N Staten Island Written for the Port of New York by T. KENNARD THOMSON, Consulting Engineer EARLY every day for over ten years, I have done something toward putting Staten Island on the map. Or in other words, to make it possible for the people of Manhattan to find easy access not only to the fine residential sections on the hills, but also to the unrivaled opportunities for developing the low lands for manufacturing, and for making Staten Island the greatest manufacturing seaport in the world. Prominent bankers have told me that my proposition for a seaport for Staten Island, where ores could be received via our new Barge Canal as cheaply as they are now in Pittsburgh, would undoubtedly, of course, build up the whole of Staten Island and be the salvation of Manhattan. The only thing necessary to ensure the consummation of these idealistic results will be the actual commencement of the work on Manhattan Extension, whereby the Battery will be extended six miles down the Bay, making the new long Battery the same distance from Staten Island, as Manhattan (from the Battery and Cortlandt Street) is from Jersey City. I use the word "Battery" here because it at once conveys the idea I wish to your readers, although it seems like butchering the English language. For it will be remembered that the Battery was so called because a battery of cannons extended from Greenwich Street to the East River. There will of course be a dozen or more tunnels, and wide ones at that, by which I mean the width of a hundred feet or more, from the new Battery to Staten Island. So that there will be no let nor hindrance to the free communication. One of the first results will be that the New York Central will probably see the wisdom of extending its lines to the southern end of Staten Island, thereby shortening the all-rail route from Philadelphia to Manhattan by ten miles and the all-rail route from the South via Philadelphia to Boston by twenty miles. Many have told me that as soon as the people realize that Manhattan Extension is inevitable, the value of Staten Island will increase ten times. A tunnel under the Narrows when completed would of course greatly benefit Staten Island and Brooklyn. But to go, ay from St. George to Manhattan by such a route, would involve a journey of ten miles, instead of five miles by the logical extension of Broadway. When Staten Island can be so easily reached by Manhattanites, it would seem that there ought to be some excellent locations for aeronautic fields to supplement the airplane landings we may have on top of our buildings. When I consider the enormous value of a Free Port where all raw materials could be received, manufactured and shipped out again, without ever having seen a custom house officer, or where great ocean steamers can transfer their cargo to coast line steamers again without the annoyance of the ustoms; when I consider all the grain elevators, coaling stations, ship yards, the innumerable manufacturing establishments which will probably be several times as extensive as those of old Pittsburgh; when I consider that all this ould be furnished with hydro-electric power brought down from the Niagara, St. Lawrence, Delaware and Hudson Rivers, thereby avoiding all the smoke, dust, wear and tear of the streets, the resulting noise and congestion due to hauling coal and ashes thereon; and when I know that there will be thousands of other improvements which I have not even the capacity of imagining, I am of the firm belief that the old estimate of ten times an increased value of Staten Island will be a far too conservative estimate, and that even a hundred times will be a very conservative estimate. The United States Government has long been dissatisfied with the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and has seriously contemplated taking the Navy Yard away from Greater New York entirely. The consummation of Manhattan Extension will make it possible to construct a new river from the Hudson to Newark Bay by dredging Newark Bay and reclaiming the swamp lands, thereby creating in addition to many other valuable advantages, a new Navy Yard. Many experts have assured me that only two battle ships a day can be taken out of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, on account of the adverse tides and currents, and that if the Government were to spend thirty-two million dollars (this was eight years ago,) to deepen the channel out of the center of the East River, which would now cost seventy-five million dollars, even then it would only be possible to get four ships a day out of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Whereas in our Newark Bay Navy Yard, it would be a very simple matter to get a hundred or more ships a day. Such a great Navy Yard would of itself be of enormous value to every foot of land within fifty miles of New York City Hall. As our docks will be so equipped for handling freight both from the railroads and cities, the shipping of this entire port will be increased manifold. All this will of course result in a great bay, amply protected from storms of the ocean, between Staten Island and Sandy Hook, a bay several times the size of New York Bay. As the opportunities for improving each and every detail of such a varied undertaking covering most of the activities of the human race are so great, I beg to say once more that I hope every man, woman and child in the country will start thinking what improvement he or she can suggest towards building a city of the very highest type as nearly idealistic as possible. But to give a mere list of these details would undoubtedly require all the space between the covers