The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

:November, 1914 duties. Those of the former relate to the general needs of commerce, those of the latter to the special transfer needs of the particular port. Both are of the highest importance, and there should be no clashing of interests. In its ultimate results any impairment of national in- terests must be detrimental to the local interests. In addition to deep, safe and unob- structed channels of entrance and of communication, provided with ample and safe anchorages, the general re- quirements of a great commercial harbor are: 1. Accommodations for express, pas- senger and package freight traffic. These should be of ample capacity, located con- veniently to railroad terminals and to hotel and shopping centers, and con- nected therewith by highways unob- structed by railroad grade crossings and provided with facilities for rapid transit. 2. Piers for the direct interchange of trafic between water and railway car- riers. These must also be of ample capacity and must adjoin large railroad yard areas, free from vehicular traffic. They should not be located in the heart of a city's water front. 3. Piers for freighters whose car- goes are distributed or received from many different sources. These should be located conveniently to the centers which they serve and should 'have am- ple means of access for motor and horse trucks with yard space for tem- porary storage of such vehicles. re possible they should have ample space for storage of incoming and outgoing freight with space for access to all parts for the instruments of transfer. Also, they should be inter-connected by a railway with connections to trunk lines and possibly to bdénded warehouses. The slips should be wide enough to permit of lighter service with other parts of the harbor. ve 4. Accommodations for pleasure craft, and for ferry service. 5. Ample water front for large manufacturing plants which use water and rail carriers for raw materials and finished products. Such plants requiring Jarge areas. for proper development should not be located near the heart of a port. 6. Municipal piers open to all, some of which should be equipped with un- loading plant or with coal handling plants for 'use of manufacturers: whose works are located back from a water front. Individual Development It is evident that in a port which has grown simply by individual development and not according to a well thought out plan, a wise distribution of the various THE MARINE REVIEW classes of traffic is impossible, and an uneconomical arrangement must exist with resulting financial loss. It is also evident that if the water front be divided into small privately owned par- cels, the possibility of its proper develop- ment is practically nil. Yet, it is only of recent years that effective steps have been taken toward systematic port organization and 'devel- opment on this side of the Atlantic. Municipal, or state ownership and con- trol of water fronts is essential to this end, and municipal, or state authorities must control. In the design of new ports or, what is more difficult, the adaptation of the older ports to the modern requirements for the economic movement of the world's products, there is required an exercise of ability of the highest grade. The proper solution of the problems of transportation is one of the factors in the reduction of the cost of living. This increasing cost of living is a par- tial measure of the increase of com- fort demanded for all classes and to that extent is an index of advancing civilization. From this point of view it is not an inherently bad condition. However, to make its attendant hard- ships only temporary, and to supply this increasing demand for better living without an undue increase of the bur- dens of the people, it is necessary to seek all possible means of reducing cost. With each section of the world produc- ing that for which it is economically best fitted, and with the means of trans- portation and distribution developed to the highest capacity, the burdens of today will be greatly reduced. The port authorities of the world can have a large influence in hastening or retarding the hoped for solution. Location of Harbor Lines The establishment of the location of. harbor lines has frequently formed a bone of contention between the national authorities and local interests. It is but natural that riparian owners should seek to increase the area and commer- cial facilities of their property by en- croachments on the waterway. At times,' this can be permitted without detriment to general interests; at others it must be forbidden: Since the real interests of both -the nation and the locality are, in the broadest sense, the same, both the national and local authorities should -be able to work in harmony in the estab- lishment or re-arrangement of harbor lines. Experience has shown that where there is no carefully considered local control of a port, the establishment of harbor lines may be really detrimental. Cases can be cited where a short-sighted riparian owner has created solid fill 445 just as far channelward as was_per- mitted and has covered that fill. with his structures, but has later found that he had left himself insufficient pier area with a result of a curtailment of the business capacity of his property. This has been followed by importunate re- quests for the further movement chan- nelward of the pierhead line. Co-operation The remedy for this can be obtained by co-operation between the national - and local authorities of the port. It is not always possible to foresee what areas 'of the port's shore line will be needed for manufacturing plants re- quiring limited berthing lengths and what areas will be required mainly for pier and slip purposes. Under these conditions, it is possible that one of two courses may be advisable. One, to es- tablish simply a pierhead line which should be the limit of any construction of any kind channelward and then, as each property is to be developed, to have the plans for that development passed upon by the local authorities and construction authorized under a permit from the national authority. Under such a policy the application is made of record and the onus for any short-sighted division of the area in question between upland and pier and slip space is fixed on the property owner. In this connection it may be noted that ~ experience in New York has shown that practically all of the circulation of water in the stream is between the op- posed pierhead lines and that the effect of the space between each pierhead line and its corresponding bulkhead line is negligible in so far as the movement of the waters and the effect of such move- ment on the river bed and banks is to be considered. Where this is the case, open and solid fill piers have identical effects on the regimen of the water- way. Another course would be not to es- tablish formally any harbor lines but to lay down a theoretical pierhead line for the guidance of responsible officials, which should serve as a limit channel- ward for all structures for all shore, de- -velopments and to have the right to make those developments up to that line, after having been properly and duly considered and recommended by local authorities, granted by a_ federal permit for each individual case. The operations of port protection and development, like any great public work, illustrate the truth of the Spanish proverb "You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs." Some interests are bound to suffer. Port officials, both -- federal and local, must form judgment