Omaha daily bee., 1885-11-14
AssauItlns River Improvement.

AhSatllNtUg tNtNtf improvements
The assault of The ~disgruntled Major
Sutor on the policy of improving the
Missouri river, finds an enthusiastic
bacl;cr in the cditor Of the Omaha H'.
nid. DR.. Miller through the columns Of
his paper p~ronouuccs all attempts to
make the Missouri nayigabie rs useless,
aud denounccs appropriations for the
purpose MS money thrown away" The
Herold says:
No cleaner cut piracy upon the public
pocket has ever been invented than
can he shown in the case OF money
wasted in federal appropriations 10 i'm
prove the NAVIGATION of the Missouri river.
The remark applies to the whole length OF it
as we'll rs to the upper region. No boat Is
ever seen on its waters. Its navigation is q
myth; its real Improvement is impractical
bic; there is no need of It's Improvement, and
every dollar expended by congress upon
such a work is so much stolen and wasted
money. Every white man in this part Of the
west knows this TO be indisputably true, as
well rs Major Suter does. The railroads
long since cXterminatcd what little
there ever was on the Mis- souri, river, and
$500, 10000 spent TO improve its channels
could not restore even what it lost mt the
hands of the competitive power of the rail
ways.
The Hernia is as badly mistaken IN ITS
facts MS it is in the arguments which it
attempts to bolster up by an ignorant
distortion of the truth. The Missouri
river, in its upper and lower portions, is
being navigatod today by regular lines
of steamers which are doing n good bust
ness with the towns along its banks.
Powell Bros, of Bismarck, have been run.
ming n line between that place and Fort
Benton, n distance of Sl6 miles, and dur.
ing the season just closed have trans
ported thousands of tons of freight each
way. A steamer has made regular trips
between Bismarck and points below. Be-
sides these, two or three other steamers
made regular trips to Benton prior to
this season. A regular line has been ply
ing between st. Louis and Kansas City
and is understood to have done u paying
business, touching at points not reached
by railroads. These hard facts give the
lie direct to the statement that the nayi-
cation of the Missouri lis n myth" and
that mo boat is ever seen on its waters"
The Improvement of the Missouri is prac-
ticable and is demanded by the produc-
ing interests of the vast ag ricultural re.
giOn through which it passes. Were n
channel once assured millions of tons of
wheat and corn would pass down the
river to the Mississippi and the Gulf, and
millions of tons of coal and iron and
freight would make return car
goes at rates which would rem
der competition by rail impossi-
bic. Everywhere open water routes
have placed impossible barriers to rail
road extOrtions and have enriched the
country by tho saving which they have
made in transportation rates. The Erie
canal, which cost New York state $1l, OOO.-
900, has returned its cost five times over
to the producers and consumers of that
state. The Mississippi Is Il constan Mt
check-valve to the greed of corporate
~monopolies along its banks. The great
lakes regulate freight tariffs mt every
| point on their shores. The objection OF
the railroad lobbyists and the corpora
%tion-bound editors to river improvements
arises solely from the knowledge that an
open river as Il railway regulator cannot
be bribed like congressman, purchased
like legislatures, or subsidized with job
work like brass-collared editors.
Admitting that mo boat is ever seen
on its waters" which is false, it is clearly
the duty OF the government to put the
Missouri river in such a condition as to
render it available in case of extortionate
rates on the part of the railroads. For
every dollar so expended the public will
reap ten-fold benefits.