of this magazine. Surely you people of Staten Island should be interested, and in any event, it is now up to you to make this as near Utopian as possible. Staten Island is closer to European and South American ports than most other parts of New York City. Marine "Y" Nearly Ready The James Harvey Williams Memorial, the first building to be erected by the Young Men's Christian Association for merchant seamen, is nearing completion on the corner of Richards and Sullivan streets, Brooklyn. Its erection was made possible by a gift of $60,000 from Mrs. James Harvey Williams in memory of her husband, who died in 1904. In all $200,000 is being spent on the new building and in improving the old building in Sullivan street, which has housed the marine activities of the Brooklyn Y. M. C. A. since 1918. Franck C. Munson, head of the Munson Line, is president of the Brooklyn Young Men's Christian Association. There are approximately 200 companies operating ships into and out of the port. A Views of ALVIN W. KRECH, President of the Equitable Trust Company of New York T a recent convention of the American Economic Society, Alvin W. Krech, president of the Equitable Trust Company of New York, made some remarks on present economic conditions, especially discussing the Allied Debt, apropos of Professor Seligman's suggestion that it should be cancelled, and the professor's statement that the debt is an unjust one, which Mr. Krech stoutly and successfully combats. "To say that our debt is unjust is almost tantamount to saying: The allies gave their blood; America can well afford to forget her dollars," he declared, and he continued: "When we pegged the franc and the pound sterTreling, we were not precisely mindful of our dollars. mendous sums of money were spent in France and in England by the A. E. F. If we had not pegged the franc and the pound, we would probably have gotten much more for our dollars. The sums we advanced, it is true, enabled our allies to feed and clothe their soldiers; but, on the other side, did we not pay for everything our army bought overseas? I hope you will understand that I am not oblivious of the admiration and gratitude we owe to our allies, but I feel that it is my duty to explain to you why I cannot regard our debt as unjust. "But now arises the question: Shall we or shall we not cancel the debt? I believe that the moment is ill-chosen to bring the question in so uncompromising a manner before our people. Economically speaking, we are at present a very much harassed people; the burden of the taxes, the difficulties and hardships brought upon us by deflation make it very hard for the people at large to examine so important a question in the right spirit. Therefore, I propose that we should take a leaf out of Secretary Hughes's book, and declare a holiday of ten years, during which the debt would be considered as non-existent. After the ten years have elapsed, the question of the cancellation should be taken up again. I believe that these ten years of an absolute suspension of the effects of the debt, would create an atmosphere of judicious aloofness. We should then be in a much better position and also in a much better mood to approach so vast a proposition. Besides, let it not be forgotten that the nations have not as yet found their bearings; they are still uncertain as to which roads, political or economic, they should follow; there is still much to be done and much to be undone. The actual burden of the debt should be removed during these difficult years, and we should say to our debtors: 'You must have but one thought in mind; that is to put your own house in order, and you shall not during the next ten years be hampered in your efforts by the demands of your creditors.' After all, it will be granted that in 1931 things may look pretty different from what they are now. Our debtors are hardy people who have weathered more than one storm, and ten years should witness great changes for the better in their affairs. But the point is not so much to wait ten years in the hope that then our allies may be in a position to pay easily their debt; my proposition is not a veiled moratorium. I conceived it in the hope that, ten years hence, conditions both in this country and abroad will have prepared a better terrain for the discussion of the problem. form. The allied world, and more especially London and "It would take more than the ten minutes which are allotted to the gentlemen who come on the program under the heading 'Discussions' to go more deeply into the examination of my proposition. I shall merely ask you to have in mind that when all has been said and done, the reorganization of Europe, in spite of many admirable and even successful efforts, is still in its first stages. The reparations which have so often been revised, have not as yet taken on a definite "And there is a terrible hint for the rest of the world in Rathenau's statement that there is no unemployment in Germany. No wonder that there is plenty of work in Germany if, as we read the other day, the Spanish Government has a good deal of its printing done in Berlin. In Belgium there is an outcry against German imports. The Messagero claims that the steady rise in German imports threatens to ruin the struggling Italian industries. "But then, if Germany is to pay, she must pay with goods. Rathenau may be right when he says that Germany won her great economic position not by wealth, not by her geographical situation, but by organization, discipline, advanced scientific knowledge and work. Germany, instead of paying in gold, which is impossible, may well be in a position to make payment in kind; but