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Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 98, no. 2530: Articles]: September 9, 1916

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AND NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 9, 1916 NEED OF NEW YORK HARBOR IMPROVEMENTS ONE OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE By HON. MURRAY HULBERT* APPROXIMATELY one-half of the exports and imports of the United States pass through New York Harbor, and 100,000,000 tons of commerce, if ap¬ portioned per capita, making one ton for each man, woman, and child in the United States, accommodates every sec¬ tion of this country; and from the mer¬ chandise imported through the port of New York more than double the amount of duties is collected and turned into the Federal Treasury than from all other ports of the United States together. New York State contributed in addition there¬ to $17,417,537.60, nearly one-half of the individual income tax, and $10,221,206.65, or more than one-fourth of the corpora¬ tion income tax collected during the year 1915. The magnitude of New York City's in¬ dustrial and commercial possessions, its wealth and population, can be compre¬ hended only by comparison. In every decade since 1840, New York has shown a greater numerical increase in popula¬ tion than any other American city. One- thirteenth of the entire population of the United States now lives in the New York metropolitan district. New York City produces one-tenth of the entire manufactured product of the United States, more than any other State, except Pennsylvania. The value of New York's taxable prop¬ erty exceeds that of Chicago, Philadel¬ phia, Boston, and St. Louis combined. New York City banks handle sixty per cent, of the clearings of the United States. New York is the terminus of all but one of the great eastern railroad systems. Thirty per cent, of the entire popu¬ lation of the United States, and forty- two per cent, of all the taxable property lie within 350 miles of New York City. The population in New York City in¬ creased since 1900, forty-seven and one- half per cent. New York manufactures increased between 1900 and 1910, seventy per cent. The foreign commerce of New York increased from 1898 to 1913, one hundred and thirty-one per cent. And yet in the improvement of this great harbor the Federal Government has not only failed to keep abreast of the needs of the times, but has fallen far in the rear. I would like to put the New York Harbor situation before you in concrete form: In addition to the foregoing evidence, that the improvement of New York Har¬ bor is not a "pork-barrel" proposition, let it be noted that the Ambrose Channel was constructed at a saving of about $1,500,000; that the balance to be ex¬ pended, under the old project for the improvement of the East River-—$2,- 551,939—can be turned over to, and credited upon the new project, and will suffice to do the work required in the next five years; that the Coney Island Channel improvement was authorized upon an estimate of $168,300, and work to date costing only $114,300, meets present-day needs, and no further ap¬ propriations have been asked for. In 1868 the first project was adopted for the improvement of New York Har¬ bor, to wit. East River, a tidal strait, of which the world-renowned Hell Gate is battleship. With its subsequent modifi¬ cations, this project had for its object extending the depth of the channel over projecting rocks at an estimated cost of $8,757,183. Below is given a table show¬ ing what work is called for under exist¬ ing project. About 10 per cent, of the work has been completed. On March 2, 1912, Col. W. M. Black, LInited States District Engineer at New York, under acts of Congress approved March 2, 1907, and March 3, 1909, sub¬ mitted a report of the survey of the East River and Hell Gate (H. Doc. 188, 63d Congress, 1st Session), in which he reported favorably upon an amendment of the project for further improvement at an expense of $32,533,501, providing for a through channel thirty-five feet deep, with access to the wharves to a depth of thirty feet, and the improvement oi WORK CALLED FOR UNDER EXISTING PROJECT. Distance by water Least Least Pro- Locality from the original present jected Battery. depth. depth. depth. Miles. Feet. Feet. Feet. Battery Reef ............................... 12.8 12.8 26 South Ferry Reef ........................... 17 19 2(j Diamond Reef ....................... h 15.7 26 26 Reef oft Diamond Reef ............... i 19 26 ' 2C Coenties Reef........................ i H.3 2.5.5 26 Third Street Reef ................... 3 15.9 26 26 Shell Reef ........................... 2J- 4 7.5 13 18 Pilgrim Rock ........................ 