Joint rail and water rates

All-water and combination water-and-rail rates applying through Hampton Roads to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston from various southern interior points are compared in the following table:

All-rail and rail-and-water rates on tobacco, leaf, in hogsheads, tierces, or cases, any quantity, or in bales, carloads, minimum weight 24,000 pounds.-Through Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va.

[In effect July 16, 1926. Rates are in cents per 100 pounds]

Rate to Jersey City, 59 cents, when in hogsheads or tierces, any quantity; in bales, carload minimum 24,000 pounds, rate is 611⁄2 cents per 100 pounds.

Applicable to New York only. Rato to Jersey City is 60 cents.

Above rates do not include marine insurance except in connection with the Catskill and N. Y. S. B. Co., Eastern Steamship Lines, Hartford & New York Transportation Co., and Hudson Navigation Co.

Tariff authority: Agent J. J. Cottrell, I. C. C. 618.

COMMERCE OF HAMPTON ROADS PORTS

As shown by the tables included in this chapter, the water-borne commerce of the Hampton Roads ports averaged 22,486,638 short tons per annum over the 8-year period from 1917 to 1924, inclusive. Norfolk-Portsmouth's average annual commerce comprised 77 per cent of the total, the balance having been handled through Newport News. Due to the enormous coal tonnage annually exported and shipped coastwise there is a decided lack of balance between inbound and outbound traffic. Receipts, foreign and domestic, amount to less than one-tenth of the water-borne commerce of these ports.

The following table summarizes the commerce of the ports for the period under review:

Summary of average annual commerce of Hampton Roads ports.-Period 1917 to 1924, inclusive

These ports handled an average of 17,319,147 tons annually, coastwise business ranking first with 9,289,310 tons or 53.6 per cent of the total. Foreign trade averaged 5,706,384 tons per annum or 32.9 per cent, internal receipts and shipments 1,875,175 tons or 10.9 per cent, and local traffic 448,278 tons or 2.6 per cent. The relative importance of the commodities handled at the ports is shown by the graph appearing on page 238.

Imports.-Imports through Norfolk and Portsmouth during the period covered by the tables ranged from 243,589 tons in 1921 to 526,366 tons in 1922 and averaged 403,244 tons yearly.

Among the commodities imported, nitrates ranked first with an annual average of 140,610 tons, or 34.2 per cent, and crude and fuel oil next with 102,164 tons, or 25.3 per cent. The balance consisted of miscellaneous commodities, the more important of which were manure salts, sylvanite, miscellaneous ores, and kainite. Other commodities imported in quantity were gypsum, pyrites, muriate of potash, and pulp wood. Imports of nitrates, which amounted to over 360,000 tons in 1917, increased slightly in 1918, but declined to 81,893 tons in 1924. Crude and fuel oil, which rank second in the annual averages, increased in volume from 10,000 tons in 1917 to 339,000 tons in 1922. This commodity now ranks as the chief article in the import trade.

Exports.-Exports amounted to 10,903,137 tons in 1917, the first year of the period, but decreased in volume through the following years to 1,118,258 tons in 1922. During 1923 and 1924, however, the export trade more than doubled, reaching 3,052,804 tons in 1924. Exports averaged 5,303,160 tons per annum for the period.

Coal exports averaged 4,832,439 tons annually, or 91.1 per cent of the total, and exports of tobacco averaged 55,693 tons per annum, or 1.05 per cent. Among the articles comprising the balance are Army and Navy stores, wheat flour, lumber, cotton, and grain, none of which exceeded 1 per cent of the total. Exports of commodities other than coal averaged 470,721 tons per year, or about 70.000 tons in excess of the average yearly imports.

Coastwise receipts.-In 1917 the coastwise receipts at Norfolk and Portsmouth amounted to 7,381,755 short tons, dropping off to 562,543 tons in 1921. A gradual increase has taken place since that time, however, and in 1924 receipts reached 1,050,799 tons. The average during the 8-year period was 1,827,964 tons. Petroleum and products was the chief commodity, averaging 421,261 tons, or 23.1 per cent of the total. Iron and steel manufactures ranked second, with a total of 97,358 tons, or 5.3 per cent of the total. Miscellaneous commodities comprised the bulk of the inbound business, principal among which were canned goods and groceries, dry goods, fertilizer materials, phosphate rock, boots and shoes, and machinery.

