CHARLESTON HARBOR, S. C.

COMMITTEE ON RIVERS AND HARBORS,
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Washington, D. C., Friday, January 14, 1916. The committee met at 2.30 p. m., Hon. S. M. Sparkman presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order.

Mr. WHALEY. Mr. Chairman, I asked you to give me this hearing. Mr. Rhett, of Charleston, who is president of the chamber of commerce there and was eight years the mayor of the city, is thoroughly familiar with the whole situation, and I am going to ask you to hear him, and also Mr. Whitsitt and Mr. McLeod.

STATEMENT OF MR. R. G. RHETT.

Mr. RHETT. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, inasmuch as this is a commercial proposition and there has gone abroad an impression that the commercial business of Charleston is not a particularly properous one, I am going to ask you to give me five minutes for a commercial review in order that you may understand the conditions actually existing there.

The CHAIRMAN. To what proposition are you addressing yourself? Mr. RHETT. To the 30-foot project on the bar.

The CHAIRMAN. That is the old project?

Mr. RHETT. The project originally was for 28 feet. In 1911 it was recommended by the War Department that this be made 30 feet at a cost from that date of $261,616. Since that time $140,887 has been spent on it.

Mr. EDWARDS. Is that at low water?

Mr. RHETT. Yes: the rise of tide is 5.2 feet.

Mr. HULBERT. Is this bar in the channel that leads to the navy yard?

Mr. RHETT. No.

Mr. HULBERT. It is on the other side of the point?

Mr. RHETT. I would like to give you these maps [handing maps to members of the committee]. The city of Charleston is only 7 miles from the ocean, and the harbor lies between the mouth of the jetties and the city, and along the rivers on both sides of the city. The navy yard is located 6 miles above the city limits. I shall speak to you later on deepening the channel between the city limits and North Charleston, which is located just above the navy yard.

(At this point Mr. Rhett put a map on the wall to illustrate his remarks.)

This only shows the entrance to the harbor. Here is the city; the navy yard is above this. What I am speaking of now is the entrance into the harbor of Charleston.

The CHAIRMAN. All boats that go to the navy yard have to go into the harbor there?

Mr. RHETT. They all come in here and go up here [indicating]. Mr. BOOHER. How far is from that lower point there up to the city? Mr. RHETT. It is 3 miles from Fort Sumter to the city. It is 71 miles from the open ocean to the city. After you get into the jetties there is very deep water until you go up above the city toward the navy yard.

Mr. BоOHER. Where is the bar?

Mr. RHETT. Here are the two jetties that were built some years ago. The bar is out here [indicating]. The scour of the tide throws the mud out of that funnel. At first it accumulated, but after being dredged away the current has carried off what has been coming out normally in recent years. The estimate for the maintenance of the channel was $40,000 a year, but there has not been one dollar spent there since May, 1914.

I want to explain to you something about the business of the city of Charleston, because I know there is a great pressure for appropriations, and unless this work is shown to be important Congress should not be called upon to perform it. For a number of years both the population and business of the city came to a practical standstill for the following reasons: When the numerous short railroads in the South were first formed into systems the main offices of the Southern Railway was in Washington, the main office of the Plant system was in Savannah, as also was the main office of the Central Railway of Georgia. The main office of the Atlantic Coast Line was at Wilmington. The South Carolina & Georgia Railroad, a short line from Charleston to Augusta and Columbia, was bought in and operated independently for a few years, but after a brief period the Southern Railway found it was interfering with its north and south movements. In fact, all these railroad systemsthe Atlantic Coast Line, the Southern, and the Seaboard-have their main arteries running up and down the coast, which does not tend to build up any great seaport.

There was a period of rebates in the history of railroads, which I suppose you gentlemen will recall. Published rates were more often honored in the breach than in the observance. At that time you had only to go to the head office of a system and get whatever rate you could persuade them was necessary to do business, but you had to get at the head oflice. It was not one railroad, but all railroads were doing their business in that way, and the merchants of Charleston, not being in touch with the head office of any system, found their trade leaving them. Nor was that the worst of it. A terminal company was organized, which bought out a large portion of the water front and then failed. It was bought for the Atlantic Coast Line, which subsequently associated the Southern Railway in the ownership. Terminal rates were put in for the purpose of endeavoring to make the property pay. Railroads were using their terminals at other points to build up their business and were charging only nominal rates. As a result of the charges in Charleston the mer

chants moved away from the warehouses on the water front and established a draying system. The warehouses on the water front became empty and the wharves began to decay and collapse. It was only after a long fight that a change was secured. Investigation at Savannah and Norfolk revealed the fact that at similar warehouses free service was furnished wherever more than 5,000 pounds were loaded into a car. It was finally corrected, but it took a number of years to do this. We then had a fight for the establishment of a general freight office, at which rates could be gotten without long delays. Finally, this also was obtained, and the general freight agent of the Southern Railway, who was sent to Charleston, expressed himself amazed at the business which he found there. In fact, it was shown that Charleston furnished more business to the Southern road than any other point on the system. All this occurred prior to 1907. Since then things have been revolutionized. In fact, if anyone who has not been there since 1907 should go there now, he would be amazed. He would not recognize it as the same place.

Recently we have undertaken to build a new town above Charleston, which is on the point of a narrow peninsula, just like New York. Instead of taking freight down this peninsula and carrying it through the streets, we are building terminals above the navy yard for the handling of heavy material. This will make a great saving, as Charleston is the ninth most densely populated city in the United States of over 50,000 inhabitants.

Mr. EDWARDS. What is your population?

Mr. RHETT. About 59.000, according to the last census. Recently I was taking the president of the Seaboard Railroad through this town, and he expressed amazement at our preparations. The result was that they were building into the city of Charleston within less than six months. Twenty years ago you could not sleep out of the city limits of Charleston on account of malaria. Now we have no more healthier place in the United States than the navy yard of Charleston. Drainage has done all this. Twenty years ago we had no water supply; we had no sewerage system. The city was encumbered with an enormous debt, created largely for building railroads prior to the Civil War. In the last 15 years, however, we have been laying a splendid foundation. The harbor has been deepened 16 feet until now it is the deepest harbor south of Hatteras. An ample water supply has been obtained, a sewerage system has been put in, and all the back country has been thoroughly drained. In the last six years there has been spent on the water front over $4,000,000, of which two million and a half have been spent in terminals.

I just want to get this situation before you in order to relieve any impression which you may have had about the city of Charleston some years ago. To give you some idea of the increase in business, our exports from 1906 to 1914 were, in round numbers, as follows:

Mr. HUMPHREYS of Mississippi. Do you mean exports from the port of Charleston?