Floating equipment-Continued.

LIGHTERS AND BARGES, TOWED, WITH AND WITHOUT MECHANICAL HANDLING FACILITIES.

COMMUNICATIONS.

RAILROADS.

The port of Charleston, S. C., is served by the Atlantic Coast Line, the Seaboard Air Line, and the Southern Railway systems.

The Atlantic Coast Line follows the Atlantic coast southward from Norfolk and Richmond, Va., to Jacksonville, Tampa, and Fort Myers, Fla., touching the intermediate ports of New Bern and Wilmington, N. C., Georgetown, Charleston, and Port Royal, S. C., and the interior points of Greenville, Winston-Salem, Spartansburg, Columbia, Atlanta, Augusta, and Albany. At Richmond direct. connection is made with the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad for Washington, D. C., and points north; at Atlanta connections for points north and west are made through the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad and at Montgomery connections with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad for points west and southwest. The Atlantic Coast Line operates about 5,000 miles of track in the States of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama and serves nearly all of the southeastern territory either directly or through its connections.

The Seaboard Air Line operates about 3,500 miles of track in the same general territory as the Atlantic Coast Line. At Atlanta it connects with the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad; at Birmingham with the Frisco Lines, and at Montgomery with the Southern Railway system.

The Southern Railway system operates in most of the States south of the Ohio and Potomac and east of the Mississippi Rivers. It serves many of the South Atlantic ports and Mobile, Ala., and New Orleans, La., on the Gulf. It also reaches every important interior point in southeastern territory. A total of about 7,000 miles of track is operated, and by its own rails and those of its connections a large part of southern classification territory is served.

FACILITIES FOR INTERCHANGE BETWEEN RAIL AND WATER.

The only facility equipped to handle general cargo direct from ship to cars is the United States quartermaster terminal now operated by the Port Utilities Commission. This terminal is equipped with a single track running the entire length of the wharf on the apron. The remainder of the piers and wharves on the Cooper River south of Columbus Street are all connected with the belt line which is owned and operated by the Port Utilities Commission. By means

of this belt line the railroads serving the port are in direct communication with every facility.

One of the Southern Railway piers is used exclusively for the handling of shipments of fresh vegetables produced on the islands in the vicinity of Charleston. This pier is equipped with several power belt conveyors and gravity roller conveyors by means of which the produce can be transferred from the small boats to railroad cars direct.

At the Clyde Line terminal, the wharf of the Oakdene Compress Co., the Middleton Compress & Warehouse Co. wharf, the Seaboard Air Line terminal, and the Columbus Street and Union Wharves of the Port Utilities Commission, the trucking distance from ship side to railroad cars is very small.

The fertilizer companies on the Ashley River that receive their materials from ships are equipped with unloading towers and electrically operated trams for unloading and transferring cargo from ships to the factories.

CONCENTRATION, COMPRESSION, And Reshipment OF COTTON, COTTON Linters, AND REGINS FOR EXPORT AND DOMESTIC TRAFFIC AT Wilmington, N. C., AND CHARLESTON, S. C.

The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in its I. C. C. B-2117 provides that uncompressed cotton, cotton linters, and regins intended for concentration, compression, and reshipment must be consigned locally to concentration and compression points on the basis of the current rate from the point of origin to such concentration and compression points. When compressed and reshipped on bills of lading issued by the line bringing the cotton in, the through rate from the point of origin to the final destination via the compressing point as lawfully in effect on the date of the original shipment to the concentration point, plus any additional charges in the tariffs, is applied. No additional charges are applied on these commodities when they are reshipped per the foregoing provisions and within 90 days of their arrival at the concentration point, but if they are held longer than this time an additional charge of 22 cents per 100 pounds is assessed.

No second compressing or concentration is permitted, but cotton, cotton linters, or regins that have been compressed at an interior point without concentration may be concentrated upon reaching Charleston or Wilmington under the foregoing rules. Unless the compress is located on the rails of the inbound carrier or unless otherwise provided in the tariff, the cost of switching at the compress point is in addition to all other charges. The maximum rate that this company will pay for standard compression is 15 cents per 100 pounds.

In its tariff I. C. C. B-2273 the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad provides the following rules and charges governing the warehousing and re

shipment of cotton at various transit points in North and South Carolina.

Cotton intended for warehousing and reshipment must be consigned to the warehousing point and freight charges thereto are paid on the basis of the local rate. In this case the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad issues a paid freight receipt which is retained by the holder of the cotton for the purpose of obtaining reshipment privilege. Upon the surrender of the original paid freight bill the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad issues a through bill of lading from the original point of shipment to the final destination at the through rate in effect at the time. of original shipment to the warehousing point, plus a stoppage charge of 32 cents per 100 pounds on compressed cotton or 5 cents per 100 pounds on uncompressed cotton. This authority provides further that cotton warehoused in transit at one point may not be warehoused in transit a second time. The time limit that applies on this privilege is 12 months from the date of the issue of the paid freight receipt. Any switching, demurrage, back haul, or other charges are in addition to the above-named charges.

The above-named privileges will apply on cotton originating at Atlantic Coast Line stations in North and South Carolina on or north of a line drawn from Wilmington to Florence, S. C., thence to Darlington, S. C., thence to Wadesboro, N. C., and also at stations of the East Carolina Railway, when destined to points where there are through rates in effect via the transit point. The above tariffs provide also that cotton, cotton linters, and regins originating at points in Virginia, North and South Carolina, from which export rates via the Atlantic Coast Line to Charleston and Wilmington are in effect, may be concentrated at those ports. As there are few, if any, rates on cotton named to ship side, the charges as provided for in Glenn's tariff I. C. C. 439 are added to make ship-side delivery. The provisions of the Seaboard Air Line are practically the same as those of the Atlantic Coast Line.

SWITCHING CHARGES.

The Seaboard Air Line Railway names a switching charge of $2.25 per car, when in connection with a line haul, for the movement of carload traffic between the interchange tracks of connecting lines and private or assigned sidings located on its lines south of Magnolia Crossing. On the same traffic between the same connecting lines and private or assigned sidings, located at Magnolia Crossing and Walburn Fertilizer Works or north thereof, a charge of $3.60 per car applies. The above charges include the return of the empty car. This company names an intraplant and an intraterminal switching charge of $5.85 per car. The same charge applies on interterminal except on traffic originating at private and assigned sidings south of