HARBOR AND MARINE REVIEW to the report of the Harbor Commission; by the Sibley ducing the expense, for example, of the Murray Street butter System it is 8 hours. 2. It brings over intact the refrigerator meat and food trains now unloaded in New Jersey under destructive conditions and carted over the ferries and through the streets, to be unloaded in proper cold storage temperatures and areas on Manhattan Island and at the market center. 3. It brings over the Milk Trains, now unloaded in the railroad yards and the milk cans sent over the ferries by carts, to be unloaded in cold storage areas, the milk train with steam cleaned cans being returned to the rails in the yard in 2 hours and 57 minutes. 4. It provides in the cold storage areas (on the first floor) directly beneath the Food Platform (on the second floor) the special and new facility of a modern Pasteurization plant for the care and distribution of the milk supply of the City of New York, that is the practical provision of a supply of this essential food, beyond the inhibitions of fogs and storms and the assurance of health and comfort to the people of the great metropolis-the physical expression of the ideal plans of the Bureau of Chemistry of Foods. at Washington. 5. It provides on the first or street level Cold and Dry Storage areas for foodstuffs in such convenient relation to incoming freight on the platforms overhead as to be practically beyond improvement, and so vast in capacity as to equal the aggregate of all such areas now on Manhattan Island as contained in 49 separate warehouses. 6. It provides on the second, the Food floor, for the handling, sale and distribution of arriving fruits and food stuffs, facilities never heard of, never before possible, that reach the ideal sought by the food experts, City, State and Governmental. On the Food platform, 1,000 feet long and 126 feet wide, at one end (inshore) is an Auction Exchange, or Sales Room, 100 feet long and 50 feet wide, surrounded by 30 office and sample rooms, with telegraph, telephone, postoffice, and all trade facilities. From the (inshore) end of the platform an electrically operated escalator slides down. for the quick delivery of food stuffs in platform wagons to new made market areas on the free and clear Marginal Way, 14 feet below. 7. It separates the flow of traffic into eastbound and westbound, sending the westbound (the smaller volume) out over the fourth floor, subdividing the eastbound into two streams. one of general merchandise, which passes in over the third floor, and the other, food stuffs, move in over the second Hoor, the Exclusive Food floor. 8. It lifts out of the crowded West Street thoroughfare up to the third floor level (34 feet above) and receives and delivers at that level over Elevated Truckways that reach down to the streets (over slight grade of but 2.82 per cent), crossing the Marginal Way and West Street, over the heads of the passing current in West Street below, to issue at Washington Street in quiet currents 500 feet inland, the whole body of the merchandise traffic of the railroads which in itself constitutes one half of all that now obstructs the waterfront streets of Manhattan, with the effect that congestion, which now paralyzes traffic, becomes liquid and current, not only in front of the new Railway Terminal, but from one end of the Hudson River waterfront to the other. 9. In establishing the elevated truckways it utilizes as entrances and exits eight small blocks, one for each railroad, opposite, lying between West and Washington Streets (225 feet square) now of comparatively small purpose and value, raising on these areas high buildings of 12 stories. using the two lower for trucks, the upper areas for merchants. and so creating in connection with such offices and sample rooms supreme facilities for shipping and storage at the Terminal, impossible of duplication, which, while greatly re and cheese merchant, are capable of yielding in the aggregate enormous annual revenues, estimated to reach beyond $3,500,000. 10. It is capable of handling all the freight of the trunk lines of all kinds, light and heavy, (except coal), any general merchandise that a car will contain; building materials, girders, steel and iron shapes. A special feature is the heavy truck subway, on the street level, where trucks receive heavy freights let down by crane through openings from cars on side tracks on the floor overhead. 