956





RECORD AlfTD GUIDE





May 30, 1914





improvement, but must be by future
appropriation of the Legislature. No
doubt some of the Jamaica Bay advo¬
cates have overlooked this.

It is noteworthy that some of the
more conservative commercial organiza¬
tions cautioned against unwise or un¬
necessary expenditures at the hearings
before the State commission. The New
York Chamber of Commerce had a spe¬
cial committee on barge canal terminals
and investigated the subject quite thor¬
oughly, and pointed out the inadequacy
of data available which would indicate
the probable increase in canal traffic
reaching New York, or the character of
the commodities to which the increase
might be attributed. At these hearings
the most extravagant expectations were
in some instances advanced. For in¬
stance, figures presented regarding a
probable increase in tonnage at New
York would mean an increase of thirty
or forty times the present tonnage.
Staten Island, for instance, in the reports
of the hearing, is recorded as presenting
a formal plan for a terminal which
would cost almost $6,000,000, which
would  be  more  than  half  of  the  total





appropriation allotted to New York City.
According to the present proposals,
even if New York does require $10,000,-
000 worth of terminals, it would be
obliged to pay $13,000,000 or $14,000,000
in taxes in order to obtain them, and
still vvould have no authority in their
operation, whereas the city could pro¬
vide its own terminals at less expense
and could also use them when desirable
for coastwise or ocean traffic and make
them self-sustaining, and thus release
the bonds for the construction of other
port improvements, instead of having
the port dotted with State control ter¬
minals, authorized by an act which is
both ambiguous and inadequate. There
is nothing to indicate that State con¬
struction or administration is any more
disinterested or efficient than municipal.
The commission created by law to report
to the Legislature on barge canal opera¬
tion included the State Engineer, the
Superintendent of Public Works, and
three others appointed by the Governor.
The State Engineer dissented from the
views of the other members of the com¬
mission, who failed to sign their report,
and his dissenting opinions are attached





to the report which has been filed.
It would seem that each city might be
entrusted to provide its own terminals,
or that the local municipality contribute
at least half of the funds for the local
improvement, thus insuring some local
interest. Terminals should certainly be
provided promptly when and where re¬
quired, and paid for in full or in part
by the community benefited, or made
self-sustaining by efficient management
and nominal charges. It is just as essen¬
tial to have boats as it is to have ter¬
minals, and there is no great activity
yet in canal boat construction. It is
already stated that the railroads have
gained control of considerable boat traf¬
fic on the Lakes as feeders to the rail¬
roads, but will not use them as feeders
to the canal. It would be well if those
interested in the port facilities of New
York and property owners' associations,
interest in taxes began to investigate
the subject of barge canal terminals, ad¬
vocated chiefly by uninformed legislators
and local communities eager for any sort
of improvements, with State funds, near¬
ly 75 per cent, of which come from the
taxpayers of New York City.





RICHMOND'S  WATERFRONT   ADVANTAGES.





U" UTURE development of waterfront
■'■ properties in Greater New York is
constantly in the minds of municipal
authorities and property owners, and
periodically commissions make tours of
the various boroughs to ascertain avail¬
able sites, where large watercraft may
be docked. In speaking of this situa¬
tion, Percival G.. Ullman, Jr., chairman
of the Industrial Committee of the
Staten Island Civic League, said last
week:

"Water transportation, the natural
highway of commerce, solves forever
the question of freights. Richmond
Borough occupies an impregnable posi¬
tion, and the future prosperity and the
greatness of our commercial life will
insure for it big industrial development.
Large commercial waterfront acreage
lies within the boundaries of Richmond
Borough. Like rnany other sections
within the harbor of New York, this
section is not served to a considerable
extent with railroad connections, except
in a few instances where private enter¬
prises have provided these facilities
which are so necessary for industrial
progress.

"The industrial section of Richmond
Borough is clearly defined; it needs no
introduction of city planning; nature has
assumed these responsibilities for us;
therefore we can dispense with the in-
ventative genius of man in creating
artificial  industrial locations.

A Great Water Highway.

"Richmond Borough has begun a new
warfare; it is not to destroy, but to cre¬
ate and build up its industrial possibili¬
ties, so long untouched by commercial
progress. The Staten Island Sound,
separating New Jersey from New York,
bounds Staten Island on the west for
its entire length. I know of no other
waterway equal to it in size which sur¬
passes it in the volume of tonnage, or
in the value carried through it annually.
Therefore it is safe to assert that no
other waterway on the American conti¬
nent has a greater or more promising
future.

"Great progress has been made in re¬
cent years on the New Jersey side of
the Staten Island Sound in industrial
development, due primarily to marginal
railroads which have made manufactur¬
ing' sites available there. The Federal
Government, recognizing the Staten Isl¬
and Sound as an important waterway, is
deepening the channel to 25 feet at mean
low water, at a cost of $19,000,000.

