CARGO TRANSFERENCE AT STEAMSHIP TERMINALS. 169 
manner. ‘The transportation companies have been so much engrossed in getting 
material from one point to another, that they have not given the attention they 
should to the matter of handling it after it has reached its destination; in other 
words, they have been, figuratively speaking, rushing water to a thirsty man with 
great speed, but have not given him even the poorest kind of facilities to drink it. 
I have taken unusual interest in the subject, and in my observation the ludi- 
crous side of it has presented itself to me. On one occasion I was watching the 
loading of freight cars at one of the terminals in New York City. A man came 
along with a 400 pound package, and proceeded to put it in the car, directly after 
him came a man carrying three five-sixteenths inch carbon tubes bound to a stick, 
which weighed about six pounds, and both packages were carried the whole length 
of the pier, something like 500 feet. 
I have studied this question and have come to the conclusion that the most 
satisfactory system of shed will be a two-story one, the lower portion being abso- 
lutely free of freight, and used exclusively by the trucks; in other words, the trucks 
will come in on the lower level, and then go forward to hoists or elevators in the 
building; the second story will be devoted exclusively to the use of storing the freight. 
It costs very little more to hoist freight twenty feet, once you have hold of it, than 
it does to hoist it ten feet. I would have the whole central part of the second story 
open, and I would have a form of tramway on each side of the opening, on which 
freight could be moved, so that the freight could be put on these tramways and 
taken to any part of the storage floor. In loading freight on the pier, you would 
have the team under the opening, and lower the freight onto the trucks with very 
little difficulty, having the lower portion of the pier only used for trucks so they can 
pass each other, as the docks will be amply wide. You saw on some of the screens 
how congested are the freight piers—the horses seem to be swallowed by it. With 
the plan I suggest, I believe that could be entirely obviated. 
I think the naval architect can with much benefit give a great deal more atten- 
tion to arranging vessels so that the vertical hoist can be used. With the present 
congestion on our piers and docks, there is much time lost, which results in a costly 
detention of the vessels. 
Mr. A. GEorcE Matrsson, Member:—The last speaker mentioned the fact 
that in the ordinary coastwise service, the vessels have often to wait a long time 
before unloading is begun, and on this account much loss of time ensues. On the 
Great Lakes, it is just the opposite ina great many cases. Particularly in the ore 
trade, the ships run along at a comparatively low speed, say 11 statute miles per 
hour, and, coming to the dock, remain there possibly three or four hours to be 
loaded, then start out again, returning to the lower terminals, there to be unloaded 
in from three to six hours. 
The capacity of our vessels on the lakes handling coarse freight has been largely 
increased in the last few years, and they are doing additional business also, because 
of the increased facilities for loading and unloading; that is, there is less retention 
