232 THE IMPORTANCE OF PORT FACILITIES IN THE 



useful as well as the most productive source of national wealth, and has accordingly become 

 a primary object of their political cares." And President-elect Harding, less than a year ago, 

 summed up our present needs in a speech as follows : "We are tardily alert to the imperative 

 need of a merchant marine to widen commerce, world influence, and national safety. We 

 have ships now ; we have the commercial foundations ; our future lies in policies and prac- 

 tices. We need the simple, practical understanding that commerce is the life blood of ma- 

 terial existence; and no nation in the world ever has been or ever will be eminent in influence 

 until it establishes eminence in commerce." 



The attainment of these our ideals can be reached in no surer and quicker way than by 

 the development of our ports, and by making them entirely suitable for the very important 

 part they have to play, as our national gateways, in fostering the growth of our commerce 

 and of our merchant marine. 



DISCUSSION. 



The President; — This paper, on "The Importance of Port Facilities in the Develop- 

 ment of a Merchant Marine and Commerce," is now before you for discussion, gentlemen. 

 The Chair appreciates that the subject treated of by Admiral Rousseau is one which is of 

 tremendous importance to shipping. It has directly to do with the economics in ship-opera- 

 tion which have been mentioned frequently this morning. I hope, therefore, there will be 

 definite and precise comments with respect to the features brought forward in the paper. 



The discussion will begin by the reading of communicated discussions presented by vari- 

 ous gentlemen who were unable to be present. The written discussions will be presented by 

 Mr. Horace Holden Thayer, 



Mr. Thayer presented the following discussion: 



Captain F. T. Chambers, C. E. C, U. S. Navy (Communicated) : — The importance 

 of port facilities in the development of a merchant marine and commerce cannot be too 

 greatly emphasized. Admiral Rousseau's presentation of the case is an excellent one, and 

 no criticism is offered. It seems well, however, to emphasize several of the points which 

 he has made. , 



While the principal European maritime nations have given the subject of port facilities 

 real study for many years, it is only recently that port authorities in the United States have 

 begun to give the matter the study which it deserves. The narrow piers commonly used in 

 our harbors are probably the result originally of projecting street ends into the navigable 

 waters, and such piers were probably of sufficient capacity for most of the old wooden sail- 

 ing vessels. As pointed out by Admiral Rousseau, however, the terminal is almost of neces- 

 sity the bottle neck of the transportation system, as even under the best of circumstances 

 the capacity of the railways and ships serving the ports is likely to be greater than that of 

 the pier or wharf which forms the connecting link between land and water carriers. In 

 order that the greatest economies in ship turn- around may be effected, the terminal itself 

 must have sufficient capacity for the assemblage and classification by commodities and marks 

 of the cargo necessary for the particular ship to be loaded, and if piers are to be designed 

 for the purpose, with ships' bertlis on both sides, the width will of necessity be large. The 

 city of New York, for instance, is apparently content to use valuable water front for the con- 