"The Richinond Borough side of the
Staten Island Sound, when served with
railroad connections, will be unsurpassed
as a shipping point for export and im¬
port trade. Th,- Fresh Kills is an arm
of the Staten Islaiid Sound, averaging
800 feet in width, and it is the only large
navigable  waterway  in  Richmond  Bor¬





ough   that  is   particularly  well   adapted
for industrial purposes.

"The fact that Richmond Borough has
made rapid progress as a trans-Atlantic
freight terminal must not be overlooked.
There are many miles of shore front
along New York Bay, from St. George
to Fort Wadsworth, which is exceed¬
ingly well adapted for large piers and
wharves, by reason of the depth of wa¬
ter and the wide range of the pier line
from the shore, and above all its accessi¬
bility to the ocean over any other sec¬
tion of the harbor. The American Dock
Company has erected and is building
large piers and warehouses for the trans-
Atlantic trade at Tompkinsville, and
many steamships are discharging or
loading cargoes for inland or foreign
ports at their docks. The waterfront at
this point has railroad connections; how¬
ever, the whole shore from "Tompkins¬
ville to Fort Wadsworth will in due
time receive the railroad facilities neces¬
sary to make it a well-developed ship¬
ping terminal.

Coal from Mine to Steamship.

"It is well within reason that the large
coal-carrying railroads of New Jersey
should seek an outlet to tidewater on
the east shore of New York Bay via
Staten Island, in order to discharge the
product of the mine direct into the hold
of the ship at piers which are to be buijt
on the east shore of the borough. This
plan would eliminate the slow method
now employed for coaling steamers, and
the saving in time, labor and expense
to the shipping interests of the city
would be enormous. The .eeographical
location of Richmond Borough is such,
and the distance from the coal mines of
Pennsylvania via New Jersey to tide¬
water, on the east shore of the borough,
is so short, that the island can no doubt
be made superior to other shipping
points on the Atlantic coast when ade¬
quate rail facilities shall be provided.
Here, too, would be the ideal American
terminus for steamship lines bound to
and from foreign ports. This plfin com¬
pleted would create for Richmond Bor¬
ough an advantage over any other part
in the harbor of New York.

Richmond Borough's Harbor Plans.

"Richmond Borough should be con¬
nected to New Jersey by tunnel, so that
a marginal freight railroad would serve
our industrial site area on the west bank
of the Staten Island Sound. Connection
should also be made, by way of Rich¬
mond Borough with Manhattan, Brook¬
lyn, Long Island and the Eastern States.
Under this plan all terminals within the
port of New York would be so connect¬
ed as to be available to shippers on an
equal basis, and all railroads would have
equal rights in leasing public terminals
at the lowest possible cost. This would
be a practical plan for a comprehensive





development of New York Harbor.
Large piers have been built, and more
are about to be contracted for. How¬
ever, unless the waterfront of the
Greater City is served by adequate rail
connection to the piers and wharves
which have been built or are to be built
in the future, our past and present costly
congested system must continue.

"Of all the varying factors which
promise future greatness for this city,
there is none of so great importance as
position, and a comprehensive plan of
waterfront rail connection for all the
boroughs, and I supo-est that the natural
advantages which we possess should be
vigorously suoplemented for the imme¬
diate artificial development of the port
of New Yorl:."





Conference  of Mayors.

The Mayors of cities in this' State
have found a certain advantage in
meeting together annually and learning
from each other's experience. This year
the conference will be held at Auburn,
June 3, 4 and 5, with Mayor Fiske of
Mount Vernon presiding, and it prom¬
ises to be a notable occasion.

At the opening session on the after¬
noon of June 3, the next steps in the
municipal home rule campaign in this
State will be outlined by Robert S.
Binkerd, secretary of the City Club of
New York. Governor Glynn will speak
on   "The   State  and   the   Municipality."

Lawson Purdy at the evening session
will present the results of the tax sur¬
vey of the cities of the State. This
survey was completed only recently, and
the preliminary study of the data indi¬
cates that the committee will make
several important recommendations.
The importance of fire prevention work
in cities will be described by Joseph
Hammitt, Chief of the New York City
Fire Prevention Bureau. Xhief Ham¬
mitt will illustrate his discussion with
motion pictures, showing fire prevention
methods used in New York City.

The city officials will hold a breakfast
conference the second day. At this
session each mayor will discuss the
next most important problem his city
must solve. At the close of the sym¬
posium there will be a general discus¬
sion of the problems  presented.

City planning will be the subject for
discussion at the afternoon sessioii.
Charles Downing Lay, former land¬
scape architect of the New York City
Park Department, will present a pro-
,gram of developing parks and play¬
grounds, and Professor James S. Pray,
of Harvard University, will talk about
making the survey for a  city plan.

The second big meeting of the con¬
ference will be held in the evening,
when Mayor Mitchel of New York will
discuss the relation of the city to its
employes.