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December, 1913 carried across the Isthmuses of Te- huantepec and Panama, during the eight months of the calendar year 1913, ending with August amounted to about 1,200,000 tons, the figures for the year would be 50 per cent greater, or about 1,800,000 tons. Now, most of this traffic between the east and west coasts of America is subject to this expensive handling at wharves. In other words, it is subjected to the tax that would carry it 40 miles on its journey across the continent by railroads. in dollars..and. cents i means a tax on this commerce of $540,000 annually. Every other im- THE MARINE REVIEW pediment placed in the way of rapid, cheap and proper handling of freight to and from the wharves where the water route carriers can become ef- fective as competitors, with the high cost rail carriers but adds to He crippling of the efficiency of the waterways. The one illustration of equipment for handling freight at wharves will serve to point the moral. The importance of all this lies in the fact that it is the right of tae people who produce the things car- ried back and forth between the two coasts, and the people who ultimately 459 buy and consume those articles to have this service of carriage per- formed as economically as possible. It is hardly necessary to draw the conclusion for the reader that in the great work of utilization of the waterways of California so that they may give the best service to the peo- ple, it is incumbent upon the state and municipal governments and the individual citizens to see to it that the plans of the federal government are supplemented by local attention to the all-important feature of pro- viding and keeping open the land- ward approaches to the waterfronts. Harbor Projects of Milwaukee i fii recent harbor history. of this city presents some inter- esting and at the same time instructive phases in the progressive stages of improvements planned and those accomplished. It is a_ well known fact that Milwaukee has al--- ways protected its harbor interests. to a reasonable degree. It has not, however, rounded out all its oppor- tunities for harbor development. Some things that might have been done earlier are still left undone. Let me explain. Several years ago the resident United States government engineer, Major Judson, stated before the Mer- chants' and Manufacturers' Associa- tion that Jones island, which in real- ity is a peninsula and which extends to the mouth of the harbor, furnished the key to Milwaukee's future harbor development. Solved Physical and Financial Problem The idea was taken up by the com- mercial organization and finally sub- mitted to the city council. This body proceeded at once to secure: experts to work out the scheme of develop- ing the island for dock and harbor purposes. The council secured a report from Isham Randolph, the Chicago engi- neer, which set forth the physical or engineering problem involved, made clear the financial and legal problems involved and secured an affirmative vote at a popular election of a bond *President Milwaukee Harbor Commission. When Finished Milwaukee Will Have One of the Best Harbors on the Lakes issue of $250,000 to be devoted to the purchase of the island. While the vote of the people au- thorized the city. to issue the bonds, it still remained for the mayor and common council to say whether this should be done or not. They had the final vote in the matter. By this time the administration was in the hands of the Socialist party, and when the champion of the harbor project pressed their case the ad- ministration turned them down, hay- ing a large park project in hand which they gave preference. The Socialists made the point that the friends of the harbor project had failed to prove the necessity of the proposed improvements, and at the same time referred the matter to a harbor commission to be made up of prominent citizens irrespective of party affiliation. This for the time being took the matter out of the hands of the council committee on harbor affairs, and while the com- mission was to be only an advisory body it was not believed that action should follow except upon its rec- ommendations. At any. rate it meant more delay. The new harbor commission realized that if progress was to be made it would have to take a year or two to assemble all the data and information cn the subject which now was in a fragmentary and scattered condition and collate them into accessible and argumentative form. It here became evident that while the physical feasibility and the legal By William George Bruce* and financial phases had been worked out that it still remained to demon- strate the commercial utility side of the whole project, namely, the pur- chase of Jones island and the deep- ening and widening of the Kinnickin- nic basin lying to the inner side of the island. . This implied a series of important questions. What are the present dock facilities? What dock property is still available for shipping pur- poses? What has been the percentage of growth in our water route ship- ping? How is Jones island to be utilized? Will it be worth all that it will cost? When will its use be- come necessary? Prove your case. This involved an exhaustive and laborious review and research of the entire situation and brought into play an array of facts and figures never before assembled on the sub- ject. The commission, however, was equal to the task and was enabled in its reports of last and this year to demonstrate its case most conclu- sively. ; ' Convinced the Doubting During the period of three years when the commission was first ap- pointed the local administration changed from Socialist to non-parti- san, but the present Socialist mem- bers of the common council have been convinced that the commission, is dealing with facts, and that its ar- cuments in behalf of the purchase of Jones island can no longer be suc- cessfully combatted. .