the question remains: Can the world afford to accept such payments in kind? I am afraid that the Virgilian line Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes could be written across many a reparation clause: "I fear the Germans bearing reparations.' "Before leaving this platform, I should like, ladies and gentlemen of the American Economic Association, to express my appreciation for the work you are performing. We men of the business world have our eyes fixed upon the few concrete business propositions which claim our attention. Your gaze, on the contrary, seeks a higher aim: The weal of the community. We see a few trees; you see the forest. You must guide us. You are, if I may use the beautiful old English expression, the keepers of the business man's conscience." THE HARBOR AND MARINE REVIEW PORT OF NEW YORK HARBOR AND MARINE REVIEW Future of Staten Island In this issue we present a great array of most interesting facts regarding the Borough of Richmond, of Greater New York, least in population but great in future possibilities as a maritime, commercial, industrial and residential section of the Port of New York. At the very entrance of the harbor it is ideally situated for maritime commerce, while its shores are admirably adapted to such industries as require both water and rail accommodations. It possesses the great advantage of direct rail connection with the mainland via New Jersey, and may be said, at this moment, to be "in the making." The City of New York is at work at the preliminaries of the construction of a freight and passenger tunnel to connect with Brooklyn under the Narrows, besides which the Rapid Transit Commission also plans a passenger, or rapid transit, tunnel under the Narrows, too. Before long another tunnel is likely to connect the North Shore of Staten Island more directly with Manhattan along the shorefront of Bayonne and lower Jersey City. At present there are half a dozen ferries, with more to come, chief of which is that which connects St. George with lower Manhattan. The municipal government has just completed a dozen new piers, none of which is less than 1,000 feet in length, of ample width, and with plenty of slip space between. These piers will come into general use this year, as soon as the landfill at the rear has been completed, upon which will be erected railroad switching accommodations and great warehouses. The Staten Island piers have capacity to accommodate one-third the present entire foreign commerce of the Port of New York, and they constitute 20 per cent of the city's wharfage space. With the exception of one of the new piers reserved for transient vessels, the others are all leased for long periods to steamship lines. Some of the new piers will be equipped with the most modern facilities for rapid and economical loading and unloading of freight. These piers will develop about 14,000,000 tons of freight annually. Industrial sites are to be had all over Staten Island, at most reasonable rates, while for residential purposes the island has scarcely begun to develop, although there is no more attractive area in the port than at Staten Island. Staten Island has rail connection with the mainland, over the Arthur Kill, thus presenting exceptional advantages for the accommodation of industries. The future of Staten Island is full of promise of soon becoming the leading maritime section, as well as one of the largest industrial sections, of the entire Port of New York. The Port of New York is the doorway of the Nation. Staten Island is at the threshold. The Port Authority a Permanency The legislatures of New York and New Jersey have each passed identical bills, which have been approved by the governors of each State, that establish the Port of New York Authority as a permanent commission for the systematic, coordinated, efficient and economical development of the whole Port of New York-the New Jersey as well as the New York sections. The action of the two legislatures must HARBOR AND MARINE REVIEW have been most gratifying to the six commissioners constituting the Port of New York Authority, who put in a most strenuous year in 1921 in preparing their "comprehensive plan" of port development for submission to the two legislatures. New Jersey put the bill through with a unanimity that was as unusual as it was complimentary to those whose work was thus warmly endorsed. Chairman Outerbridge, and every one of the other five commissioners as well as its unusually high-grade staff, must feel both relieved and pleased at the splendid start they have made toward the reclamation, preservation and development of the greatest port in the world-a fact that the 8,000,000 or 9,000,000 residents of the Port of New York seem too indifferent of. With the educational work now going on the essential facts in time are bound to sink into the minds of the more intelligent of our people, at least, upon which the Port Authority will be able to depend to uphold its great constructive work. Governor Miller, of New York State, has just spent several days in Washington, attending waterways conventions, at one of which in a great speech opposing the construction of the St. Lawrence ship canal he stated that $500,000,000 will be spent in bringing the Port of New York entirely up to date, entirely up to the functioning necessary for a more economical and efficient accommodation of shipping and commerce. All of this money will be expended by the Port of New York Authority, in the years immediately ahead of us, a statement that gives our readers a better and more comprehensive grasp upon the potential possibilities of this newly created bi-State board. It