The subject before us at this meeting, "The Harbors of 

 CaUfomia" is a very important one indeed, as the harbors 

 are the gateways to the commerce of the world. I have no 

 doubt that the subject will be well treated and will do a great 

 permanent good to our great State. 



William W. Harts, Major, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., gave 

 a brief history of water communications and the progress of 

 ancient nations, noting the principles on which this progress 

 was made, and the constant western movement of commercial 

 activity. He showed the unsatisfactory condition of com- 

 munication between the interior of the State and the ocean 

 and suggested the development of the harbors as the best 

 means of promoting free communication. 



In pursuance with the motions carried, the chairman an- 

 nounced the appointment of the following committees: 

 Committee on Credentials — D. W. Coolidge, secretary of the 

 Pasadena Board of Trade; Isidor Jacobs, chairman of the 

 executive committee of the Potrero Commercial and Manu- 

 facturers' Association, of San Francisco; Wm. Robertson, 

 secretary of the Fresno County Chamber of Commerce; 

 J. R. Smith, of the Napa Chamber of Commerce; and Clarence 

 E. Edwords, Chief of Publicity of The California Promotion 

 Committee. Committee on Resolutions — John S. Akerman, 

 former president of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce; 

 George Henderson, of the Humboldt Chamber of Commerce, 

 Eureka; C. A. Moody, of Los Angeles; Francis Cuttle, of the 

 Riverside Chamber of Commerce; and Captain William H. 

 Marston, of San Francisco, president of the Shipowners' 

 Association of the Pacific Coast, and president of the Chamber 

 of Commerce of San Francisco. 



O. H. Miller, secretary of the Sacramento Valley Develop- 

 ment Association, in speaking of the harbors of the State in 

 their relation to the interior, said in part: 



The harbors of this State belong to the people of California ; 

 they are the property of all the people, regardless of where 

 they may live. Likewise are those natural agencies which 

 connect them with the interior communities, the producing 

 communities, mind you, the property of the people, and we 

 can not even attempt to separate them, but they must be 

 considered as joint assets of our State and our people. 



H. L. Ricks, president of the Humboldt Chamber of Com- 

 merce and also representing the Eureka Twenty-five Thous- 



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