The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 29, 1917, Page 7

Trans-Pacific steamships loading and unloadmg at the Stacy street publicly-owned wharf in Seattle. When the people regained control of the Seattle waterfront through a Port Commission and a bond issue of $6,300,000 to buy land and build wharves, the rate for wharfage was reduced from 50 cents to 20 cents a ton. freight sheds. This property operates the biggest and most complete plant for loading and unloading heavy cargoes on the Pacific coast, far ahead of anything Seattle had under private ownership of the terminals, It alone has attracted millions of tons of freight to Seattle that could not be loaded and unloaded as cheaply elsewhere. It in- cludes a giant crane that lifts lumber and steel rails by the car load out of vessels and onto flat cars, or takes whole flat car loads of heavy ma- chinery and places them gently into the holds of ships. This wharf has handled and is handling all the rails, car trucks and other supplies and ma- terial for the government-owned rail- road in Alaska, now under construc- tion. Bell Street concrete warehouse and cold storage plant, and Bell Street wharf and transit shed. This property is equipped to handle loading and un- loading of miscellaneous freight, such as cases of canned salmon, baled hay, brick, sacked grain or corn, flour and other merchandise. With the latest machinery it unloads ships into cars or scows, or vice versa. It has moor- ings and a wharf for farmers’ boats _that come from all parts of Puget Sound with farm products. Such boats had to pay heavy tolls for mooring be- fore, or turn their produce over to com- mission houses in payment for the privilege of mooring. This wharf is only a few blocks from the . Seattle public market, where farmers take their products to sell direct to the con- sumers. The warehouse here is for miscellaneous storage. The public cold storage plant at this wharf is also for miscellaneous storage. Last year it stored for farmers 42 carloads of vegetables, 46 carloads of apples, much fruit preserved and mild-cured salmon as well as eggs, butter and other prod- ucts. The Port Commission office building is at this wharf, a splendid concrete building with the roof turned , over to the city park board as a public playground. The Whatcom ' avenue warehouse. For storage of canned salmon. Hanford street grain elevator. This is a modern concrete gram elevator for . bulk grain, of 500,000 bushels capacity, which is to be doubled shortly by the commission on account of its extensive patronage by wheat growers. . It is the only bulk grain storage plant on the Sound and is doing much to encourage shippers to abandon the Pacific coast practice of sacking grain, which is ex- pensive. Conveyors take the grain in or out of ships or cars at a nominal cost. It is probably the only pubhcly- ) owned grain elevator in the TUnited States. : Hanford street wharf and transit shed. . Equipped for handling and transferring from ship to car or vice versa freight like canned salmon and sacked grain. This wharf is also operated in connection with the public grain elevator. Stacy and Lander street wharves and transit shed. For handling and storing miscellaneous freight. Spokane street open wharf. A whart without a shed or warehouse for hand- ling miscellaneous merchandise that does not need protection from the ele- ments. Spokane street fruit warehouse. As its name implies, a storage place for all kinds of fruit, with the most modern and efficient equipment. Spokane street fish cold storage plant. One of the biggest and best utilities of its kind on the Pacific coast. Includes an ice factory for sell- ing ice to refrigerator vessels and fish- ermen at rates much under former charges. Salmon bay net warehouse and floats. A public utility at the service of fish- ermen, furnishing moorings and sup- plies. - Salmon bay wharf. For miscellane- ous business, operated in connection with the utilities for fishermen. The Lake Washington ferry. A pub- licly-owned ferry furnishing a badly needed service that private enterprise ‘failed to establish. . West Seattle ferry. A publicly-owned ferry that plies between Seattle proper and West Seattle, across Eilliot bay, furnishing a public service that private enterprise failed to adequately provide for. = ° A GLIMPSE AT THE FINANCIAL SIDE OF IT Tb.!s is a list of the publicly-owned utilities under the supervision of the Sea.tfle ‘Port Commission. When the entire plan is carried out the return from the $6,300,000 ‘in bonds voted by the people will have been spent. All the properties mentioned, for instance the flsh cold storage plant and ice plant, are not fully completed and in - operation and hence ha.vo ‘returned no revenue as yet. The first project of the comprehen- sive plan was not completed until 1913, Last year when only a portion were in ~operation the Port Commission report- - ed 'a remarkable