should be known that the Port of New York Authority is a non-salaried body; their work is entirely gratuitous, for the public good, and without remuneration to its members, wherefore all the more credit to the members for what has been so quickly and so satisfactorily accomplished. Staten Island's area is 36,600 acres, or approximately 57 square miles. The Manhattan Extension In this issue is presented a statement explaining the exceptional advantages Staten Island will derive from the six-mile extension of Manhattan southward, as planned by Dr. T Kennard Thomson, who points out wherein Staten Island will be signally benefited. One has but to think of Manhattan Island extending six miles south, to the Narrows, directly opposite the northeast shore of Staten Island, to realize how quickly and satisfactorily all of the problems of rapid transit, and through freighting, vehicular and by rail, would be solved with the completion of that vast undertaking. This Manhattan Extension will add six square miles to the Island of Manhattan, and its entire frontage will be made most useful by the addition of twelve miles to the wharfage accommodations of the Port of New York, or about ten times as much as has been added by the new Staten Island piers. The extension is a private undertaking. It will cost about $600,000,000, the land reclaimed will be worth about $2,000,000,000 and it is expected that an addition of $3,000, 000,000 would be expended in buildings, streets, etc., which will add immensely to the taxable values of the Greater City, while reducing present taxes for all other sections. Every Staten Islander-every resident of the Port of New York, for that matter-should be an enthusiastic rooter for the Manhattan Extension. Staten Island is three times the area of Manhattan. The Sibley Plan In this issue we present the outstanding features of "The Sibley Plan" for the interchange of freight between the west advised, General Goethals, chief consulting engineer of the side of Manhattan and New Jersey, a plan that, we are Port of New York Authority, declared to its inventor, Richard C. Sibley, to be "a perfect plan." This plan, at an expense of slightly more than $80,000,000, is designed to accomplish all that is proposed through the construction of the automatic electric railway, estimated to cost about three times as much as the Sibley Plan, to operate through a tunnel beginning at or near the break-up yard on the New Jersey Meadows, running under the Hudson River, and far below the surface along the lower west side of Manhattan, again crossing the river near the Battery, and back to the break-up yard, depositing its eastbound freight in a series of a dozen huge warehouses at which it would receive westbound freight. All of this transportation the Sibley Plan will accomplish on the water, quite as efficiently and infinitely more economically than it can be accomplished by the automatic electric railway, according to the financial statement at the end of Mr. Sibley's brief description of his plan. The essential feature of the Sibley Plan contemplates a series of connected wharves along the Manhattan waterfront, occupying a space in length near to 3,000 linear feet, which will float the car-laden motor barges into a basin, from which the cars will be rapidly elevated to floors above, their contents removed, and the cars reloaded and delivered by elevators to waiting motor barges in the basin below. On different floors above this series of connected wharves the freight from the cars will be classified, and from them distributed, while on other floors westbound freight will be received and loaded onto returning westbound cars. There will be a special kind of "store door deliveries" of which we have of late heard so much about, this of a kind quite different from any other, designed wholly to relieve our west side of its unsightly, uneconomical and wasteful congestion. THE PORT OF NEW YORK bespeaks for the Sibley Plan the very careful and critical examination of all students of port betterment, particularly railroad engineers and traffic men, and offers its columns for discussion of it. The potentialities of the west shore of Staten Island are strikingly realized, says the Merchants' Association of New York in its report on Staten Island, when one glances across the Arthur Kill to the New Jersey shore. Here great industrial plants occupy nearly every foot of shore. Yet this is the development of only a few years. The Staten Island shore is similar in character, and a few improvements, especially railroad facilities, would unquestionably guarantee it a similarly remarkable growth. HARBOR AND MARINE REVIEW Political Persecution of T. Albeus Adams Hon. T. Albeus Adams, Chairman of the New Jersey Interstate Bridge and Tunnel Commission, is a citizen the Port of New York has reason to be proud of because of his unrequited, voluntary, arduous and successful work in behalf of a Vehicular Tunnel under the Hudson. Having spent his time and money lavishly to bring to completion such a tunnel, the New Jersey legislature is seeking to oust him just as the work of final construction is about to be begun; and, not satisfied with introducing their ouster bill, his political opponents have circulated statements regarding him that he went to Trenton recently to look into. He asked the committee of the legislature which have the bills in hand proposing to oust Mr. Adams for a public hearing on any charges against him, so he could defend himself in the open. Such a hearing was agreed to by the chairman, and when Mr. Adams appeared to enter it, he was told it would be in secret, the public would be