424 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



piers and docks of stone, on account of their tide rising three 

 times as much as ours. At London they want room. Their 

 river is a mere creek, and hence they cut inland, dig out basins 

 and wall them up. Here we have no occasion for that ; and if 

 we had, we have no land to spare. Our island is too small for 

 its water-front, and we are all the time enlarging it. Again, 

 here the matter is not under the control of the General Govern- 

 ment, but belongs to the municipal corporation. There are very 

 few cases where both sides of a basin are owned by the same 

 individual. Again, there is a controversy between the city and 

 the State, who owns the land under the water of our rivers, and 

 there is a hesitancy to lay out money when our rights are ques- 

 tioned. 



Mr. Roosevelt said that arches ought to be constructed next 

 the shore along the whole line of piers, so as to permit an unin- 

 terrupted current to carry away the impurities in the basins. 



Mr. Garbanati remarked that the narrowness of the streets 

 leading to the wharves was a greater evil than the condition of 

 the wharves themselves. It is better to leave the management 

 of the piers to private corporations, because they are successful 

 in whatever they undertake, and are not controlled by wire- 

 pulling. 



Mr. Tillman. — Wo have about thirty miles of dock-facing, 

 which is much more than that of any city in the world. Up to 

 this time our docks could not have been built of anything but 

 wood. They are filling in upon the average, two feet per annum. 

 Wooden piers injure the shipping far less than those of stone, 

 and here they are not liable to be destroyed by worms as they 

 are further south. 



The President. — Boston is said to have the finest piers and 

 wharves in America. They are built of granite blocks, and are 

 all owned either by companies or by individuals. Upon con- 

 trasting our wharves with those of Boston, learning that our 

 piers and docks are pledged for the city debt to the amount of 

 five million dollars, and that the income is next to nothing, I 

 inquired of the trustees the reason why so valuable property 

 yielded no revenue. The answer was thus : Our piers and 

 wharves belong to the city. We keep them in repair at the 

 smallest possible expense, and levy a tax upon them just sufficient 

 to pay the expenses. The result is, that the expense of wharf- 

 age in Boston is double that in New York, and this difference of 



