The Seattle Star Newspaper, June 21, 1920, Page 7

a BY T. S. LIPPY President Port of Seattle Commission Much has been said and written during the past four years to show the important part which the Port of Seattle occupies in G the business and industrial life of this city. Few of our citizens fully realize how directly the problem of port development and port efficiency affect the daily lives of every citizen. There are many causes for the high cost of living which has pressed down on every house- hold. One of the leading causes of the high cost of living has been the enormous waste in the transportation, distribution and handling of the basic commodities’ of life. The Port Terriinal problem is one of the factors in the transportation and handling of such commodities. Let us inquire how inadequate ocean terminals-—inef- ficient methods of handling the necessities of life on these terminals—affect the things we eat, the clothes we wear, and the houses we live in. When you sit down to your breakfast or your dinner the things on your table have come from every part of the world. Your sugar has come, perhaps, from Cuba or the Hawaiian Islands; your coffee from Brazil or from Java, an island situated in the south of the Pacifi: ocean; your pepper from the Straits Settlements, also far to the south in the Pacific. If you happened to have tea instead of coffee, that has come to you from somewhere in the interior of China. The linen on your table is made from flax grown in the interior of Russia. So the illustrations might be multiplied indefinitely. If you consider the clothes you wear, the silk in your wife’s dress or in your own tie, the linen > in your collar, the coloring in your suit or wife's dress, the leather in your shoes—the majority of these have » come from some far-off foreign land. We go to our stores and buy every conceivable neces- sity, and there is hardly one which has not required in its manufacture some element to be imported from a distant part of the world. We do not inquire how these materials get to us—seldom do we consider whether the method of transportation and distribution was wasteful or inefficient. Millions and millions of tons of raw ma- terials and manufactures pour into our country year after year, but who has stopped to think that the United States, with its five thousand miles of sea- ; coast, has only about fifteen natural harbors? These natural harbors are the only doorways of entry and exit of the great household we call America. Of these fifteen natural doorways only about eight, be- cause of their size and capacity, are used for the entry and exit of the millions of tons of commodities coming to us from every section of the earth. Are these doorways, through which the necessities of life must reach us, properly equipped with ocean Terminals, and is this mass of foodstuffs, raw materials and supplies handled cheaply and efficiently? When one asks this question he begins to realize the importance of Seattle’s wonderful harbor, not only : to this city but as a great national asset. . é During the war William McAdoo, who was then 5 ¥ Director General of the Railroads, came to Seattle. The Port Commissioners took Mr. McAdoo up on the roof of the Bell Street Terminal. It was one of those clear, perfect days which make Puget Sound the greatest summer abiding-place in the world. Mr. PORT OF SEATTLE WORLD’S GREATEST HARBOR McAdoo looked out over Elliott Bay and the waters of Puget Sound beyond. Then, with the utmost enthus- iasm, he exclaimed: “I have traveled in every coun- try in the world; I have seen all the great natural harbors of the world. I have never seen one which excelled Seattle’s harbor—I do not believe I have seen its equal.” This statement of Mr. McAdoo’s brings to mind a famous quotation, “A prophet is not without honor save in his own country.” The citizens of Seattle, who see every day with their own eyes this magnifi- cent harbor of the United States, fail to realize it is one of America's greatest national assets and in fact is an asset of the whole country. Situated on the largest land-locked body of water in the United States—Puget Sound—the harbor of Seattle could ask for little which Nature has not confer- red. A glance at the map shows the marvelous inter- relation between the main harbor, Elliott Bay and two great fresh water lakes (Lakes Union and Washington) connected with Elliott Bay by the largest ship canal in the United States. This, with an artificial waterway, the Duwamish, extending through the industrial heart of the city at the south, makes Seattle practically an finger of destiny points to Seattle as the city that will render not only to this country, but to the Orient, conspicuous service, An astounding growth of commerce through this gateway is the increase of nearly 1,000 per cent in ten years—an increase which brought the Washington customs district, of which Seattle is the chief port, from twenty-second place in 1910 to second place in 1918, amongst United States ports of entry. This, when we are just entering the doorway opening to the vast future development of the Orient, which is even now furnishing 75 per cent of the raw material imported for use by American industry. It was this situation that led four great trans- continental railways to make Seattle their terminus, and it was this, again, that led Japan to make Seattle the main terminus of its great fleet of merchant ves- sels plying on the Pacific. For Japan has been quick to realize the vast possibilities of the Pacific ocean as the coming arena of world trade. And it was this fact again which in 1911 led the people of Seattle and King county to organize a spe- cialized municipal corporation with trcad and com- The Port of Seattle under the direct supervision of an Elective Board of Port Commis- sioners, directly responsible to the Whole People of Seattle and King County, has made several outstanding contributions to Port development: 1 It has proven that public ownership and * operation by the people, as a, co-operative enterprise, can be made as great a success, if not greater, than PRIVATE OWNERSHIP and operation. 2 It has constructed the largest and most ef- * ficient terminals of the pier type to be found anywhere in the world. 