11. It establishes an organized Motor Truck System, not possible of operation under existing conditions, nor otherwise possible except in cooperation with such terminal facilities of matched efficiency as the powerful modern. Motor Truck demands, and as only this new Sibley System is able to provide. This organized delivery system in turn renders at once possible that which is not otherwise possible, a new kind of Store Delivery, not the usual store delivery (which, necessarily limited to the day time and operated therefore through congested streets, lays down the goods in front of the store during business hours, a system much talked of in theory, but never found feasible in practice), but a far more effective system of delivery through a system of Terminal locks to the merchant's new shipping room within his warehouse and at night when he is at home, asleep, which First, relieves the merchant shipper of all the trouble and worry now incident to the making of shipments. When he rolls the goods into the new shipping room (of this system) and locks the door the shipment is made. The Terminal truck calls at his warehouse during the night, opens the shipping room with Terminal key, deposits incoming goods and takes away outgoing. Second, by reason of handling the traffic with trucks of large capacity, operating with full loads both ways and without delay, the system is able to establish a cartage charge based on a fixed rate per 100 pounds, for the actual weight of the shipment, which in effect relieves the merchant shipper of more than one-half his present expense, an economy estimated to reach in the aggregate $9,000,000, still leaving a satisfactory revenue for the Terminal Truck system, and all gathered from the waste heap of present methods. ITS EFFECT ON PRESENT TRUCK SYSTEM In establishing new methods of trucking for the railroad freights in New York it supplants the old methods of today which, because of the unavoidable waste attendant upon present conditions, yields only moderate and unsatisfactory net returns, and as the greater part of the New York trucking business is now capitalized under one corporation, the absorption of that interest by an equitable exchange of securities would greatly inure to its advantage, raising it from the slough of waste to the plane of high efficiency and increased revenues not only for its present capitalization, but relieving it of the inevitable necessity of facing sooner or later a serious shrinkage in the present values of its equipment, adapted to present conditions which must inevitably pass away. 12. It supplies New York Central with a service so much superior, practically and financially, to its present West Side freight system, that the road's interest will itself demand the abandonment of its city rails, trains and stations, and the establishment of the railroad and yard at Manhattanville, or at Spuyten Duyvil, at either of which points connection with the new Manhattan Railroad Terminal can be perfectly operated by schedules that New York Central itself will approve. The new system, therefore, clears the streets of New York of rails, trains and stations from the Battery to Spuyten Duyvil, for the first time since cars began to roll, and solves HARBOR AND MARINE REVIEW the long-standing hitherto unsolvable West Side Problem of the avenues and the parks, opening the Hudson River front from the Battery to the high lands at Seventy-second Street, an ideal consummation sought in vain for generations, and impossible by any other method. 13. It releases and restores to the uses of marine commerce 34 of the 47 Manhattan piers now wholly or in part in the service of the railroads below Sixtieth Street, 27 of them on the Hudson River front. 14. In providing New York Central with new facilities. at Spuyten Duyvil, it recaptures for the City of New York. for express ocean steamship service, the valuable front from Sixtieth to Seventy-second Streets, making it possible for the New York City Dock Department to rearrange the waterfront line from the Battery to Seventy-second Street, by classifying and zoning traffic to the greatest commercial advantage. 15. In making this recapture of 3,120 linear feet, which by no other method ever can be recovered, it practically repays the 2,830 feet used for the site of the Railway Terminal, without shortening the present line by one foot. 16. Its financial method provides by amortization for ownership by the City of New York, and meantime by lease satisfactory revenues for the use of the waterfront area, raising up $100,000,000 of values where now there is but one-tenth that amount, to contribute millions annually in taxes to the city treasury; in premiums to the insurance companies; and in wages and salaries to a large corps of New York operatives. 17. By assembling the westbound freight of the day of each railroad on one platform, at the new Terminal, (and similarly the eastbound), cars are loaded to capacity inward and (proportionately) outward, ready for the road, not only raising the carload average but eliminating in large. part the expense of the New Jersey station now necessary for the reloading of partly loaded cars, one of the greatest burdens traffic now suffers under, effecting economies of operation aggregating many millions for the treasuries of the railroads. 