218 THE IMPORTANCE OF PORT FACILITIES IN THE 



where persons and merchandise are allowed to pass in and out of a country, and where cus- 

 toms officers are stationed. In this sense it is termed a port of entry, and such a port can be 

 inland. In commerce, the word "port" is used to designate a harbor where vessels are 

 loaded and discharged, and this is the meaning intended in connection with any discussion 

 of ports and port facilities. A simple definition would therefore be that a port is a harbor 

 provided with terminal and transfer facilities that enable it to be used in commerce. In this 

 sense, there can be harbors without ports ; but there cannot be ports without harbors. 



Leading writers on ports have recently proposed a more specific and restricted meaning 

 in discussions pertaining to port administratidn, viz., that for each port the established pier- 

 head lines shall form the boundary between the harbor and the port^ — the channels, anchor- 

 age ground, and everything else outside of the pierhead lines being the harbor, and every- 

 thing inside of the pierhead lines being the port, including piers, slips, wharves, railroad 

 tracks and yards, warehouses, and all other plant and equipment, such as tugs, lighters, float- 

 ing cranes, fueling facilities, ship-repair plants, drydocks, and marine railways, that are 

 necessary to transfer passengers, merchandise, and goods between land and ocean carriers and 

 from one ocean carrier to another, and to maintain and repair vessels. Facilities for sal- 

 vaging vessels have also become a necessary and important part of the equipment located at 

 some of the larger ports. While this plan has not yet received official recognition as demark- 

 ing ports and harbors, and while it may be contrary to the preferred usage at some ports, it 

 would seem to be logical inasmuch as this boundary Hne also divides the area under the 

 jurisdiction of the Federal Government (the harbor) from that which comes imder state and 

 municipal authorities (the port). 



From the standpoint of commerce, therefore, a port is merely a connecting link between 

 two major transportation movements, where transfers of passengers and freight between 

 land and ocean carriers are effected ; and port terminal facilities — or, more simply, port facili- 

 ties — comprise all those physical elements with which a port is equipped for the convenient 

 transfer of passengers and freight between carriers, for the storage of freight and for the 

 maintenance and repair of merchant vessels. 



Ports have been likened to a funnel through which flows the sea-borne commerce of a 

 country; also to a reservoir that should have storage capacity sufficient to accommodate 

 itself at all times to the variations in the volume and speed of traffic of connecting carriers. 

 Ports should perform functions similar to those of the flywheel of an engine, in regulating 

 the mighty commerce that passes through them so as to secure the most regular and uniform 

 movement of traffic and the maximimi efficiency of operation of connecting carriers. 



It is an accepted traffic law, advanced by the late James J. Hill, that the volume of traffic 

 a line can carry cannot exceed the capacity of its terminals. Dr. R. S. MacElwee, in his well- 

 known work on "Ports and Terminals," says that the conclusion to be drawn from this law 

 is that the commerce that flows through our ports is limited by the capacity of the terminal 

 facilities of our ports, and that "the commerce of the United States overseas is therefore ham- 

 I)ered or limited by the lack of development of the terminal facilities of our American sea- 

 ports." Anything that affects our commerce affects our merchant marine. Therefore, unless 

 and until our ports and port facilities are further developed and put on a thoroughly efficient 

 operating basis, the growth of our merchant marine will be much retarded and the difficul- 

 ties connected with its successful establishment and operation will be immeasurably increased. 



On the land side of any of our ports, the capacity of the combined carriers — principally 

 railroads — is generally much in excess of that of the connecting ocean carriers that ordi- 

 narily frequent that port. This is a condition incidental to the advanced development of our 



