The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1885-09-04

would be left in the pockets of the peo-
pie every year. Spend but quarter of
this sum for two or three years on i'm
proving the navigation of the Upper
Mississippi and the building of the Hen
nepin canal, and the most marvellous re-
suits would ever after be realized. For
the want of such improvement wheat is
forced up the Mississippi river from
Winona, and perhaps below, to seek the
shorter railway transit to Duluth, thence
by the great lakes on its way to the seas
board. Whatever saving is thus effected
is so much the better for the people
ITS EFFECTS ON RAILWAY TRAFFIC.
1t may be feared that by opening a
great and adequate waterway to the Gulf
of Mexico and TO the great lakes the bust
ness of the railways would he sadly Grip
pied and that their influence will be po-
tent to prevent it, This convention sure
ly has no quarrel with the railways. Its
members will freely concede that with
in the last forty years they have trans>
formed the commerce and the life of
the states from narrow local communities
|
tellectual and religious progress such AS
\ the world has never seen before While
waterways relieve them from the carriage
Of bulky, heavy and less profitable pro-
ducts, the money thus left in the pockets
of the people enables them to give the
railways larger and better trade in lights
er and more expensive goods and larger
| profits on their travelling over the coun-
try. The railway managers of larger and
more enlightened views understand per
fectly, and they would doubtless, if not
handicapped by the more selfish and con
tTacted ideas of their directors, be opev
and earnestly with us in all efforts to Sc
cure waterway transportation for the vast
products of the upper Mississippi valley
states. And here it may be asked, Does
| the water transit of the lakes, the Erie
and the Welland canals, and the st. Law
| renee ruin the trade of our four or i've
| great railway lines to the seaboard? Are
they not growing rich and prosperous be
yond all the brightest hopes of their own.
ers and projectors? Have the sail vessels
| and the steamers on the Hudson river
ruined the railway by its side on the east?
So far from 1t that another on the west
bank has recently been opened onward to
Lake Erie. There ought never to be any
| opposition by the railroads 10 the i'm
| provement of the great WATERWAYS of the
republic. 1t is sure in the end TO be both
improbable and unwise for them to
make any objection to it.
.HtnrrN-,p n.Yr, u,g, o,,rr,
Another thing The upper Mississippi
states paid into the national treaury on
account of internal revenue in 1884 $50,
| 0O5, ,933. Illinois alone paid $23. $50, ,219
Now, have not the 100000 900 and more
of the people represented in this conven-
tion right to demard that congress at
least 5--aye, 20-per cent of what they
actually pay into the national treasury To
| improve their great waterways and To
construct a short canal between them
costing only 81 7,0OO,O thus giving them
the means to make much larger cOntribu>
tons 10 the government? Only $500 600
was asked of the last congress to begin
the Construction of the Hennepin canal
only per cent of our payments-and the
selfish parsimOny of other sections Of the
union defeated it, and thereby the whole
river and harbor bin, to use cant phrase,
was sent where the woodbine twineth "
Now let this convention and the repre-
sentatives and senators of the great
states here represented give notice, dis
tinct and emphatic. that until the i'm
pr0vement of our great waterways is
adopted AS constituent part of the ma
uonal river system, with an adequate
share of the appropriation, no river and
harbor bill shall ever become law of the
land. More than 80, 00O, 900 people east
and west demand il, and that demand
must be needed.
The Erie and the Welland canals, with
the water transit of the great lakes, now
end at Chicago, but with the Hennepin
canal and the Mississippi it will he ex,
tended from 600 to 500 miles northwest
to st. Paul. Can any man doubt that such
work would reserve to the people ten
times the interest on its cost every year?
Surely there should be no more delay
than is absolutely needed in its construc>
ton.
THE GREAT NORTHWEST.
Some OF you may remember that Lord
Dutferin, while governor general of Cans
ada, made speech at Winnepeg in which