excluded, whereupon Mr. Adams very wisely and properly declined to enter the hearing. His action has been applauded by the leading newspapers of New Jersey, irrespective of party. The city government of Jersey City is of the same political faith that Mr. Adams is, and it refuses to enact certain ordinances vital to the undertaking of the Vehicular Tunnel until it is assured that the ouster bill in the New Jersey legislature has been withdrawn, and this explains the deadlock in letting the contract for the tunnel's construction for upwards of $19,000,000, the lowest bid. If the Jersey City ordinances are not adopted the only way around will be through condemnation proceedings, which the railroads would surely resist, and drag the letting of the contract along for years, putting off the tunnel's completion indefinitely. Elsewhere in this issue is an article bearing on the Vehicular Tunnel situation which we trust every one will carefully read. Work of Seamen's Friend Society The following statement recently issued by the American Seamen's Friend Society, shows the great work which the society is carrying on in the interest of sailors: Last year 318,057 sailors were welcomed in the homes supported or aided by the American Seamen's Friend Society. They wrote and received over 73,000 letters, and turned in $205,000 for safe keeping; 77,500 men paid for a night's lodging, and 6,942 received free meals, lodging and other help. Twenty thousand two hundred came to the entertainments, and 13,914 attended religious services. During ninety-three years the society has been carrying on the Christian message to seamen on shore and at sea. Two thousand five hundred visits were made to ships and 189 to hospitals, reaching 42,000 men. Fifty-eight pieces of reading matter were placed on shipboard, and 187 libraries were loaned to ships for the use of officers and crews. The least developed portion of Staten Island is along Arthur Kill on its west shore, where there are no present rail connections, but where there is a 25-foot channel. Greatest Problem in History Faced by Marine Labor Organizations During TH The Past Eight Months HE depression in shipping, with the laying up of hundreds of ships, has thrown out of employment thousands of licensed marine officers in this and other ports on the Atlantic coast. As there did not seem to be any prospect of a revival in shipping in the immediate future, the organizations realized that the savings of their members would soon be used up, and one of the most energetic of the locals, Ocean M.E.B.A. No. 80, shifted its employment department from devoting all its time to seeking positions for the membership aboard ship, to keeping in touch with the large real estate offices, employment and other agencies where employment could be found for its members, with the result that today hundreds of marine engineers are working in stationery and other plants ashore, men who have followed the sea for practically all their lives; and with the still further wage reduction for marine officers, this organization reports that many of the engineers who have by their energy and interest in the machinery in their charge, made possible the successful operation of the ships, are seeking and finding employment in the large stationery plants ashore, not only for the remuneration, but also because of the fact that it allows them to remain at home with their families and enjoy the social privileges that the life at sea has never given them. Ocean M.E.B.A. No. 80, and its predecessor, Ocean Assoemployment department, and has placed in positions a large ciation of Marine Engineers, has always conducted a large number of the marine engineers now employed. Also, in addition to a marine engineering school, a series of lectures is given over the winter months by the highest type of marine experts in the country, furnished by the large manufacturing plants; and in so doing has aided in increasing the efficiency of its members in the operation of our ships. The efficiency and business-like methods, the square dealing with its men, and the ship owners with whom they deal, have been the things that have built this body of steamship engineers up into one of the largest organizations of its kind in the country. Its president, Mr. Edwin E. Martien, at present chief engineer of the Steamship New York, has been with the New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company for seventeen years; was later a lieutenant in the U. S. Naval Reserve, in the engineering division, detailed as inspector of machinery and repairs at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and later was inspector for the Morse Ship Yard. President. Martien's ambition is for the organization having in its membership the highest type of marine engineers, and working in close business co-operation with the operators of the large ships for the mutual benefit of both, and the American merchant marine in general. Beginning at the southern end of Staten Island there is a channel 19 feet deep at mean low tide and 30 feet wide, extending from deep water in Lower New York Bay to the mouth of Arthur Kill. From the lower end of Arthur Kill this channel connects with another 25 or more feet deep extending northward to Newark Bay. Through Kill van Kull there is 25 feet deep, now being deepened to 30 feet. Along the Narrows the shore is precipitous and self-dredging, tides and currents preventing deposits along this shore. South of the Narrows the coast slopes gradually and the water is shallow except at a few points, such as Great Kills and Prince's Bay. No ship channel has been dredged along this section. |