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Personal Sketches of Marine Men John McKenzie, Commissioner of Docks, New York City By Ben K. Price IS appointment as commissioner of docks of the greatest port in the world was received with universal ap- proval by all classes of shipping men. ERVING for nearly three decades in the department he now heads he has acquired an intimate detailed knowl- edge of the city’s waterfront conditions. LANS for improvement of facilities are based on a broad view of the port’s future needs to assure sound growth and development. N JOHN McKENZIE as commissioner of docks, New York city has a man whose qualifications for the heavy responsibilities of his job have withstood i | virtually every known acid test. Rising from the ranks, after 28 years in the civil service, to break a political precedent of long standing in his appointment to the commissionership, to come through with flying colors in a searching political investigation into the gen- eral city administration of a party then in power and to be continued in office by the party which later gained the ascendency and was sponsored by the investigating faction, he has a record which, in many respects, is unique in the annals of New York civic government. His special fitness for the position is unchallenged. Put it: in another way, here is a man, who, as chief clerk in the docks department, was interrupted in the midst of an explanation of technical pier matters before the sinking fund commission—interrupted by James J. Walker, then mayor of New York, to be told he was thereby appointed commissioner. The manner of the announcement was unusual, but even more unusual, to those who followed city affairs in New York, was the fact that he, a non-resident of Man- hattan, should have the job. Precedent in the demo- cratic organization of this city had decreed that all commissionerships should go to the district leaders in Manhattan. As a matter of fact, Mr. McKenzie, it was said, did not even know the Democratic leader in his own borough. Then, a little later, came the Seabury investigation, which made headlines from one end of the country to the other, but Mr. McKenzie was never brought forward for public examination, except as expert witness on the affairs of his own particular department. Then came the closing days of last year and the commissioner was summoned to the offices of Mayor-elect Fiorello H. La- Guardia. A little later the mayor-elect came out of the conference and this is what he said: “There will be a complete reorganization of the dock MARINE REVIEW—September, 1934 35. department but Commissioner McKenzie will remain as: its head. I have found his services, while I was presi- dent of the board of aldermen, very satisfactory. He came up from the ranks, and also through all of the exposure of terrible conditions in the dock department without a shadow of a blemish on his record.’’ The acclaim that immediately went up bespoke his high standing with shipping men. Universal approval was voiced by all fair minded citizens familiar with his record. The reappointment was recognized at once as in every respect in the best interests of the port and of its great shipping. Commissioner McKenzie was born in Manhattan, 51 years ago. He became affiliated with the dock depart- ment at the age of 23 and studied law after hours, graduating from the Brooklyn Law school of St. Law- rence university. This legal training was to prove in- valuable to him, but it was his grasp of detail that was to serve as the cornerstone of his career, and in the years that followed he became known to his associates as a veritable human encyclopedia on New York water- front conditions, Since taking office he has conducted a constant, but conservative program of rehabilitation and expansion of- facilities, leading only within the past month to the let- ting of contracts for three 1100-foot piers, to meet the. needs of super-liners now in the course of construction on the other side. Other major improvements in prospect await only more definite signs of a normal resumption of world trade, but meanwhile plans go on for consolidating the port’s pre-eminent position under existing conditions. One phase at the moment is a careful study of the ques- tion of rentals, with the possibility of a new policy evolv- ing which should enhance the port’s position in its com- petition with other eastern ports. The commissioner resides in Flushing, Long Island,. and between home and office, his friends declare, few outside interests creep in.