3J 12 24 26 Twenty-sixth Street Reef ............ 4 16.1 26 26 Charlotte Rock ...................... 4J 14.7 26 26 Ferry Reef .......................... 4i 7 24 26 Man-of-War Rock .................... 43 -)-0.8 26 26 Middle Reef (includes Negro Head, Flood Rock, Hen and Chickens, and Gridiron)!................... 7h -i-6 14.9 26 Heel Tap Rock ...................... 73 12.1 20.5 26 Hallets Point Reef .................. 7J -)-4 26 26 Frying Fan Reef .................... 71 9 23.8 26 Pot Rock ............................ 8 8 26 26 Shell Drake Rock .................... 8 8 26 26 Ways Reef .......................... 8J 5 26 26 Rock oft Negro Point ................ 9 ___ ____ 26 Scaly Rock .......................... 9J ___ ___ Middle Ground 2 ..................... 10 11 17.8 26 Keef off North Brother Island........ 10% 16 ____ Channel between North and South Brother Islands. ^ ................ 103-lli 19 19 26 Baretto Reef ........................ Ill 17 26 26 ! Under contract for completing removal. 2 Under contract for part removal. 3 Under contract for deepening for a width of about 300 feet. Remarks Completed. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. 95 P.O. completed. Completed. Do. Do. Do. Reported completed. Completed. a part, about sixteen miles long, extend¬ ing from the Battery to Throgs Neck, separating Long Island from the Bor¬ oughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, and connecting up New York Bay with the sheltered waters of Long Island Sound, providing a double entrance and exit to New York Harbor, and establishing a marine trench, which will be more ef- Improvement Adopted East River.................... ISfiS Harlem River ...................1879 Hudson River ................. 187,"i Newtown Creek .............. 18S0 Sheepshead Bay................ 1880 Bay Ridge and Red Hook Channel .................. 1881 Bronx River .................. 1896 Ambrose Channel ............ 18!X) Coney Island Channel.......... 1907 Jamaica Bay ................. 1910 Harlem or Bronx Kills, recom¬ mended .................. 1902 Totals..................... ' Maintenance only. - 22,436,151 passengers. ' 106,253,639 passengers. Appropriated $6,505,203 2,068.000 641,479 525,900 44,000 4,421,100 .326..-.flO 7,600,010 114.300 700,500 Nothing Required to complete $ 13,400.000 1..520,0.56 99.5.000 1 10,000 384,000 703,931 '40,000 6,V30,666 1,900,000 Total $19,005,203 3,588.6.50 i,e:w,479 5,35.900 44,000 4,80.5.100 l,030.4:;i 7,640,(110 114,300 7,430,500 1,900,000 Commerce =$1..5.37,239,286 582,383,757 »2,,559,1.S5,809 147,739,825 144,777 408,459,300 < 1,947,786 2,0.56,847,222 = 5,250.300 5,171,668 ^ None. $22,947,592 $25,683,587 $48,631,179 $7,304,375,730 * Only 14 per cent, completed. ■51,178,168 passengers. ° State Barge Canal not yet open. * Congressman Murray is a member of the Committee on Rivers and Harbors, and has been 'endeavoring to benefit local and national shipping by advocating the improvement of the waters around New York City, so that warships and the mercantile marine trade may derive better re¬ sults from our natural advantages. ficient in the defense of that portion of the United States, which nearly all mili¬ tary and naval experts agree would be the first objective point of attack, than a dozen battleships, under present con¬ ditions, and at the cost of less than one the Harlem or Bronx Kills, to provide a short cut for boats passing from the Harlem river, which will be the natural outlet for the State barge canal into the East river; and Little Hell Gate, as a means of reducing the tidal velocities and diminishing, if not avoiding, the con¬ sequent dangers at Hell Gate. The Chief of Engineers modified the recommenda¬ tions of Col. Black, by reducing the es¬ timate "for the present" to $13,400,000, which, largely through the efforts of my late lamented colleague. Col. Joseph A. Goulden, was included in the bill re¬ ported by the Rivers and Harbors Com¬ mittee, and passed the House in the 63rd Congress, first session, but failed in the Senate. Meanwhile no further appropri¬ ations have been made for the improve¬ ment of the East river; and while there is an unexpended balance of $2,551,939 now of the amount originally authorized, the Chief of Engineers reported in 1914, and again in 1915: "It is believed that the present twenty-six- foot project has been outgrown by the com¬ mercial interests involved, and that further work on this project is now economically inadvisable. No estimate is therefore sub¬ mitted for operations in connection with said project during the fiscal year 1917." I may add that nothing has been ex¬ pended since 1912 upon this great water¬ way, .^nd if the immediate decisive ac-