showing. That year the revenue from the projects paid 42 per cent of all the interest on the bonds FROM twenty-Second port in the nation to fourth—pretty good record for public ownership, isn’t it? Seattle is not sorry ' nor worried. and operating expenses, including re- tirement of the portion of the bonds coming due. Within a few years all the operating and upkeep expenses and interest on the bonds, as well as the re- tirement of the annual installments of bonds maturing, will be taken care of by the Port Commission’s revenue without taxation, and in another few years at the present rate the Commis- sion will be earning enough so that a big reduction in rates for services per- formed by thé Port can be made, mak- ing these publicly-owned utilities still more valuable to the people. Until the properties are all com- pleted and self-sustaining a small tax is levied on the Port district to make up the difference between the revenue and expenses. This tax falls on vacant and unproductive property as well as other property and there has been a great kick by landed interéests that are profiting by holding harbor area and inland property for speculation. The tax has been only a dollar or two a year, however, on the small property holder in the cities and not much more on farmers within the district, and there is no kick from these people de- spite great efforts by the big corpora~ tions and vested interests hit by publie ownership to work up a great “holler” among taxpayers. WHOLE STATE BENEFITS BY SEATTLE’S ENTERPRISE Seaifle and King county have done ‘what the state really ought to have ‘done. People outside the port district who do not pay the tax are benefitting equally with those within the district who do pay the tax. The publicly- owned projects are in fact of vast di- rect and indirect benefit to the state at - large, and if the tax was spread over the rich staté of Washington, instead of one county it would only be a few cents a year to the largest taxpayers. The state of Washington should have been broad’ enough, like other states “and nations have done, to develop its for the people by state-owned and operated utilities, instead of letting each port work out its own problems separately with the resources of only one city and county to draw upon. Desplte the fact that, until the Port projects are completed and in full operation, the people of King county are paying a temporary small annual tax, the direct and indirect benefits have already been 8o great that it would be cheap at many times the price. Food prices are lower today than they would-have been under con- ditions that existed before the public utilities were operated. At the same time producers, on whose prosperity so largely rests the entire business and commercial structure, are getting bet- ter prices and spending more money for the benefit of merchants. In addi- tion, Seattle’s port business has been doubled and nearly doubled again since the public port facilities attracted the world's commerce. This has brought prosperity to Seattle. It has poured millions upon millions of dollars into the pockets of Seattle’s business men, and some of it, of course, has percolat- ed down to the wage workers and salaried people, who share, even though in a small way, in the prosperity of a great city. The restoring of the Seattle water- front to the people, who sold it te private interests years ago for a song, has put Seattle on the map as a world port. Tacoma in 1912 was passing her in total imports and exports. The great Pacific terminals of the Milwaukee railroad were placed at Tacoma, be- cause harbor land could be bought at a reasonable figure there, while the greedy plutocrats who controlled Seat- tle’s foreshore held out for prices that even a great continental railroad sys- tem could not stand. In connection with the harbor development by the people at Seattle, the government is opening Lakes Union and Washington, just back of Seattle, to ocean traffic by a ship canal. This is throwing vast tracts of harbor area, in fresh water, open for industries and wharves, and, with the port development by the Port Commission is breaking the old com- bine that stood at the gate of this great city, held up all new comers who want- ed space and made its unreasonable assessment on every ton that came in or went out. If the temporary port commission tax on the people of King county, need- ed till the projects are in full operation and their business fully developed, were many times what it is, it would be cheap indeed. CREAM THAT WILL WHIP Cream to whip well should contain at least 26 per cent of fat while the cream ordinarily sold is required by North Dakota law to contain 18 per cent fat. The cream should be cold, not over 40 degrees F, to whip well Adding a little sugar sometimes im- proves the whipping aualities of cream. The cream should be aged at least 24 hours betm pring ~Hx, Dept. N. RIS } | } }