The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-11-03

dllCitu mag lllbuut, Judt great u'ucul-
ties are to be encountered, that il is only
by patience and perseverance, and upon
the stepping-stOnes of mistakes cor
reeted, that success can be hoped for,
and that the final result will depend as
much on the support and cooperation of
the people as on the efforts of the Com
mission or other agents of the Govern
ment."
RESOLUTIONS OFFERED.
The reception of resolutions was the
next thing in order, all of which, under
the rule, were referred to the Com
mittee on Resolutions without debate.
Mr.. Roberts, of Illinois, offered resOlu-
ton that the recommendations of the
convention include the widening and
deepening of the Illinois and Michigan
Canal and the improvement of the inn
prOvement of the IllinOin river to afford
a deeper water channel from Lake Mich
igan to the Mississippi river; another by
Ed. s. Jones that recognition be given
practical river men in constituting
committees to distribute funds for the
Improvement of the Mississippi; another
by William s. Price, of Wisconsin, that
the several delegations be declared the
committees to press upon Congress the
necessity of appropriations. Hon. f. o..
Stanard, of Missouri, presented several
resolutions drawn up by the delega-
tiOn of the Merchants Exchange of st.
Lauis, calling for the immediate i'm
prOvement of the Mississippi, Missouri
and Ohio rivers.
ON BEHALF OF THE RIVER COMMISSION.
Judge Tyler, representing the River
Commission, addressed the convention
He said the River Commission looked
with great anxiety to the result of the
proceedings of the convention. There
must be universal harmony, and the
decision must be unanimous. There
were various ways to improve rivers.
The right plan was to compel the great
stream to build its own banks. This.
had already been done at Horse Tail
Bar, just below st. Louis, where it had
been compelled to build banks, and at
least twenty feet in height. The speaker
was much cheered at the conclusion of
his speech.
After one or two addresses the con-
yention took recess until 2:40 p. IN.
THE RESOLUTIONS REPORTED.
Onre-assembling,a after brief addresses
from Congressman Conner, of Illinois,
and General Roster of Missouri, the
Committee on Resolutions through it's
chairman, Duncan f. Kenner, of New
Orleans, made the following report
The representatives of the commercial
interests and agricultural and other
productive industries Of the Mississippi
Valley, in convention assembled. belieY-
ing that the Mississippi river and its
navigable tributaries, the great inland
waterways prepared by the Creator for
the use of the people, are the most i'm
pOrtant and valuable part of the national
domain, free to all, beyond the reach of
monopoly, and affOrding to the whole
people that competition in transpOrta-
tiOn which benefits the producer and
consumer alike; and further, that cheap
transportation is the great necessity of
an agricultural people, the indispensa-
BILE condition of the easy conveying to
distant markets of theirstaple products,
bulky in proportion to value, and that
the familiar, economical truth, that the
cheapest transportation of such products
is by water, is especially applicable to
the great waterways of this country,
provided the same be kept free from
snags, sand bars, treacherOus banks and
other obstacles to navigation, do there
fore resolve and declare:
First. That it is the manifest and
imperative duty of the Government of
the United States to cause to be made
such improvements of the Mississippi
river and its nayigable tributaries as
shall permanently secure safe and easy
navigation, this navigation thereof
thereby cheapening freights, reducing
insurance and other burdens and ex-
penses, promoting the vast inland COM
merce of the nation and creating new
avenues of foreign trade, and thus not
only inviting increased production and
population, but assuring greater pros
perity to the whole people, Especially
10 nhrrfA nd Do, \
justified, in view of donations already
made by Congress in land, amounting
to nearly 200,00O,O00 acres, and in bonds
issued or guaranteed, nearly S100,000,OO0
more, in and of artificial highways, the
property OF private individuals, and
necessarily furnishing, even at the low
est rate ', the most costly form of trans
pOrtatlUn on large scale, as compared
with the appropriation, not yet $25, ,OO0,-
900 in ALL for the improvement of fifteen
thousand miles of natural waterways,
Whose freedom from tax imposed or mo-
nOpOly is protected by constitutional
guarantees, while the cheap services and
unrestricted competition they afford is
the most effectual corrective of exOrbi-
tant charges of any route to the sea-
board. That the appropriations for
such improvements should be separately
made, with due provision for assuring
the people of their faithful application
to the same, and should be adequate to
the continued prosecution of the work,
once begun, until the. same is finished,
so as to avoid the wasteful destruction
of work partially completed by reason
of the delay or stOppage thereof for
want of sufficient appropriations.
RESOLVED, That this convention rec
OgniZes with extreme satisfaction and
emphatic approval the passage of the
act of Congress of June %, 1879, "for the
of Mississippi river COM
and in the comprehensive and
scientific surveys and important recon-
mendatiOns made by the distinguished
engineers appointed on that commits
sion, ae set forth in their reports of Feb
ruasy H. 1880, and January s, 1881, the
first well considered and effectual step
towards the complete and permanent
opening of the Mississippi Valley to the
markets of the world, but would also
strongly express its regret of the refusal
of the last Congress, after creating said
commission, and Notwithstanding the
deliberate and emphatic approval of
their plans by the House Committee on
the Improvement of the Mississippi, to
the amount estimated and
r,...... ...H..-r
WATER FAMINE.