18. Instead of breaking bulk over in New Jersey (a necessity with any tunnel scheme), and distributing in that locality the attendant expense of unnecessarily rehandling ten million tons of freight destined to and from New York City, the new system brings the trains over the river, bulk unbroken, and the handling of the goods of New York merchants is done in New York, with the vast attendant saving to shippers. THE CUL DE SAC 19. The end of the rail in New Jersey is the present end of the route of eastbound freight cars, where they linger on sidings and accumulate in a veritable cul de sac. establishing the continuous current of cars of the new system from the yard through the Terminal and back, the car extends its destination to Manhattan Island, delivers its cargo, is reloaded, passes through the Terminal on schedule time and relands in the yard ready for the road eight (8 hours after its arrival from the West). The cul de sac and its congestion of cars becomes a thing of the past, and the effect of this fluidity of current reaching back will be felt all along the line to the remotest station. STORAGE CARS 20. In establishing fluidity and rapidity of current, cars, instead of serving as storage warehouses are brought over at once to the Manhattan Terminal where unloaded and their cargoes delivered either to consignee or the storage areas, they are reloaded and sent on their way to destination, and 250,000 car days only are necessary under the new system to do the annual work now requiring 750,000. WONDERFUL ECONOMIES 21. In effecting these remarkable advantages for the railroads, for the merchant shippers of New York, and for the City of New York, impossible by any other method, it creates economies for operation over the present system collected from the scrapheap, aggregating more than thirty million dollars per annum, besides creating for the Terminal Operating Company new revenues from new sources! TUNNEL AND WATER SURFACE COMPARED 3,150,000 The vast superiority of the water in comparison with the tunnel, the bridge, or any other method, is demonstrated not alone by these overwhelming figures of construction and operation, but by the long catalogue of traffic advantages unattainable by any known system. Such cardinal accomplishments as perfect Cold Storage Food facilities; clearing the Hudson River waterfront; releasing 34 North River piers for marine service; recapturing the front at Sixtieth to Seventy-second Streets; clearing the streets of congestion; removing rails, trains, and stations of New York Central from the city streets; freeing the Riverside Park areas of freight trains; are beyond the power of any other plan what ever. The Sibley System over the water, therefore, stands out alone as the practical solution of the railroad traffic problem at the Port of New York, tested and approved by the highest engineering authority, the Consulting Engineer of the Port of New York, Major General George W. Goethals. Each of the twelve piers New York City is just completing at Staten Island along the Narrows is about one-fifth of a mile long. There are few other sections of New York where piers of the length of those on Staten Island can be built. Port Central Terminal Property in Jersey City on the Hackensack River, 400 feet: eight acres and wharf (where ocean steamers are expected soon to berth); private sidings connecting closely with three trunk line railroads (1,800 feet along D., L. & W.) and at the heart of the Port of New York Authority development, on the proposed middle and waterfront belt and the automatic electric lines; an important traffic transfer and indicated to be increasingly so; a natural location for the initial union station, warehouse or industrial building on the Port system. Plans are being suggested for eventual maximum efficiency and intensity of operation. Will sell or lease entire or in parts of a well coordinated whole. Address Woodstock Company, 65 Beechwood Rd., Summit. N. J.. or telephone Summit 533. New Era for the Port of New York By J. SPENCER SMITH, THE Vice-Chairman Port of New York Authority. HE Port of New York Authority is now vested with its full powers and responsibilities and is proceeding to carry out its program for effectuating measures of immediate relief from present harbor conditions, as the initial step. Special investigations and studies are being carried on by the engineering staff. These studies, it is confidently expected, will result in findings which will meet with the approbation of railroad executives and will give great impetus to the Port Authority program for unification of terminals and facilities, the primary principle involved in the development of the Port of New York. Further support for direct delivery in so far as practicable within the metropolitan district, particularly throughout Greater New York, is anticipated-a long step forward for expeditious and economical distribution. GIGANTIC PROBLEM AHEAD The Port Authority has a gigantic problem before it for solution. Not only is the general project of developing the port so vast and complicated as to its engineering features, but there are other phases which must be taken into consideration, such as the natural jealousies among the various communities within the Port of New York district, who have made extensive progress in their own developments. But recent events have tended to stir up most interest in the development of the port as a whole and have