SABINE PASS, TEX.

COMMITTEE ON RIVERS AND HARBORS,

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D. C., December 17, 1913.

The committee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m., pursuant to adjournment, the Hon. Stephen M. Sparkman in the chair.

The CHAIRMAN. You may proceed, Mr. Dies.

STATEMENT OF HON. MARTIN DIES, OF TEXAS.

Mr. DIES. Gentlemen, I do not want to take up too much of your time, and when you think I have done so I hope you will indicate it in some way, so that I can desist.

This project was adopted, I believe, in 1912 upon a report made in

1909.

The thing that really most concerns us is the completion of a project outlined by the Government in 1882, upon which a good deal of desultory work has been done from time to time, but which has never, in fact, been completed, and which is to secure 25 feet of water over Sabine Bar on the completion of the jetty work there.

Let me take, first, one minute for explanation, because I see before me a number of gentlemen who were not members of the committee when this project was presented.

I want to say to you, gentlemen, that this port in which we are interested furnishes probably the one example in the United States of ports that are practically self-made.

This project amounted to practically nothing until private capital built the Port Arthur Canal and later donated it as a gift to the Government of the United States.

In this report, by the local engineer, it is said that since 1900 the Government has done practically nothing for the port. Yet it grew as no other port in the country has grown; and I want to illustrate its remarkable growth by reading an extract from this report, upon which the appropriation was made-under which this plan was adopted, rather.

I am reading now from the report upon which your committee was good enough to make its recommendation or adopt the plan proposed. Col. Knight says:

The commercial growth of this locality since the result of the jetty work made it possible for freighters of fair draft to enter the harbor has been very marked.

The CHAIRMAN. Perhaps you had better state first what you are coming to eventually-that is, what you are going to ask of the committee.

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Mr. DIES. I am going to ask the committee, in view of the tremendous growth and the tonnage passing over the Sabine Bar, to give us more speedy action for its completion than that contemplated in the report of the Engineers for this year.

Mr. EDWARDS. What do you call the Sabine Bar?

The CHAIRMAN. Perhaps we had better let Mr. Dies proceed.
Mr. EDWARDS. Very well.

Mr. DIES. I am now reading a very brief extract—it is not half an inch long-from Col. John G. D. Knight, in his report upon the project at Sabine Pass and Port Arthur, the identical project we are talking about now, and the identical report upon which this recommendation was made.

Mr. BURGESS. What is the date of the report?

Mr. DIES. October 4, 1909. I merely read for the purpose of showing the phenomenal and remarkable growth of the port, even since the date this recommendation was made. Col. Knight says:

The commercial growth of this locality since the result of the jetty work made it possible for freighters of fair draft to enter the harbor has been very marked. The commerce has increased from about $300,000 tons in 1899, valued at about $3,000,000, to about 1,800,000 tons in 1907, 1908, and 1909, valued at about $23,000,000.

Now, it was upon that statement that this plan was outlined. Yet, from 1,800,000 tons, we have for the last fiscal year increased to 3,100,375 tons, valued at fifty-six and a half millions.

The tonnage has almost doubled since this report was made, under the plan under which we are now operating.

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, this little port, in point of tonnage, carries 41.5 per cent of all the tonnage of all the ports of the State of Texas.

This gift to the Federal Government by private enterprise-and I will not say that you gentlemen and the Government have not been kind to us, because you have helped us wonderfully-but by this gift to the Government, this self-made port, over all its obstacles, has risen to do almost one-half of all the tonnage of all the ports of the great State of Texas; almost one-half-41.5 per cent.

You ask why more was given. Let me say this to you: The district engineer did recommend that this project of 25 feet be placed at 28 feet. That was his recommendation; at a cost of five and a half million dollars.

But, because the port of Neches felt that this port had grown so rapidly and had assumed an aspect of almost a mushroom growth, it was not safe at that time to enter upon a five and half million dollar project for a depth of 28 feet. So, they said, "We will give them 25 feet, and if the use of the facilities later demonstrates that that is not sufficient, then it will be time enough to give them 28 feet." Col. Beach said this with reference to it:

The repairs to the outer ends of the present jetties will require probably a year.

That was said, I believe, in the last part of 1909, or the 1st of January, 1910. It would require about a year; yet nearly four years have passed, and the work is far from completion.

This work should be undertaken and prosecuted as rapidly as possible. The canal and turning basin should unquestionably be enlarged sufficiently to accommodate the vessels using them. It is not improbable that after the