Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-05-27
WHY DOES THIS GREAT PORT
NOT GET FULL RECOGNITION?
signal Maritime Emlnence Of Phiiadel-
phia as Second In America War
rants Better Appreciation
at the Hands Of Its
Own peopIe


Own People
MENTALLY, physically, atmospherically.
lVl Philadelphia is by far the worst
dressed of the worlds great seaports.
There, moreover. are outsiders and even
a considerable number of natives who readily
succumb to the fallacy that it is not a
matter Of toggcry alone, but of actual in
hibitions and unhtness for the role.
These croakers can prove geographically
that Pennsylvania is an inland State and its
metropolis an inland town. Certainly the
custom largely prevails Of embarking for
Europe from New York dock and boarding
a train for a fifty -odd mile journey to in
hale sea breezes.
Few poets have sung Philadelphia in
nautical terms. The industrial flavor is
significantly to be smacked here, but mari
time nuances are elusive, battling.
Climate and scenery ore continental
Gulls white or gray of wing, are compare
lively rare on Delaware avenue. Sight
seers regularly shun the harbor front. Not
infreQuently they are unaware of its ex-
istence.
The consequence Of these conditions Is
one of the most singular and fagrant of
fallacies. IL is a paradox to which emphasis
is given by the demonstrable fact that this
city has become the second seaport In the
Republic and that regular maritime COM
muncntion is established between our docks
and virtually all the leading commercial
harbors of the globe.
Statistics and tabulated columns are re-
puted tiresome. and so in many instances
| they are. Yet there is the glow of romance
| and color in the mere enumeration Of the
| overseas links which bind this finland"
| population center to the worlds great mar
| kets.
| The muster roll as presented in the cur
rent issue of the local trades bodies maga-
| zine, Commerce and Industry, includes not
| only such expected names as Liverpool,
London. Manchester and Naples, but Bar
ceona Bombay, Dakar, Cape Town, Valen-
| cia, Yokohama, Batavia and Helsingfors.
There are, indeed, at the present moment
seventy one terminal ports to which sched
uled steamship services are maintained from
this city.
Foreign shipping concerns have frankly
admitted that the cost of handling their
vessels here was far below that involved
in traffic with London. Liverpool New
York, New Orleans or Galveston. This does
not mean that conditions are ideal, since
drydock facilities in particular are sadly
lacking. and there is a psychological handi-
cap in the long continued under realization
| of our natural advantages.
| Nevertheless, the expansion of Philadel
| phia's sea borne commerce since the war
| injected new life into the American mer-
| chant marine has been little short of phe
nomenol. The value of last years imports
amounted to S219. .167. .6O1. and that of the
| exports to $40 ,691 .705.
Consideration of these figures with ship
| tonnage totals amply justifes the claim Of
Philadelphia's second rank among seaports
| Of the United States. with New York, but
New York only, in the lead.
But the interchange Of goods to and from
abroad does not tell the complete story. The
opening Of the Panama Canal and the ac-
tivities of the Shipping Board have produced
an entirely new commercial development.
strikingly evidenced in the services now
conducted to the Pacific slope. Six lines of
commerce carriers are now established with
Los Angeles San Pedrol. and like num-
Der with Portland, Oregon, and San Diego,
California.
The coastwse trade along the eastern
seaboard is accepted somewhat as a conven =
ton, but its recent growth warrants some
thing more than this cursory cataloguing.
The volume Of business transacted is i'm
| pressivey large.
! Interpretation of these facts in a spirit
of boastfulness would under ordinary con =
| ditions, reflect unfavOrably upon true pro
| gress. Flamboyant advertising may be TEN
porarily effective, but in the end facts per-
sist in governing a situation, and there are
few exhibits more lamentable than displays
of unjustifed grandiloquence.
In Philadelphia however. modesty re-
garding maritime distinction has sometimes
|, assumed the aspect of the humility that is
born of ignorance. A barrage of mscon :
| ceptons not only deprives one of the most
advantageously situated of seaports of gen
eral and justified recognition, but it griev
. ously nterferes with broad constructive de
| yelopment.
Az the mother of ships the Delaware ha,
T ! at last received it, due. No amount o
prejudice or delusion can controvert thu
truth connected with the superb rebrth o
shipbuilding along this waterway.
The splendid Pacific liner Keystone Stat
is today on her trial trip through the Cape
| and beyond. She is but one of sixteeI
= handsome Shipping Board passenger vessel
7 lately constructed across the river in re
Z sponsp to the largest order for vessels o
this class ever given TO an American ship
yard.
The New York Shpbuilding Company, o.
whose ways she was created, is but one o
" numerous similar concerns which within tn
last few years have been restoring tn
-. glories of the American merchant marine
In this connection, however, it is permis
A sible to pause upon the significance Of
name To the unnitiated New York
does not signify the great Philadelphia dis
% trict Of shipmaking and ship traffic.
is This is but one of many instances
,r defective dressing. As seaport the robe
/. which Philadelphia and the surroundin
region should be proud to wear are bot
rs glittering and authentic. They have hidde
q far too long In our municipal Uardrobc