Coastwise shipments.—As in the foreign trade, shipments greatly exceeded receipts. From a total of 5,232,967 tons in 1917, the business of the ports has shown an increase to 10,127,985 tons in 1922, reducing to 8,592,933 tons in 1924. The average for the 8-year period was 7,461,346 tons. Coal again was the principal article, shipments averaging 6,054,890 tons per annum, or 81.1 per cent of the total. Lumber, logs, and forest products were next in importance with a

total of 243,498 tons, or 3.2 per cent. The commodities comprising the balance were fruits and vegetables, cotton and manufactures, petroleum products, tobacco, and miscellaneous. Coal shipments in the coastwise trade rose from 289,710 tons in 1917 to 9,736,299 in 1922, but fell off to 8,177,020 in 1924. Cotton and cotton manufactures ranked second in coastwise shipments in 1924, with a total of 191,455 tons. Chief among the other commodities were lumber, with a total

AVERAGE ANNUAL COMMERCE AT NORFOLK AND PORTSMOUTH, VA.

of 32,460 tons; fruits and vegetables, 30,899 tons; tobacco, 24,837 tons; and nuts, 23,834 tons.

Internal.-During the period 1917-1924, Norfolk-Portsmouth's internal business amounted to 10.9 per cent of their commerce. Internal receipts consisted chiefly of petroleum products, logs, piling, and ties, sand, gravel and stone, lumber and building materials. About 40 per cent of the business was in miscellaneous unclassified commodities, fertilizers, fish and oysters, and fruits and vegetables. Internal shipments averaging 804,948 tons were chiefly lumber, coal, fertilizers, fruits and vegetables, and petroleum products. Miscel

laneous commodities comprised the balance, the more important among which were logs, piling, ties, and dry goods.

Local traffic. The local traffic of these ports averaged 448,278 tons per annum, or 2.6 per cent of the total commerce. The appended tables cover only a period of six years from 1919 to 1924, inclusive. Prior to 1919 local traffic statistics were combined with those for the internal trade. The principal commodities transported locally during the above period were petroleum and products, coal, general merchandise, fertilizers, and oyster shell.

Newport News

The average annual commerce of Newport News for the period 1917 to 1924, inclusive, was 5,167,491 tons. The foreign trade was the most important with 3,031,861 tons, or 58.6 per cent of the total, while coastwise domestic traffic was second with an average of 2,035,508 tons, or 39.4 per cent. Local traffic averaged 81,736 tons per annum, or 1.6 per cent, and internal commerce 18,386 tons, or 0.4 per cent. The graph appearing on page 240 shows the relative importance of the principal commodities handled at this port.

Imports.-Imports fluctuated within wide limits from 1917 to 1922, inclusive, ranging from a minimum of 5,250 tons in 1918 to 39,041 tons in 1920, the high total for that period. In 1923, when asphalt was first brought in, and pulp wood and ore imports more than doubled in quantity, the import trade increased to 109,588 tons. A further increase of about 50 per cent occurred in 1924, due to the greater trade in pulp wood, asphalt, and manganese ore.

During the 8-year period, pulp wood and wood pulp ranked first among the commodities imported, with an average of 26,340 tons per annum, or 53 per cent of the total. Asphalt, with an average of 5,614 tons, or 11.3 per cent, ranked second; earthenware with an average of 3,780 tons, or 7.6 per cent, and manganese ore with 3,360 tons, or 6.7 per cent, were third and fourth, respectively. Iron ore averaged 3,279 tons, or 6.5 per cent. The balance of 7,318 tons, or 14.9 per cent, was composed chiefly of fertilizer materials, miscellaneous ores, fuller's earth, and tobacco.

Exports.-The export trade of this port has undergone a steady decline in volume since 1917 when overseas shipments amounted to a total of 5,727,981 tons. During 1924, 1,355,928 tons were exported, a loss in yearly volume of over four million tons in eight years. The loss is due mainly to the falling off in coal exports and the practical cessation of grain shipments. Over the 8-year period, exports averaged 2,982,170 tons per annum.

Coal, the chief article of export, alone averaged 2,652,784 tons per annum, or 88.9 per cent of the exports. Grain exports, with an