TERRITORY TRIBUTARY

In the interval since the publication of the original report on Seattle in 1921, significant changes have taken place with regard to the character and volume of the port's foreign water-borne commerce. During the calendar year 1921 the port's import trade approximated 200,000 cargo tons composed principally of coal, coke, raw silk, and manufactures of paper and jute. At that time the Orient, Pacific Canada, and Australia supplied in excess of 90 percent of all imports, and contributions from the United Kingdom and countries in the Havre-Hamburg range amounted to about 4 percent. Traffic from the countries on the east coast of South America was virtually nonexistent.

In contrast, during the calendar year 1936 Seattle's imports had increased about 50 percent to 311,000 cargo tons. Tonnage from the Orient and Pacific Canada approximated that formerly shipped by these two areas and Australia combined, cargo from the latter having fallen off to 400 tons, but because of the increase of total imports the proportionate share of these three areas had decreased to 60 percent. The bulk of the import tonnage increase during 1936 originated in countries on the east coast of South America, which supplied over 75,000 tons, or 24 percent, and in trade areas in the United Kingdom and Havre-Hamburg ranges, cargo from which amounted to 9 percent of the total.

Coal and coke imports had declined almost 50 percent due largely to increased local production, and imports of paper and manufactures were about on a par with those of 1921. The inbound movement of raw silk, a cargo which pays lucrative steamship rates because of its high value, had dwindled to about 15 percent of its 1921 volume, while imports of jute and manufactures had decreased to about onethird of their former tonnage.

The usual rail back-haul territory from North Atlantic ports is east of a line drawn from Toledo through Pittsburgh to the south. Central Freight Association territory may be reached economically by water through combination rates over Gulf intercoastal carriers and the Mississippi River barge lines. Salmon is consigned to points in the Chicago areas and the Twin Cities over this route. There is comparatively little traffic to Texas and the Southwest. Competitive rail rates on salmon in carloads permit a wide distribution to transcontinental points and as far south as Meridian, Miss.

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It has been estimated that the territory from which Seattle derives most of its tonnage consists roughly of the States of Washington, Idaho, Western Montana, and Alaska. However, the port also carries on a thriving traffic in transcontinental cargoes entering into the trans-Pacific trades. Imports of such products as chinaware, porcelain, toys, bamboo, baskets, bulbs, vegetable oils, hemp, silk, hides, jute, burlap, spices, and oil cake generally arrive at Seattle consigned to overland common points. At the port the shipments are consolidated by forwarders and rebilled to points as remote as eastern trunkline territory. The territory into which this traffic enters consists in the main of an area west of a line drawn from Toledo, south through Cincinnati to Birmingham and thence southwest to New Orleans.

Exports consisting largely of automobiles, airplanes, machinery, beverages, electric and radio manufactures, tin cans, and wire rope move by rail from eastern and midwestern areas to Seattle for transshipment to the Orient. This traffic is drawn from the territory west of the Buffalo-Pittsburgh line, continued south to Charleston, W. Va., thence south to the Georgia-North Carolina line and westward to include Missouri and Kansas, sweeping upward through Colorado and Utah to the west coast between Portland and Seattle. About twothirds of the volume of this movement originates in the territory west of Chicago.

Most of the raw silk imported into the United States is consigned to manufacturing centers along the eastern seaboard. In 1921 considerable quantities of this commodity moved through Seattle, and Vancouver, British Columbia, but the largest part now travels to Atlantic coast ports by direct liner service through the Panama Canal.

The decline in imports of jute and manufactures may, in large measure, be attributed to the fact that the major share of wheat, particularly that portion destined to the Orient, was formerly shipped in bags manufactured from this fiber. Today, in addition to a sharp decline in grain exports, construction of water-side elevators has resulted in increased shipments of grain in bulk and a corresponding decrease in the use of bagging.

Exports from Seattle during the calendar year 1921 amounted to 566,000 cargo tons, of which approximately 80 percent was destined to trade areas in the Far East. In 1936 the port's exports had decreased to 299,000 tons and Far East areas' imports had fallen off to slightly less than 50 percent of that amount.

Outward traffic during the former year was comprised chiefly of logs, lumber, wheat, wheat flour, iron and steel manufactures, and raw cotton which, combined, amounted to 458,967 tons and accounted for more than 80 percent of the total.

Logs and lumber remained the leading export commodity in 1936 but wheat and wheat flour were replaced by such products as fruits

and nuts, animal, fish, and dairy products, paper stock and manufactures, and petroleum products. In 1921, wheat and wheat flour accounted for 142,000 tons but in 1936 for only 19,300 tons, a decrease of more than 85 percent. Coupled with this, exports of raw cotton. have virtually disappeared. In 1921 more than 31,000 tons of this commodity from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana moved through the port billed for the Orient. In 1936 this movement had dwindled to less than 100 tons.

Seattle is offered keen competition for transcontinental traffic by Pacific Canadian ports, principal among which is Vancouver, British Columbia, the transfer point for a combined Canadian rail and trans-Pacific water transportation system. Although Canadian and United States rates to competitive transcontinental points are on a parity regardless of route from Seattle or British Columbia ports, there is a considerable movement of import freight arriving at Vancouver which is transported over Canadian railways to nearest points of interchange with American lines in the Middle West and eastern trunkline territory, to which much of this cargo is consigned. Agricultural products such as oranges and lily bulbs, quantities of which are discharged at Vancouver, are transported by rail to Sumas, Wash., where they are inspected by the United States Plant Inspection Service, corded and sealed by American customs officials and returned to Canadian lines for transcontinental haul, to reenter this country for consumption in the Middle West and East. Present production in the Northwest's basic industries such as forestry, agriculture, fisheries, and manufacturing is greatly in excess of local needs and almost every industry produces large marketable surpluses which must seek extra-local markets. Potential waterpower resources in the Northwest, development of which is progressing at a rapid pace, are becoming increasingly important to the economy of this area. Two large projects, the Bonneville Dam and the Grand Coulee, are presently under construction, the former being in partial operation and nearing completion. These projects will substantially increase the kilowatt output of Washington and should result not only in the expansion of existing industries and in the development of new enterprises, but through increased irrigation should also add to the agricultural production of the region.

