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^ 1 A. S. Halsted - 3 . / ; / Should the city decide to reduce the dockage, or wharfage charge, or both, the minimum rental, as I understand it , would be reduced in prorata proportion; in other words, i f the above charges were reduced 50$, the city would reduce the minimum annual rental from $15,000*00 to $7,500,Op* Under this contract, should the steamship company handle enough ships at the dock, plus wharfage charges, to amount in -d o llars to $50,000.00, the city gets $40,000.00 rental and the steamship company retains $10,000.00 towards the dockage charge. In addition to this the steamship company do a l l the "handling" on the dock and must charge the "ordinance ra te s", and this is p ro fita b le , especially when coupled with the stevedoring, a l l o f which is controlled ly the steamship company. The steamship company who lease this dock have n otified their patrons the handling charge w ill be 1 3 ^ per ton, and it seems to me the c ity , by their lease, has placed the steamship company in position to eut the ordinance charges on their own t r a ffic , and cannot quote same rates to other steamship owners who could and might want to use the dock when not occupied by the American Company; and indeed the American Company are in position to refuse any other owner o f vessels from using the dock and ware~ house, thus depriving the city o f revenue that they might secure* Dock owners served by this company are, I think properly, complaining o f the reduced handling charge made by the American Company to their patrons* I f we are in position to demand such changes in the contract as w ill protect our friends, I fee l some action should be taken* Please advise, CC«~ECl\lutt Yours truly,