to safeguard the arrival and departure of the planes and at the same time in sufficient proximity to the present and proposed railroad systems, to facilitate easy land transport.

It is well sheltered from the elements and the addition of protecting arms of land for the hydroplane bay, will make it practically ideal for its purpose.

It is proposed to make this site from the soil dredged from the ship channel.

With the ever increasing efficiency of the aero, provisions for the quick disposal of freight, mail and passengers will have to be met, so in equipping the aerial station the following elements are considered:

1. Large plain for air machines with convenient landing and starting space.

2. Sheltered bay for hydroplanes with easy access to the outside. In connection with these, a number of land and water hangars with their particular dependencies, such as machine shops, instrument shops, and repair shops.

3. Quartermaster's department with storehouses to take care of raw materials, finished products, and outgoing provisions for the planes, in easy connection with railroad and starting grounds.

4. Sufficient number of sheds with yards for the quick disposal of incoming and outgoing freight. In connection with these a building for arranging and forwarding mail and parcel post.

5. A power plant with wireless station.

6. Administration building and custom house.

7. Grand terminal station with facilities for the care of arriving and departing passengers, in connection with the pier system and aerial station, and for the final disposal of mail and freight.

8. Any other units necessary to the efficiency of the station.

While primarily utilitarian, the foregoing elements of an air harbor can be arranged to form a monumental and beautiful mass both in plan and elevation. In this advantageous location it can be developed into a crowning feature of the greatest port in the world.

The initial investment required for carrying out the union project will be, it is estimated,

$6,500,000. The total outlay in the complete development of the first stage of the ship terminal will be some $15,000,000. This would include the purchase price of the land. Its capital value to the Government, or to such civic entrepreneurs as may undertake the development, will be based on similar estimates, from $35,000,000 to $40,000,000.

The work of the first six months including the building of the two slips and the laying of the fifteen miles of the junction railway, the acquisition of a plant for carrying out the remaining work, contingencies and administration would require approximately $3,000,000. The completion of the development would require an investment in the finishing of the south breakwater of 32,000 feet; an investment in the building of approximately 140,000 feet of docks; an investment in dredging and filling some 25 million cubic yards; and an investment in the terminal railway, including all its branches and spurs, stations, street improvements, warehouses and so forth.

They will be safe investments, safe intrinsically and safe potentially. The intrinsic safety lies in the ownership of the land, 4,000 acres fronting salt water, ready of access, within the metropolitan area of New York, and less than an hour's distance from the Battery. The purchase would be at reasonable and fair prices, not at inflated values which the utility has yet to live up to. It is land the value of which cannot decrease. It does not even depend on the future of the project, on the increase of shipping, or the coming industrial plants and residents. It is inherent in its own location and in its proximity to the business centre of New York.

Potentially, the safety of the investment lies in the income from the properties acquired, and the improvements made. This income would be fourfold; pier rentals, factory and warehouse rentals, residence and business rentals, and junction railway earnings. These four classes of income would be permanent, would take care of all depreciations and would leave very substantial profits to the owners and developers of the zone, whether these were private interests, the city, the State or the Nation. The realized project would bestow incalculable advantages upon all.