The lumber industry in this area provides a more extensive tonnage for rail and water carriers than any other. Data compiled by the West Coast Lumbermen's Association show the lumber production of the Puget Sound area for 1937 to be 2,028 million board feet valued at approximately $42,500,000. Employment during that year averaged about 25,000 people, and wages disbursed amounted to $19,600,000, while capital invested in standing timber, logging operations, and lumber manufacture totaled approximately $224,000,000. In all

of its branches this industry employs 51 percent of the industrial wage earners and accounts for 52 percent of industrial pay rolls in the Northwest.

Distribution of Northwest lumber is Nation-wide, the largest volume moving by water being destined to points in southern California. Large amounts are also carried in the intercoastal trade, especially to North Atlantic ports. It is estimated that about 90 percent of this latter movement is consumed within an area not more than 50 miles from ports of discharge from which most of it is carried by truck. Back haul territory served by rail through North Atlantic ports includes all of New England, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia, all of Virginia, except the extreme southern area bordering on North Carolina, and New York and Pennsylvania west to within approximately 50 miles of the Buffalo-Pittsburgh line. From South Atlantic and Gulf ports lumber also moves inland only short distances because of competition from southern producing areas.

Manufactures of pulp and paper which are closely allied with the lumber industry also have increased greatly in recent years. These commodities combined rank second in the volume of the port's export trade. In 1936 according to the United States Pulp Producers Association, pulpwood production in the State of Washington amounted to 860,000 tons, an increase of more than 400 percent in 10 years. Exports of sulphite pulp are rapidly increasing, large movements of bleached sulphite being shipped annually to Japan for use in the production of rayon. Northwest pulp competes with Canadian and Scandinavian producers in the markets of the United Kingdom and Europe and in South America and the Orient. Scandinavian pulp production is now limited to an amount which will protect wood resources from depletion and which will place the industry on a sustained-yield basis. This policy is one of the principal factors in the rise of American pulp comsumption abroad.

In addition to lumber, pulp, and paper mills, other industries throughout the State, especially the manufacturing of doors, plywood, furniture, and sundry articles such as cigar boxes, baskets, rattan, and willowware, are responsible for large payrolls and their contribution to the flow of commerce is increasing steadily. According to statistics compiled by the Pacific Forest Industries the annual value of such manufactures in Washington approximates $70,000,000.

Washington annually produces approximately one-third of the apple and pear crops of the United States. The importance of these fruits to Seattle's water-borne trade is indicated by the following statistics. According to the Port of Seattle Commission, apple exports for 1936 totaled 1,811,214 boxes. The Netherlands with 425,200 boxes, France with 385,550 boxes and the United Kingdom with 352,150 boxes were the largest importers, accounting for approximately 65 percent of the

total, with Sweden, Belgium, Central European countries, Brazil and Argentine also participating. Exports of pears totaled 285,000 boxes of which about 80 percent went to the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, and France. Apples and other fresh fruit from the Northwest are also routed overland to New York, and transshipped to Europe and the east coast of South America.

Apples and pears shipped by rail amounted to 16,087 and 1,737 carloads respectively. New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Detroit were the largest domestic markets for apples, while New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Minneapolis were the chief receivers of pears.

Water-borne exports of fresh fruits other than apples and pears amounted to about 96,000 tons of which more than 89,000 tons were shipped to the United Kingdom. Foreign and domestic movements by rail totaled 625 carloads, of which 101 carloads were billed foreign to Winnipeg, Canada, and 58 to Vancouver, British Columbia, while Chicago, Sioux City, New York, St. Paul, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh afforded the principal domestic markets.

Rail shipments of fresh vegetables in 1936 totaled approximately 4,000 carloads consisting chiefly of potatoes, peas, lettuce, onions, tomatoes and cauliflower. Principal markets were Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Paul, St. Louis, New York, Cleveland, Kansas City, Houston, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Boston. Shipments of vegetables by water via the Panama Canal are very small in volume due in large part to lack of refrigerated space on vessels engaged in this trade.

Although the movement of grain through the port during the past few years has undergone a serious decline, the water-borne traffic in flour and other mill products has continued to constitute an important part of Seattle's commerce. Virtually all of these products, are derived from grain originating in Washington, Montana, and Idaho, transported to tidewater flour mills on Puget Sound, whence the finished product is loaded direct to water carriers.

Despite the fact that during recent years there has been a diversion of a considerable amount of the annual Alaskan salmon pack to other Puget Sound ports, Seattle still maintains its position as the principal entrepôt and distribution center for this product. This is due largely to the fact that Seattle for many years has served as an embarkation port for Alaskan supplies and equipment necessitating frequent direct sailings to and from that territory.

The Alaskan salmon pack is marketed principally through brokers having headquarters at Seattle who handle all details connected with repacking, labeling, storage, sales, and distribution of the commodity, the purchaser usually specifying the method of transportation and routing. Salmon moving intercoastal is destined principally to New