accomplished."^^ He believed that the Federal Government did not belong "prominently in 

 the picture." Furthermore, he considered erroneous the argument that if the Federal 

 Government did assume this responsibility, the Association's objectives would be 

 accomplished "at a great reduction in the cost to the local communities."^^ Rather, Patton 

 believed that as a result of compromises and a desire on the part of Congress not to favor 

 one section of the country over another, the Congressmen from the coastal States might get 

 funding for coastal projects but only by agreeing to support equal amounts of funding for 

 noncoastal States to finance their own projects. By such a process, there would be no 

 savings. 



Whether such an opinion on this issue was right or wrong is a moot question now. The 

 point here is that, for a while, the ASBPA adhered to the general philosophy of State 

 responsibility for shore protection but, in time, pursued a course based on quite a different 

 viewpoint. The position later taken by the Association regarding the role of the Federal 

 Government in coastal erosion problems was to have a direct effect on the BEB. 



One further important organizational development preceded the formation of the BEB. 

 In January 1929, the Chief of Engineers, by way of Special Order No. 6, set up a board 

 composed of four officers of the U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers.* The purpose of this board 

 was to "investigate and report on the subjects of sand movement and beach erosion at such 

 locahties as may be designated by the Chief of Engineers ;"^^ hence, it became known as the 

 Board on Sand Movement and Beach Erosion (BSMBE). The members of this Board were 

 Col. Wilham J. Barden, Senior Member; Col. George B. Pillsbury; Lt. Col. EUiott J. Dent; 

 and Maj. Brehon B. Somervell, who served as recorder. Other officers from the U.S. Army, 

 Corps of Engineers were authorized to attend meetings when discussion centered on 

 problems in their Districts. The Board was also authorized to call upon the advice of 

 qualified civihans involved in coastal work. Appointed for this purpose were Douglas W. 

 Johnson of Columbia University, and Thorndike Saville, then of the University of North 

 Carolina, who was also Cliief Engineer for the North Carolina Department of Conservation 

 and Development. 



The BSMBE held periodic meetings, several of which were at the sites of particular 

 coastal problems then, under consideration, so as to allow field inspection (see Figs. 3 

 and 4). The shoreline problems that tliis Board examined were those related to, or stemming 

 from, the coastal navigation works of the U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, along with 

 problems occurring on Federally owned shore property. A number of investigations thus 

 involved mihtary reservations along tlie Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The jetty at Fort Tilden 

 near Rockaway Point on Long Island, New York, was one such case. The jetty had been 

 designed to protect Ambrose Channel, the entrance to New York Harbor, from shoaling 

 caused by extension of a sand spit. However, the area was still experiencing difficulties. 



*The Chief of Engineers had been keeping informed of the activities of the ASBPA. Moreover, certain Corps officers 

 had become actively involved in the study of beach erosion and were anxious to have set up a board of this type.^ ' 



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