brought about a full measure of backing for the comprehensive plan as adopted by representatives of each locality. The plan is virtually the work of not only the Port Authority but the whole district itself, as expressed through officials and civic groups. SPECIAL STUDIES BEING MADE In presenting this plan for the approval of the legislatures of New York and New Jersey, it would be obvious that the Port Authority could not recommend the order in which its improvements could be inaugurated. That is a matter for further study and conference with all agencies affected and with the chambers of commerce and other organizations. The time for such special study and conference is at hand. In anticipation of favorable action, the special studies referred to began before the bills were actually passed in Trenton and Albany, the engineers starting with field investigations. It is believed that the staff will soon be ready to present to the commission a preliminary report on the economic justification of the various projects which are most needed for the co-ordination of port facilities. In brief, the Port of New York has arrived at a new era of development. The rest of the country may rest assured that it is ready to handle efficiently and economically all the business that is offered, and within a short term of years its facilities will be ample for several times the amount of business that is now done. The Port Authority spells service. It will brook no delay and will justify the public confidence it has already won through constructive planning. During 1920 Admiral Benson, then head of the Shipping Board, and controlling millions of tons of shipping, declared to a New York association that was banqueting him that he and the Shipping Board were diverting commerce away from the Port of New York because of its excessive wharfage charges and lack of facilities. Greeley Revives Jamaica Bay Offer Taking a hint from a recent remark of Murray Hulbert, Alton H. Greeley, head of the American Chain of Warehouses, says he will renew to the present Board of Estimate his offer made to the last board, to invest a sum running up to $100,000,000 in an industrial development of Jamaica Bay, the property thus created to be turned over to the city after fifty years, says the Brooklyn Eagle. The point for the taxpayers is that this scheme proposes a great industrial development on Jamaica Bay without expense by the city, but, on the other hand, paying a total rental to the city of over $1,000,000 distributed over the term of fifty years. At the end of that term the franchises and the development based upon them will revert to the city. This offer assumes added importance since it has become apparent that the Port Authority plan for the development of the harbor will be authorized by the Legislature and that the chance to carry it through grows steadily better. That Port Authority plan includes a tunnel from New Jersey, which will bring all the trunk line railroads into the heart of Brooklyn with rail connections directly to Jamaica Bay. The only obstacle to the plan, aside from such opposition as may be shown in the Board of Estimate, is the fact that Congress has not yet authorized the thirty foot channel in the bay upon which the offer is contingent. Such authorization is expected at the present session, but if it fails, then it is almost certain to become a part of the Government co-operation with the Port Authority development. Senator Joseph E. Ransdell, head of the National Merchant Marine Association, and Senator William B. McKinley, head of the Mississippi Valley Association, are working to wrest from New York a part of its vast commerce. THE Marine Company Located on One of New York's Most Historic Sites HE International Mercantile Marine Company has for some time occupied its new quarters at No. 1 Broadway, which serves to call attention to the renaissance of one of the most interesting business structures in New York. The renewed exterior is of white stone, that none would recognize as that of the old Washington Building, known for a generation as the first skyscraper of lower Manhattan, whose red brick walls and slanting coppered roof and cupola were landmarks seen from far down the harbor, across the green of Battery Park. The transformation of the building has been more than an outward change; it has extended to the very vitals of the structure. The building in fact has been given not only a new skin, but it has been largely rebuilt as to its frame, and done over in the main arteries of entrances, staircases and elevator shafts. Technically the work of making over the building has presented a strong testimonial to the genius of American engineering and architectural deftness. The problem presented to the architect, Mr. Walter B. Chambers, F.A.I.A., was no ordinary one. He was under the necessity of rebuilding the structure, outside and in, without dispossessing the tenants on seven floors. The company occupies the first five floors of the completed building. The task involved by the sweeping structural alterations