Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-07-12
BRIEFS FILED
IN PORT FIGHT.
Belt Line Railroad Feature OF
Action Taken Before
Commission
FIGHT N. Y. CENTRAL R. R.
Condition of New York Pork is
Told of and Warning Given
at Washington
FIGHT N. Y. CENTRAL R. R.
BY GEORGE f. MANNING
washington Correspondent of The
Perth Amboy Evening News).

washington correspondent Oh Inc
Perth Amboy Evening News).
WASHINGTON, July 12- That
New York, the most crowded port
in the American continent, is dan
gerously far behind most of the
junction cities of the United States
in organizing its facilities for day
by-day delivery of supplies to the
eight million people of the 108 mu-
inequalities of New Jersey and New
York who are fed through that port
is the burden of a brief filed with
the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion today by Julius Henry Cohen
e. Clark & LaRoe, counsel for the
Port of New York Authority.
The opposition of the railroads
particularly the New York Central
to unified operation at New York
is deplored; and the brief points
out the plans urged by the Port OF
New York Authority are based or
the experience of st. Louis, Chicago
Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Minnea-
polls, Denver and many other metro.
politan cities in unifying railway
facilities. At these cities, too, 1t IL
claimed, the New York Central
which is first in opposing the New
York plans, is large sharer in the
benefits of unified operation.
At the recent joint hearing given
by the Port of New York Authority
and the Interstate Commerce Com
mission to the twelve trunk lines
entering the Port of New York,
among Others counsel for the New
York Central Lines described the
Port Authority's plan for unified
terminal facilities as revolution
ary proposal. 1t suggests, counsel
said, complete destruction of the
competitive principle in rail-
road service, and is "detrl-
mental to the public interest" He
called 1t chat electric question, far
wider than any question involved In
the hearings"
"Most metropolitan centers have
indeed, made this question electric
until they go. their unified facili-
ties" said E. H. Outerbridge today.
Mr.. Outerbridge, who is chairman
of tn Port of New York authority,
is in Washington in conference on
port matters with federal officials.
"To New York and to shippers
to New York of the nation, certain
ly, the question is electric" he con-
tinued. 1T will remain so until the
Port of New York Authority or some
other properly constituted body, by
a system of belt lines can bring every
trunk line into every portion OF the
Port District and to every water
front, and can build an underwater
and underground system for deliver
ing supplies cheaply in Manhattan
the contemplated terminal system
to reach 10S municipalities compris-
ing the Port of New York.
"This belt-line system will link up
the trunk lines like a great telephone
switchboard, so that every trunk
will be available to every shipper.
Just now the New York Central con-
spicuously opposes the first step to-
ward uniting the belt line.
when such opposition ceases, as
1t must cease if New York is to be
served, we shall be in line with other
junction cities. The new regime will
cut costs to shippers from every part
of the nation"
Reference is made in the brief to
the experiences of some thirty cities
of the United States in unifying their
terminals. Noting the decisions of
the courts, public service commits
sions, and the Interstate Commerce
Commission the brief says:
From one end of the country to
the other we have seen that it is the
policy of the law to favor combina-
tions of railroad facilities when
ever economy can be secured there
by, and wherever the combination
results in joining connecting lines
of railroad for purpoIes of continu-
Gus transportation. There are in
Vulnerable charters for bridges
across navigable rivers authorized
to be used in common by two or
more railroad companies"
In conclusion, the brief asserts
that the states. under their powers
to regulate highways and railway
corporations, may compel the joint
use of terminal facilities, the crea-
ton of new connections, the build
ing and use of union depots, inter
switching. and extension of tracks
and functions, while the Congress
may do the same in the field of in
terstate commerce.
Since the Congress united with
the states of New York and New
Jersey in establishing, as part of
the Port Authority's comprehensive
plan. the joint use of existing facili-
ties as connecting belt lines, and
since this facilitates and increases
competition between through lines,
the brief says it is clearly in the
public interest. If this could be
done in the less congested center,
is declares, it is all the more neces-
sary in the most crowded corner
Of the western continent.
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