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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



of a city whose commerce has grown so 

 rapidly as to outrun the imagination of 

 its builders. Hence a congestion at rail- 

 way terminals and at docks which defies 

 immediate solution. 



The Port and Harbor Facilities Com- 

 mission has found it wise to begin sur- 

 veys of ports all along the Atlantic, Gulf, 

 and Pacific seaboards, to determine how 

 and where best to divert a part of our 

 commerce from New York Harbor. 



These surveys embrace a vast deal of 

 data. Not only is it essential to know the 

 amount of commerce which has passed 

 through a given port in time of peace, but 

 what are its possibilities with respect to 

 railway connections, the labor situation, 

 the productivity of the adjacent territory ; 

 what amount and kind of imports can be 

 absorbed in the neighboring States, as 

 well as the kind of exports which can be 

 handled most expeditiously and econom- 

 ically. It is obviously impractical to ship 

 cotton from Boston or New York when 

 it can be shipped from Savannah, Ga., 

 the doorway of the cotton fields ; but it 

 is equally impractical to bring the cotton 

 cargo-carrier into Savannah to discharge 

 imports from Liverpool destined for New 

 England consumption. 



Likewise, it is a waste of time and labor 

 to route all our coffee imports either 

 through New Orleans or New York. 

 The logical scheme would be to bring into 

 New Orleans that portion of the Brazil 

 crop which is consumed in the South and 

 West, and that portion destined for the 

 North and East through New York. 

 These are typical elementary problems 

 which the Commission considers in its 

 surveys. Their number is legion. 



One of the most important phases of 

 the Commission's labors is to make pro- 

 vision for the proper and expeditious 

 coaling of ships and for their prompt and 

 thorough repair. A number of contracts 

 have been let for the construction of dry 

 docks, and financial assistance is being 

 accorded private firms for the erection 

 of wharves, piers, warehouses, improved 

 machinery for bunkering, and for the in- 

 stallation of cranes and other modern 

 loading and unloading devices. Repair 

 yards are being built in several ports, and 

 the plans for these are carefully scruti- 

 nized by the Commission's engineering 



experts, in order to insure adequate fa- 

 cilities for the new commerce carriers. 



No part of the shipping program is 

 fraught with greater possibilities for con- 

 structive accomplishment than that en- 

 trusted to the Port and Harbor Facili- 

 ties Commission. 



speed and economy in handling 

 freight 



The economic waste which results from 

 the improper handling of freight at termi- 

 nals is appalling. The opportunity for 

 improvement of conditions is demon- 

 strated by the fact that the average cost 

 of hauling a ton of freight for a distance 

 of 240 miles in the United States is 74 

 cents, while the expense of handling that 

 same freight at the terminals is 75 cents. 

 Goods once loaded may be transported 

 from Havana, Cuba, to Boston, a dis- 

 tance of more than 1,300 miles, cheaper 

 than they can be moved from one pier 

 to another in that city. And it has been 

 estimated that a cargo of coal, after it 

 has been loaded on board ship, can be 

 moved from New York to Rio de Janeiro 

 for less than it can be moved a distance 

 of 60 feet on the docks by ordinary 

 methods. 



That the task of loading and unload- 

 ing a ship can be developed to a science 

 by the employment of highly specialized 

 machinery and the use of docks specially 

 built for specific kinds of cargoes has 

 been demonstrated on the Great Lakes, 

 where iron ore which formerly was 

 hoisted from a ship's hold and moved to 

 the ore pile for 50 cents a ton is now 

 handled at less than one-tenth, that cost. 



Gratifying progress has been made in 

 the rapidity with which our ships are be- 

 ing dispatched abroad, and the improve- 

 ment is continuing. Two ships are now 

 doing the work which it required three 

 to do a few months ago. The procession 

 of cargo-carriers in and out of our har- 

 bors reminds one of a never-ending mer- 

 chant marine review. Every six minutes 

 a merchant ship arrives and another de- 

 parts from American ports. Sailings for 

 Europe are even bettering that famous 

 "ailway advertising slogan, "A train every 

 hour on the hour ;" a Europe-bound 

 vessel departs every 40 minutes. These 



