The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-08
HE IS NOT FULLY INFORMED.

v
 The Advertiser has received the follow ing letter from Hon. Theodore E. Bur ton. Chairman of the Committee on Rivers and Harbors:
 Committee on Rivers and Harbors,
 House of Representatives. U. s.,
 Washington, March 3. 1902 Editor The Advertiser:
 My Dear Sir-Your telegram of the 18th ult at hand. It is always with re- gret that give an unfavorable answer to requests for River and Harbor inn pfovements, but am satisfied that were you placed in our position and should compare the probable cost and benefits to be obtained by the improvement of the Coosa, with the results to be obtained in other Improvements, you would ap- prove the action of the Committee in declining to make recommendation for this project. It Is useless to engage upon the work at all unless provision is made for the expenditure of s6.00O, ,0O0 The re- cent report made by the local engineer gives us to understand that even this sum would not more than half finish tho work. Very respectfully yours.
 T. E. Burton.
 The local engineer referred to was Cap tain Judson, who was transferred some month ago.
 . We fear Mir. Burton has been reading The Norfolk and Pensacola papers and has suffered himself biased by their selfish or envious position. We do not know fully what he means by "the re- suits to be obtained in other improve ments." but we do know that millions of dollars will be appropriated and spent on public improvements which will be of far less benefit, local or general, than would the opening of the Coosa River so that navigation would be continuous from Rome to Wetumpka. It does not mean a benefit to the people of Georgia and Ala bama alone. though their right to some of the advantages of the public moneys is as unquestioned as the right of any other portion of the Union. but it means. for one thing the making of Mobile a mighty coal entrepot. whence coal could be distributed to the world. and it means making the Coosa a vast artery of com merce through which would flow the riches, natural and artificial, of one of the finest sections of the Union.
 We do not at all agree with MT. Bur ton that it is useless to engage upon the work unless provision is made for the expenditure of $6,000,0O0' and we submit that this is not a fair argument, or fair reason for refusing reasonable appropriation. Nobody expects the present Congress to make provision for all the future years, and nobody expects it to appropriate a lump sum sufficient to complete the entird work. It is a work which will require years to finish and all that is expected or asked is that an appropriation shall be made which will justify starting the improvements or a scale commensurate with the import ance of the results. To appropriate C small sum each year, barely sufficient tC pay the engineers, is a waste of money Whether the work shall eventually cos six or sixteen millions of dollars. it wil be money we'll spent, and we hope th' Senators and Congressmen from Ala bama will convince the Committee tha tis chairman is not fully informed abou the Coosa River.
 Our latest dispatches give reason t hone that the Alabama members will b able to correct the mistaken opinions O MT, Burton and lead to fair treatmen | for the Coosa. They can hardly devot their time and influence to more deserv ing object