
The only possible answer that we can suggest is that
those at the head of the port development are so ehgrossed
in the tunnels, belt lines and piers in and about Manhattan
that they have neglected to give Raritan bay, which is the
furtherest away from the center of the main scheme of de-
yelopment, the consideration that it deserves. This has been
evident from the very beginning of the agitation and it is
emphasized by the suggested topics for high school essays
that the educational council of the Port of New York Au-
thority has recently put out. All that the Rartan bay sec
ton asks is an impartial comparison with the rest of the
port as to possibilities for future development and then to
be given the publicity that such possibilities warrant.
ACCIDENT
Five times as many are killed and injured each year as
die from natural causes, says the Aetna Life Insurance Com
panv. It SAYS twenty-three are accidentally injured in the
limited States every minute. That's a total or 1000, 900
..a:ao,to ;niur;ae n MEANING that one in every nine