230 THE IMPORTANCE OF PORT FACILITIES IN THE 



type of port government; and New Orleans and San Francisco are being pointed out as 

 the most efficiently operated ports in the United States. In either of these commission 

 forms of port government, however, the members of the commission often serve without 

 compensation, and in some cases act in an advisory capacity only. In some cases the control 

 exercised by the commission is limited to the city boundaries, while in other cases it extends 

 some distance beyond. In both San Francisco and New Orleans the harbor boards own prac- 

 tically all of the water frontage under their jurisdiction. They have the right to take over 

 water frontage by condemnation or by use. The revenues are required to pay the cost of 

 improvements and operating expenses. At San Francisco the harbor board has control of 

 all port facilities, including the harbor belt-line railroad. 



The ideal type of port government is the so-called independent port authority type, 

 which is comparatively new in this country, though it has been adopted with great success 

 in Great Britain, where the right to construct or control ports is vested in the Crown, and 

 where, by special acts of Parliament, public corporations or trusts are organized with boards 

 of commissioners to manage them. All grants give the right to the public to use the port facil- 

 ities and to the state to control them. Under this form of administration in the United States, 

 a municipal corporation, entirely independent of the municipal government of the port city, 

 is created by act of the legislature. This corporation is vested with large powers, including 

 that of eminent domain and of raising money by the sale of bonds and by tax levies. This 

 type of organization is ideal and, if generally adopted by our ports, would accomplish more 

 than any other one thing for their betterment, and indirectly for the benefit of our merdiant 

 marine; and in selecting the membership for the governing board we might well follow the 

 example of Liverpool, Manchester, London, and other great ports in Great Britain, and give 

 representation thereon to all port interests, including steamships, labor, railroads, commer- 

 cial bodies, financial interests, the local municipal government, etc. It would be a part of 

 the business of each port under this type of organization to collect all port statistics in a uni- 

 form manner, as required by the national government and other interests. The states of 

 Washington and of Florida have enacted legislation which has resulted in port organizations 

 of this general type at Seattle and Grays Harbor, Washington, and at Jacksonville and 

 Tampa, Florida. With the best form of port control established, all other port problems 

 may be considered as being solved through its agency, for any such port authority would 

 have power to solve satisfactorily all such questions as ownership of water frontage, estab- 

 lishment of public terminals, coordination of all port facilities into one homogeneous oper- 

 ating organization, elimination of undesirable features, such as independent control of railroad 

 terminals, elimination of profiteering, and the establishment of equitable port charges, as well 

 as the progressive development of the port along sound economic principles and in accordance 

 with the best engineering practice. 



While all port charges ultimately lodge against cargo, they may be divided into charges 

 that are primarily borne by the water carrier, by the cargo, and by the land carrier. The 

 percentage of expenses of a vessel while in port to the total expenses of a steamship company 

 varies considerably with different lines and depends not only on the size, speed, and type of 

 steamships, whether passenger or cargo, but also on length of voyage. The following are the 

 actual percentages of expenses of different kinds of a steamship company running out of New 

 York, doing passenger and freight business, for the past six fiscal years. The vessels of this 

 line vary in gross tonnage from 2,500 to 9,300 : 



