The Weekly Tallahasseean., 1901-02-21
.SPARKMANS DEFENSE
Of River and HarbOr ApprO-
priatiOnS for State Of Florida
He MAKES A GOOD SHOWING
And Scores Those Who Had Attacked
Him for Alleged UnfairneSS. -

Ihihtiul O'II 40 POlSNN
committee, Of which he is a member,
from an attack made by several
members of Congress from interior
ST Il, recently said, in part:
-A producer needs the lowest
fr It rates possible, whether he
Sc S foreign or home market,
ar =, consequently interested be-
yc measure in. the development Of
al e harborS and commerce. bear
in .reamS of the country. When,
therefore, we consider the impOr-
tance of river and harbOr work, the
intimate relations it bears to the
commercial and business growth of
the country, we could certainly. it
seems to me, justify bill carrying
an amount much larger than that
appropriated by this bill; and we
may expect to see such appropria-
tiOns going on and increasing until
the necessities of commerce are con-
pletely met. The people will de-
mand it, and we could not resist
those demands here if we would.
But, Mr.. Chairman, one or two
members have criticised this bill or
account of the appropriations which
90 to the States represented by
members on the committee, or per
hapS it would be more correct to say
that the committee has been thus
criticised, for no one has undertaken
as yet to say that the appropriations
have been nnworthily bestowed. The
cry is that the States represented on
the committee have received toe
much as compared with those States
not thus represented, and that eS.
pecially tn, districts represented by
members on the committee have been
unduIy favored. The gentleman
from Washington Mr.. CuShman
was especially severe ON that line,
and my own State came in for 9
share of his invective.
Now, | shall not undertake to re.
ply at length to the insinuatiOn thai
in the aggregate the states repre-
Sented on the committee received toe
much, for that charge was shown tc
be inaccurate by my colleague on the
committee, the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Alexander). 1t was dem
Onstrated by him that the / I states
represented on tile committee, receiv'
ing only three -fourths Of the $50,
900 appropriated and authorized
actually have more than so per cent
Of all the commerce of the country
and that if commerce alone is to bG
considered, then these II states arr
entitled to even mOle than they ge
in the bill. This is the way, at least
it presents itself when aggregate!
alone are considered. The same
would no doubt be true if like te>r
were applied to the individual States
But, Mr.. Chairman, it is with re
gard to the criticisms of myself anC
OF the state hich have the honOI
In part to represent on this floor tha
| Intend to reply more particularly
If the gentleman will cast his eye
over the map of the State of Florida
he will see long peninsula extend
ing from the lower edge of the state
Of Georgia way out into the southern
seas, almost to Cuba and to the Ber
mudas, with coast line of more thar
l,4O0 miles on straight lines, but i
he were to follow the sinuosities o.
the shore line, he would travel more
than 1900 miles going from the Per
dido river, on the west, around b.
the Tortugas to Fernandins.
On this coast line he would find
deep-water harbors, 8 on the Atlsntil
and 6 on the Gulf of Mexico; all o
them of national Importance, bu
three of which, namely, Pensacola
Tampa, and Key West, have beel
classed among the II or 10 nat
ural deep-water harbors of the coun
try. Besides these there are man,
rlVers and smaller harbors, all I'm
portant 20 the commerce of the State
and incidentally to the country q
large.
1t is over and through these tha
the productions of that State can b
carried to the seaboaEd or other dis
tributing centers, where the surplus
which is great, is carried and dii
tributed throughout the Unite
States. Through these harbo'
comes and goes large and rapidt
increasing coastwise and foreign con.
merce, the estimated value OF whic
i upward of 800, 600, 900 per annuu
who, then, can say that Florid'
~ ysa-5l ! q.