The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1881-06-09
Resolutions Adopted by the Recent Ca.
nal Convention at Davenport.

DAVENPORT, Iowa, May 10
The Committee on Resolutions made
the following report through its Chair
man, General I. j. Henderson,:
This Convention, representing the people Of
the Mississippi Valley and of the Northwest,
in pursuance of the purposes tn ereof, unani-
mously declare:
l. That the Congress of the United States
should devise by law, and sustain by liberal
and efficient appropriations, system of cheap
transportation by water routes connecting the
Mississippi River and its tributaries with the
eastern Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf Of
Mexico.
2. That it has been the policy of Congress
and the desire OF the people of the Northwest
for many years to inaugurate and complete q
system of water channelimprovement,h having
the Mississippi for its base; that to give
greater efficiency to this policy, there should
be constructed from the Mississippi River, on
the most direct and feasible rou'e to the 1lli-
nois River at Hennepin, and thence to the
lake at Chicago, a canal adequate to the pres
ent and future transportation needs of that
great part of the Northwest to whose people
such work of internal improvement Is an
imperative necessity for relief from the ex-
cessive freight rates on the produce and COM
merce of the country, and that the work 90
long needed should be Immediately COM
menced
3. That the continued improvement of the
Mississippi River under the auspices of the
Mississippi River Commission, created by act
of Congress, is q work Of such National inn
portance that the Congress of the United
States ought to promote that scheme Of i'm.
provement by the most liberal appropriations,
in separate appropriation bill therefor, and
that M iDd hn mi
earnest demand of the people of the entise
Mississ ppi Valley that Congress shall make
prompt and adequate appropriations for the
improvement of the river and its navigable
tributaries from the Falls Of St. Anthony to
the Gulf of Mexico, and that this Convention
has no sympathy with any policy that would
deprecate or hinder this great enterp,f Use Of
making fully navigable and building up q
great commerce upon this central river-Na-
lures great highway of the continent.
4. That we hail with peculiar satisfaction
the increasing success of the barge line sys-
tenn Of transportation on the Mississippi and
Its tributaries and the relief it gives to the
producers and shippers of the Mississippi VAL
ley In the cheapening of frei9hts.
s. That we heartily favor the proposed ces-
sion OF the illinois Michigan Canal and the
improvements on the Illinois River by the
nal should be made free of tolls: therefore, we
hope for the early success of the efforts inau-
gurated to secure these results.
8. That the Commission under the auspices
Of which this Convention has been called be
continued, with the proviso that its member.
ship be enlarged by the selection Of an addf-
tional member from each State represented
in this body, which additional member shall DO
named by the delegates of the respective
States, said Commission to afterward elect its
own officers and mature its own organization.
Z. That the Commission, when rcorganized
as contemplated herein. be requested to Sc
lect two gentlemen from each State to present
to Congress the appeal for the support to the
work Of internal Improvement which IL con-
templated by the foregoing resolutions.
The report was unanimously adopted
amidst cheers.