38 
WAREHOUSES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 
in Marseille in a bonded warehouse owned and managed by the 
Compagnie des Docks et Entrepôts. 
BUILDINGS AND MANAGEMENT. 
This company controls certain warehouses, the dry docks, the 
storage warehouses, and considerable real property not yet utilized. 
The structures actually devoted to storage, together with their origi 
nal cost and dimensions, are as follows: Administration building 
(area, 1,47(> square meters; 1 square meter = 1.18 square yards), 
$279,853 ; principal warehouse (area, 14.(583 square meters), $2,1(53,407 ; 
warehouses F and G, $380,224; warehouses IT and Nos. 40 and 44 
(area, 49,160 square meters), $1,011,146; warehouse No. 55 (area, 
2,800 square meters), $188,717; Cape Punèdi land, $37,529. The 
administration building, six stories in height, contains, in addition to 
the offices of the company and the offices of the custom-house admin 
istrators, a public-sales warehouse. The principal warehouse, 365 
meters (1,197.5 feet) in length, is divided into four sections, each one 
having an interior covered court for trucking operations. The four 
sections include 76,200 square meters (91,134 square yards) of floor 
space, capable of accommodating 60,000 tons of miscellaneous mer 
chandise. The warehouses, seven in number, designated as No. 55, 
are for the storage of vegetable oils. These warehouses have a capac 
ity of 20,000 tons of oil in casks, and 1,000 tons in cisterns, of which 
there are 40. The cisterns are filled through siphons. 
The warehouses are owned and managed by (he Compagnie des 
Docks et Entrepôts, a private corporation performing many impor 
tant public functions, the principal of which is that of warehousing 
goods in bond. The concession, approved by the State, limits the pow 
ers of the company as respects charges for services rendered. The 
organization of the system was authorized by the law of June 10, 
1854, the concession being granted by the State to the city of Mar 
seille, which, in turn, disposed of the privilege to the private corpo 
ration named. This company completed and began operating its 
first establishment January 1, 18(54. It pays a bonus of $19,300 
annually to the city. The original grant established the relations 
between the company and the State. All tariffs must be approved by 
the minister of commerce and proclaimed by the prefecture of the 
department. 
SERVICE. 
The patron, while sometimes inclined to protest against the opera 
tion of a public utility by a corporation organized for profit, is, on 
the whole, very well contented with the arrangement. He has at his 
disposition mod hi warehouses convenient of access from the port, con 
trolled by a corporation which, upon demand, takes possession of his 
arriving merchandise, transports it to a place of security, insures him 
against loss, and returns the goods intrusted to its care upon the pay 
ment of fixed charges which are not subject to debate or amendment 
in favor of preferred clients. 
The company, in addition to the services described above in gen 
eral terms, concedes the right of the owner to visit his merchandise at 
will. When merchandise is to be visited the company engages to