in the building called for many niceties of calculation and execution. The work included extensive strengthening of foundations in some places; the entire elimination of the heavy interior frame structure of the first floor, and the incorporation of the space in that floor into the upper portion of a lofty booking office; removal of roof and tower, and the construction of two new stories in their place; removal of old elevators and construction of new, in a different place: the relocating of staircases; change in the location for the main entrances to the building, and the introduction of entirely new ventilating, heating and electrical systems. RICH AND ELEGANT DECORATIONS The finished product reveals a highly successful accomplishment both in its exterior and in the work completed within, a character and tone completely at variance with the old-fashioned red brick structure from which it has emerged. In its exterior decoration and finish the building has a quietly colorful opulence such as the traveller associates with old world palaces of days when men wrought in more leisurely fashion; while certain heraldic shields of the world's chief ports, let into the outer walls, in Venetian mosaics, accentuate by their varied colors and gold an air of artistic elegance quite out of the common run among business buildings. From the stone carvings around the shields spring bronze sockets, in which will be placed staffs for flags, with the Stars and Stripes over the main entrance, and the distinguishing colors of the various lines of the company in minor positions. Carvings, cunningly worked into the stone, suggest the uses to which the building is put. Over the arch of the main entrance, in the spandrels and pediment, are shown Neptune, God of the Ocean, and Mercury, God of Trade. Above is the American eagle. The architectural and decorative mouldings and carvings around the entrances and elsewhere are also made up of nautical suggestions, like sea shells, seaweed and star fish, while in the iron work of the elevator grills are seen anchors and ropes, steering wheels and dolphin prows. BOOKING HALL AND OFFICES The distinguishing feature of the interior is the great booking office, extending the entire length of the Battery Park front of the building, from Broadway to Greenwich Street, with a length of 160 feet and a breadth of 40 feet and ceiling 25 feet high. This will be finished in marbles selected to present a subdued yet striking contrast in coloring. At either end are four pillars, against a gallery of mezzanine that extends around three sides of the hall, of rich black marble irregularly lined with white, while the walls are panelled in soft buff Botticino marble. Along the gallery is a wrought iron balcony front. The floor and counters are marble, and set in the floor at the east and west ends are great marble compasses. Even the designs of the lighting fixtures embody nautical or astronomical features, some of them shaped like ancient ship's lanterns, others like terrestrial globes. The booking office is designed to represent the latest ideas in practical utility, with extensive counter space, a waiting room for customers, a department devoted to the issuing of travellers checks, and a section for the distribution of travel literature. One strikingly modern feature of the booking office is a small motion picture theater, for the projection of films portraying life on the company's ships when on the Atlantic passage or tropical cruises. Four floors above the booking office are occupied by executive offices of the company and its constituent lines, including a floor devoted to the accounting department, another to freight, another to operating, and the fifth to the general officers of the company and their clerical staffs, and the board room. On the Greenwich street level is the third class department, with extensive counter space, offices, waiting rooms, etc. SITE OF HISTORICAL INTEREST The site of No. 1 Broadway is historically one of the most interesting in New York. It overlooks on the Broadway side the old market place and bowling green of the early settlers, and to the south the site of the first fort in New Amsterdam, and the Battery. High lights in the chronology of this neighborhood are as follows: 1626-Peter Minuit, Director General of the Nieuw Amsterdam settlement, bargained with the Indian owners of Manhattan in the clearing that is now Bowling Green, and bought the Island for $24. The scene of this historic transaction lies under the windows of No. 1 Broadway. 1640-Pieter Koeck, a sergeant in the Dutch garrison, built a tavern facing the bowling green, on the corner of the Heere street, the site now covered by No. 1 Broadway. (The date is approximate.) This he left to his widow, who became known as Ann Cox. A ship captain of the period wishing to report to the Governor, found that official, according to an old record, "attending a wedding at the Widow Cox's," which indicated that the quality of the colony frequented the tavern. 1756-The site of No. 1 Broadway, having been owned |