3 It has taken the lead in giving quick dis- e patch to steamships by furnishing large island similar to Manhattan Island. So here, as in New York, every side of the city fronts upon navi- gable water—a harbor with a total frontage, capable of development, two hundred miles in extent. The fact that Seattle is the only major port in the United States in which no dredging has to be done for ship channels, is an asset of prime importance. Outside of Seattle, the principal ports—San Francisco, New York, New Orleans, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston—have required in the past, and will require in the future, the expenditure of millions of dollars to provide ship channels, The ample depth of water in Puget Sound, the minimum being 156 feet, will make it possible for ships, no matter how large, to come to this port and find a berthage without even the aid of a pilot or a tow. When one grasps the fact that this most magnifi- cent of harbors in the United States is nearer to the vast storehouse of wealth and potential consuming power of two-thirds of the earth's inhabitants than any other port in the United States, then the signifi- cance of Seattle as a great national asset is revealed. New York, with its wonderful harbor, was one of the chief assets to the whole American nation and to Europe as well when the theatre of the world’s com- merce was on the Atlantic. Now that the Pacific looms large as the theatre of vast world trade, the piers equipped with the most modern mechanical handling devices. By placing on its large terminals several e miles of railroad tracks, it has enabled freight to be handled directly from car to ship without congestion or delay, and saving both time, labor and expense. 5 It has taken a lead in the development of 2 warehouses, cold storage plants and ele- vators situated directly on tidewater as adjuncts to the ocean piers. prehensive powers, dealing with harbor development. This public corporation is known as “The Port of Seat- tle’—the subject of this article. To take advantage of our wonderful natural harbor, and to make of it a world-wide asset, it was necessary to equip that natural harbor with ocean terminal facil- ities—piers, terminal warehouses, cold storage plants, grain elevators and other harbor equipment. This was done by the formation of a separate and distinct mu- nicipal corporation known as “The Port of Seattle.” This municipal, or public, corporation was created by the citizens of Seattle and King County just as its sister municipal corporation, the City of Seattle, was created. The difference between the City of Seattle, a municipal corporation, and “The Port of Seattle,” a municipal corporation, lies in this: The City of Seattle is organized for general governmental functions; it is in essence a great community co-operative enterprise to furnish community streets, community light, com- munity water, police and fire protection for commun- ities, and a thousand and one other community needs. “The Port of Seattle,” on the other hand, is a mu- nicipal corporation which might be termed a special- ist. This municipal corporation occupies the same position to the City of Seattle that a specialist on the eye or ear occupies in relation to the general prac- titioner of medicine. NORTHWEST INDUSTRIAL EDUCATIONAL We live in a day of specialists—and one of the m unique and interesting departures ever made in mi ipal governments anywhere in the world, was the ere ation in Seattle of a municipal corporation which wal a specialist. This corporation specializes entirely ag | great community co-operative enterprise in the own er ship and operation of a comprehensive system r ocean terminals and harbor facilities. When this spe cialized form of corporation was organized, in 1911, i was the first of its kind in the United States. marvelous success of “The Port of Seattle” has t the eyes of the shipping and transportation world @ what Seattle has done as a model for other great n ural ports to follow. The marvelous results to Seattle of the splendi system of ocean terminals owned and operated by # public corporation have been frequently stated. Sume marized, they are as follows: Since 1911, when th Port of Seattle was created, the Washington Customé District, of which Seattle is the principal port, from twenty-first place to second place among of entry of the United States in 1918. Durin; past five years the total value of export and trade in the United States increased 243 per cent; the Pacific Coast ports that increase was 400 per cent on Puget Sound, where Seattle is the leading port, increase in five years was 536 per cent. Probal never in the history of the world’s commerce has 8 an astounding increase taken place in such a sh period of time. Without the magnificent system of publicly owned and operated ocean terminals, thal great flow of commerce which came across the Paci to Puget Sound could not have been handled; but that system of publicly owned and operated termin 65 per cent of the foreign commerce coming fi évery part of the world was handled by this pub institution. It was handled practically without co gestion, and more efficiently, more cheaply, and less loss of time than ocean freight was handled any port in the country. What this means, not o to Seattle but to the nation at large, may be gathe from the following statement recently made by one the leading experts on harbor operation and ‘ ment. This expert recently stated in a public dress as follows: “It costs as much to deliver a shipment from freight terminal in New York to the hold of a ship ag it does to transport it by rail from Chicago to the N York terminal. The 1,300-mile marine haul from Has vana to Boston is cheaper than the transfer from 6 pier in Boston Harbor to another. It costs more load a box of canned goods on a car in Chicago th it does to carry it by rail from Chicago to New Yor It costs more to transfer a barrel of flour over thi wharf and to the hold of a ship in New York than té carry it by that ship from New York to Liverpool. is said that the waste caused by idleness of mo trucks at terminal points due to inefficient loading: methods and congestion is over $250,000,000 a year, © “New York, where half the nation’s imports and ports are handled, is planning to build a terminal prac | tically devoid of modern materials—handling boi ances. New York plans to spend many millions of dob lars on docks of exactly the size and type built in"the days of the ‘clipper ship,’ with no regard to a po sible decrease in handling costs to America’s mant- 9 facturers and distributors. * “But we are all paying our tax for New York’s inefs” ficiency in the price of every pound of sugar we eat, every cigar we smoke, every cup of coffee we drink; § we are paying for it daily in every dollar we spend. — It cannot be said that the terminal problem is a loeal | one that affects New York, Seattle or New Orleans only. It is a national problem that affects every on of us.” This charge of waste and inefficiency cannot be laid to the door of the Port of Seattle. Other ports, b : lack of efficient ocean terminals, lack of proper” mechanical equipment and wasteful methods of han- * dling cargoes, are undoubtedly one of the large con- tributing factors to the high cost of living. This inef- ficiency, loss of time, and waste at the principal ports of the United States is reflected in the prices paid b; people wherever they may live in the United States. Here lies the value to Seattle in having a wonder ful harbor, properly equipped with ocean terminals and such terminals properly operated and managed, By so doing we eliminate the high cost of transporta= tion and distribution in one of the leading ports of ~ the United States. By so doing we perform a national — service. What is true of individuals is also true of cities. ‘Their greatness depends upon the greatness of the service they render. BUREAU