Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-03-22
HEPBURN S||RS EN- UP
His Speech OH the River and
Harbor Bill Awoke the
House.
IoWan One OF the Few Debaters
Who Commands Attention of
Statesmen.
Text OF His Remarks on, the
Futility OF Improving the
Missouri River.
Special to Times epublican.

4 Special to Times Republican.
4 Washington, d. c., March 22.-Oc-
casionally the hum drum and horizon.
tai tedium of the common place in the
house is fractured; members wake UP
look around and recognize their fel.
llows and take note of things Thu
dreary waste of empty desks gives wa!
4 to long rows of really fair looking mer
land the young congressman who ha:
been cleaying the ambient atmosphere
with words he had previously expected
would make the cid frame, of the, re-
jpublic *shiver her timbers" discovers
that the members of congress are vel
in town.
4. These events occur ever and anon
but all too seldom. They occurred
when Senator T,olliver was still 9
member of the lower house and arose
Ito speak; they occur when Lirtlefield
addresses the house; they occur when
ithat king of debaters from Iowa, af-
lfeetionately known everywhere as
i"Uncle Pete Hepburn, rises and says
"Mr. Chairman"
Mr.. Hepburn is VIGOROUSLY opposed
4 to the river and harbor bill and each
! year opposes it with vigor ana then
silently witnesses it's passage by the
house. He has delivered himself OF
his yearly dissertation and there will
be many who will say amen to the
sentiments expressed. In view of the
fact that the remarks of Mr.. Hepburn
ihave a bearing upon rivers hedging in
Iowa on the east and west, a some
what full account of his remarks will
be of general interest. Mr.. Hepburn
said:
Il rise, Mr.. Chairman, now, to make
my annual contribution to the litera-
ture upon the river and harbor bill. /
confess that have miscellaneous as
sortment of emotions FIRST + am
satisfied that my colleagues would not
be content If should omit to discuss
this bill, and l will not deviate from a
habit which dates back twenty years.
I recognize the utter futility Of any
body saying anything In opposition to
a river and hart,or bill. I used to
think years ago that all efforts in that
the pork in the barrel was limited to
sS.0o0.ooo. How utterly impossible OPP
position is when the pork has grown to
s60,o00,00O.
again find there are retrogres-
sions in this bill that are highly COM
mendatory-that In some respects
feel the committee is now on the back
track For eighteen years this bill
has apparently looked forward to the
of the navigation Of the
Missouri river; and right here I want
to call attention TO the delights that
come to men who can at least say Il
told you So" For eighteen years
have been engaged in that exercise;
now comes the frllition. ! have taken
the liberty of saying heretofore that
the ideas of Improvement Of the Mis-
souri, river for the purposes of navi-
cation. are absolutely chimerical. that
it was forbidden by nature; that it was
forbidden by the whole trend of mod
ern commerce and commercial growth,
and yet we have gone on until $1,000
600 have been expended under the di-
rection, largely. of commission; and
today the committee come in and, as
understand, by unanimous report,
dissolve the commission and bandon
the hope of lettering the navigable
character of the river. Hope. All
no!
For hope means desire and expec-
tation, and l think there never has
been a member upon that committee
so incapacitated from holding his seat
in this house as to expect that the
Missouri river can be improved for
navigable purposes. They have de-
termined-and want to call atten-
ton to this matter only in the hope of
inspiring the thought in some mems
minds that perhaps the reform in the
committee has not been complete. and
that In other directions they may still
be pursuing a wlll-o'-the- wisp-I want
to call attention to the fact hat they
have discovered that the whole COM
merce on a stretch of that great river
a stretch Of more than five hundred
miles, is now 100000 tons, 21S,O00 of it
being sand and other building MATER
ials, carried on an average distance
of less than two miles, and leaving
$4,000 tons year TO be carried on that
great stretch of river.
have made rapid calculation and
find that the government of the Unit
ed States has paid, supposing tina.
traffic of $4,000 tons has been continu-
Gus, during the seventeen years of APP
SIS ton for every ton that
has been carried upon that part of the
river; and that the government could,
by rail, have carried it all the whole
distance of 30 miles and saved to the
treasury 100000. In commentator
of the committee I want to say after
seventeen years of effort they have
gotten their eyes opened at last, and
have concluded that that kind of
wasteful expenditure no longer shall
continue, and have abrogated the com
I am sorry that the committee have
not extended their inquiries with the
same minuteness to the Mississippi
and its improvement. They do not tell
us just what has been expended upon
this great stream. and yet I remember
q few years ago. when I last investi-
gated, we had already spent $4,000, 900
upon Improvement of the navigation
ESQ., called of this river I think ii
largely exceeds, UP to this date, $780,
100000 and except for them no man can
show that there has been one iota of
in the channel that Is to
be navigated, Of that great stream.
'T tell you, gentlemen, that while
,un have baap m king tIja aynap diff,ra