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20 DEVOTED TO EVERYTHING AND EVERY INTEREST CONNECTED OR _ ASSO- CIATED WITH MARINE MATTERS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. Published every Thursday by The Penton Publishing Co. CLEVELAND. BWHDAWON seas seeeoeeciee e932) Ellicott, sq. CHICAGO ........-;-+-.-1362 Monadnock Blk. CINCINNATI .......First National Bank Bldg. NEW YORK .......-.-1005 West Street Bldg. PLMESBURG ea eek seo cl hark Bide. DUI WME ee ee aces le bcovidence: Bldg: Correspondence on Marine Engineering, Ship Building and Shipping Subjects Solicited. Subscription, U. S. and Mexico, $3.00 per annum. Canada, $4.00. Foreign, $4.50. Subscribers can have addresses changed at will. Change of advertising copy must reach this office on Thursday preceding date o publication. The Cleveland News Co. will supply the trade with the MArInz ReEviEW through the regular channels of the American ~ ews Co. European Agents, The International News Company, Breams Building, Chancery Lane, London, E. C., England. Entered at the Post Office at Cleveland, Ohio, as Second Class Matter. January 9, 1908. The index for the Marine Review for 1907 is now ready for distribution and will be sent to any subscriber who has need of it. CHICAGO LAKE FRONT. During the past few days Miayor Busse of Chicago has taken a de- cided interest in the commercial de- velopment of Chicago harbor. To un- derstand 'the situation it will be necessary to relate a little local his- tory. There has been for some time past a movement on foot in Chicago to convert the lake front into a park. This movement is vigorously furthered by the park commissioners and is en- dorsed by the Commercial Club of Chicago. In addition the park com- "TAE Marine REVIEW missioners are well entrenched as the state legislature has given them prac- tical possession of 'the entire lake front including ithe strip from Twelfth to Fifty-sixth streets which Mayor Busse now desires. reserved for com- mercial purposes. For some time past Mr. Burnham, the celebrated archi- tect, las shad a small force of de= signers at work upon plans for im- proving this strip with playgrounds, lagoons and recreation places. Before the actual work of filling in, how- ever, can be undertaken, it will be necessary to secure 'the consent of the secretary of. war. It is the granting of ithis: consent that Mayor Busse is now endeavoring to prevent and he has asked for a hearing before action is taken by the secretary. This moyement on the part of the mayor has upset the Commercial Club and the park commissioners, but it has the endorsement of the government en- gineers, lake shipping interests and in part the railways. The mayor insists that neither the Chicago nor Calumet rivers will ever be able 'to care for Chicago's commerce adequately where- as the Commercial Club insists thiat the Chicago river will always be the main artery fon much of Chicago's commerce, particularly as the city's warehouses are all located on it. The mayor points to the fact that Chicago's harbor prestige has been steadily declining and that instead of being first as it once was it is now the fourth on tthe lakes, even Duluth, with its ore tonnage subtracted, exceeding it. The mayor in his letter to Secre- tary Taft Says in part: I desire particularly to call your attention to one portion of this plan which I do not ap- prove. That is the filling in of the lake on the lake front from Twelfth street to Jackson Park. a distance of five and one-half miles in length, for some little distance from the shore line, for park purposes, then lagoons, and be- yond more park land, out of navigable water. This would forever prevent the city, should it wish to do so, from using this portion of its lake front for docks and wharves for com- mercial purposes. Our state legislature has given to the park commissioners practically possession of the en- tire lake front from near the north limit of the city southward to the south end of what is now known as Grant Park. They have also secured practical control of the lake front from Jackson Park down to the Indiana state line. and thev have during the last year stic- ceeded in getting a bill throueh the state lecis- lature by which they are given power to take possession of the remaining five and one-half miles between Grant Park and Tackson Park in such way as to occupy it with a narrow strip of park, lagoons, etc., as above described, and to have power to prevent any roadway un- der, through or above this park from the city proper to the lake in its front, in such way as forever to prevent the economical use of any of this lake front for piers and docks. I understand that permission from you to fill in the land mentioned, to wit: from Twelfth street to Jackson Park, must be given before such work can be done legally, and Ty would therefore appreciate it if you would give me a hearing before granting such permission. Mayor Busse also sent a special let- ter to the council, the result of which was that the aldermen appointed a commission of five to investigate the mayor's plan of converting the lake front from Twelfth street to Jackson Park into a harbor withalong series of docks protected by a government breakwater. The commission will be appointed by the mayor and $5,000 was appropriated to defray its expenses. In his message to 'the council the mayor elaborates his argument and his conclusions are as: follows: I desire to call your attention to the pressing need of giving careful and comprehensive con- sideration at the earliest possible date to the question of 'Chicago's harbor facilities. It is a notorious fact that the lake commerce of . Chicago, once the pride and boast of this city, 'has been steadily decreasing for a number of years. This city now, I believe, ranks fourth in lake commerce, where once it stood first and far ahead of its nearest. competitor. Without counting the ore shipments from the iron beds of the northwest, the city of Duluth, which is but a pigmy compared with Chicago, and which serves as a distributing center for a much smaller territory, ranks about even with this city in general lake commerce. The one and only reason for Chicago's de- cline in this respect is the inconvenience and inadequacy of its harbor facilities. We have been inclined to rest easy in the belief that the tunnels formed practically the only ob- struction to commerce in the Chicago river and that the lowering of the tunnels will end all of our difficulties in this respect. I agree with many who have studied this question, that the tunnels constitute only a small part of the con- ditions which hamper shipping in the Chicago river. Even with the tunnels lowered to any depth, the largest boats in use on the great lakes would still find it difficult to make free use of the Chicago river on account of its nar- rowness and crookedness. Many millions of dollars could be spent in straightening and widening this river without making it in any degree adequate for the demands of lake com- merce that ought to come to Chicago, for so long as we have bridges across the river-- and we cannot do. without the bridges--boats will 'be delayed in coming in and going out, and every such delay means a hampering of commerce in the matter of time and also the high towing charges, which are a burden upon the freight carriers. The time has come when Chicago must de- cide whether it will depend for the future entirely upon the harborage afforded by the 'Chicago river and the Calumet river, or wheth- er it should not take steps to utilize at least some portion of its lake front for shipping purposes. Legislation was enacted at the last session of the general assembly, which contem- plates turning over to the various park boards, practically all of our lake front for develop- ment and beautification as adjuncts to our park systems. We are all proud of our splendid systems of parks and boulevards. We all want to see them grow, but no city, and particularly no strictly industrial and commercial city such as Chicago is, can thrive on beautification alone. Lake commerce played a large part in making (Chicago what it is. I do not believe it wise to ignore entirely that advantage which Chicago has by reason of its location, and it is only a question of time when that advantage will be lost, unless we secure other harborage fa- cilities than those afforded by the Chicago and Calumet rivers. If lake commerce cannot find convenient accommodation at Chicago, it will go to the harbors being developed just over the state line in Indiana, just as cer- tainly as water runs down hill. Practically all of our lake front that has not