ARRANGING MEETING WITH NEW COMMISSION WHICH CREATED PORT AUTHORITY WILSON, WOODROW. Typed Letter Signed, as President, to Chairman of the United States Shipping Board Edward N. Hurley, encouraging him to attend a conference between various agencies of the government--including the Shipping Board--and the Harbor Development Commission. 1½ pages, 4to, White House stationery, written on two sheets; few small holes along upper edge, faint scattered soiling, horizontal fold. Washington, 11 October 1917 "I recently had an occasion to discuss with the New York, New Jersey Port and Harbor Development Commission the important purposes for which they were constituted a joint commission, and I suggested to them that it would be very beneficial if they could be guided in their study of projects and development by the best opinion of the departments of the Federal Government chiefly concerned. I, therefore, suggested to them . . . a conference between their board and the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Chairman of the Shipping Board. . . ."
In 1917, the legislatures and governors of New York and New Jersey formed the New York-New Jersey Port and Harbor Development Commission with the aim of coordinating responses to the various problems concerning the Port of New York. The result of the Commission's work was the creation of the Port Compact, an agreement between New York and New Jersey to create the Port Authority, signed by representatives of both States on May 1, 1921.