The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 31, 1916, Page 5

. ‘great importance, and. at consxderable sacrifice of personal energy and time. The powers granted:by 'legislative act : % amphfied by a constituti ' in 1913. 7 ; 1914 through the ‘Hi ast’ ‘the THE STORY OF THE LOUISIANA COTTON AND GRAIN TERMINALS Written for the Leader by C. P. JONFS, JR. g < FHEN New Orieans, aft.er fifty ‘N/ years of intermittent agita- tion of the subject, finally got- down to the business.of pro- vxdmg herself with a much needed great central’ cotton warehouse and grain _elevator and terminal, the first thing that was settled upon was that it should be a publicly owned enterprise and operated by the state. The result of this decision stands today as a splendid monument to the wisdom of placing such an enterprise beyond private control. This result has_ measured fully up to expectations, and promises even to surpass them. The heavy volume of the port's cotton business, the large and steadily increas- ing volume’ of its grain exporting busi- ness, coupled with- the * laborious and expensive methods of hauling cotton in drays: from the railroad depots and steamboat landings to the cotton yards, and from these to the ocean steamers, caused the popular demand for an ade- quate central plant, which should also embody the advantages of co‘ordinat- ing river, rail and-ocean transportation, and provide low -storage and insurance rates, rapid and efficient handling methods and low cost of operation. Results have shown -also that the direct connection thus estabhshed has -brought .about a revival: of river transportation and lower freight rates, mot alone on local cotton, but on through ‘cotton via New. Orleans. PORT COMMISSION' ISSUES BONDS TQ BUILD TERMINALS The first definite step toward the estab- ‘lishment of a state-owned warehouse was an act of the Louisiana “legislature in® 1910, known as Act_133.. This act placed the control: and operatxon of the warehouse in’the hands of the board: of commissioners of the port of New Orleans, a body of five men appointed by’ ‘the governor . under ‘an ‘act passed in 1896.. While they serve without pay or’ remuneration of any sort, the members: .of “this board: perform a civic duty of to' the port commissio; “Under" this- leg'islahve authorlty the port * commission -issued “bonds to: the . -amount of $3, , which were sold in- of the Now Orleans Times-Picayune . N. W. Halsey & Co of Chicago, and W.. R. Compton & Co., of St. Louis. On April 9, 1914, the port commission entered into contract with Messrs. Ford, Bacon: & Davis, engineers, of New Orleans, New York and San Francls..o, for the designing and supervision of the construction of the warehouse and elevator. Among . the | requirements made of the engineers was one that the plant’ should bhe desxgned to enable it to be operated at a maximum earning cap- acity, and therefore when not required for cotton it should provide storage for coffee, rice, jute, sisal and other standard package commodities. - Another was that it should permit of the receipt and hand- ling of cotton and other commodities- from vessels and their transfer to freight cars, adapting the plant to a two-way operation; -also that it ‘should handle factor’s cotton, £. o. b. cotton and through cotton with equal efficiency and economy, whether such cotton was flat or com- pressed. Finally it was required of the engineers that the plant should enable the port of New Orleans to become a deposit market for the cotton supply of the world. ENGINEERS STUDY DESIGNS OF WORLD’S GREAT TERMINALS Before the design of the warehouse units and- wharf was adopted the details .of the latest types of terminals in New York,’ Pluladelphxa, Boston and . other ports in this country, and Liverpool, London, Hayre, Hamburg, Bremerhaven and 'other ports abroad; and all principal’ _cotton warehouses-in tlus country, were « carefully studied and ~considered. The best points of all these, with such modi- fications and improvements as would best adapt these developments -to ‘the con- ditions at this port, were thus wrought into the New Orleans plant. : Previous to the crystallization’ of the - agitation for a state-owned warehouse into leglslahve enactments providing for it ‘plans had been nearly completed by certain - local ‘cotton interests’ for the ‘erection of a warehouse in one of the South ha wn rsh _' sKETCH OF STATE “WAREHOUSES. . . /7 river front suburbs of the city, to be owned by themselves, but the insistent agitation- of W. B. Thompson, head of " the cotton firm of W. B. Thompson & Co., for a publicly-owned warehouse caused the abandonment of the private concern’s plans. .To Mr. Thompson, therefore, probably more than any other man, belongs the credit for the port’s present enjoyment of its greatest indus- trial facility. The first pile for the foundation of the cotton warehouses was driven on Janu- ~ary. 29, 1915, and the first storage units were re'ady for use in August, 1915, although the -cranes were not installed for several months. When the plant is entirely completed the total investment in land, warehouses and grain elevator will be in excess of $5,000,000. As it stands today the plant occupies a river frontage of over a mile, with a depth of about 1600 feet, on the east bank of the river, near the heart of New Orleans. This area includes the ware- houses, grain elevator and railroad yards. Only half of the warehouse buildings planned are completed, and these number five units. The. grain elevator will be completed - within the next sixty days. Both the cotton warehouses and grain elevator are of concrete and steel con- struction throughout. - MOST MODERN MACHINERY .TO HANDLE THE COTTON The cotton warehouses are only one story in height, affording simplicity of design, greater flexibility for mechanical handling, less lost. space, consequently greater capacity for a building of given cubical content, and, therefore; low first ‘ cost per bale of storage capacity. Ele- vated runways eighteen feet above floor of buildings, ‘and entirely surrounding " and connecting them, assure freedom from ground surface . interruptions or interferences with the free movement of traffic about the plant or shipments moving = from warehouse: ‘to shipside. Runways: are sufficiently wide to permit of two-way operation on the same run- . How shall we get the advantages of market conceritration 'without the evils of monopoly?’ The cotton growers of the _dlscovered the correct answer. of termmal storage facnlltles. HEAD OF *PORT COM~ ISSION . _, way, as well as loop or shuttle operation of trucks and tractors with trailers. The ' foundations of the warehouses, except the wharfhouse, carry only the buildings and not the load of cotton in - storage, contnbutmg to low first cost of the plant. The equipment is largely made up of standard stock units, which have- proved to be both economical and reliable in continued operation, and which have been developed to a high state of efficiency. The mechanical devices were devised or selected with the view of low first cost, simplicity of operatlon, low cost of main- tenance and repairs, and to be so flex- ible as to serve all buildings and handle any kind of package freight. For the most economical and quickest ‘ possible handling of cotton there are overhead traveling cranes, huge contriv- ances that work with a human-like pre- cision. They can reach every part of every compartment of all buildings. Operating with these are electric storage battery trucks which convey the cotton " from one compartment to another, from the compresses to the storage compart- ments, from storage to shipside and for other movements about the warehouses, TWENTY MILES OF TRACK IN STATE'S STORAGE YARDS The plant’s railroad- yard comprises over twenty miles of track, giving a stor- age capacity of over 2000 cars. Laid out by experts, these tracks provide for the most scientific nd rapid handling of cars. Though located on the property of the port commission, these tracks are operated by the Public Belt Railroad commission, which handles all cars into and out of the plant, and whose fécilities are available on low and equal terms to all railroads entering New Orleans. Buildings G, H, J and K consist of one. - hundred and twenty-four compartments of approximately uniform size. Each is - about oneé hundred feet long by thirty- . two feet wide and forty. feet high. Each compartment holds 1600 bales of cotton . when stored ten high in four tiers, with two five-foot aisles, making the normal storage capacity of these four buildings about' 200,000 bales. Buildings J and K and the compress’ building were ready for service about September 1, 1915, and buildings G and H were put into service Itis: “Pubhc &1 { i 3 { i i e eade