Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-10-25
ASSURANCE OF
HELP FOR RIVER
If People Will Back Up Improve
ment Assccia.
ton.
COMMITTEE MEETING HERE
To Arrange Basis of Action For
The Coming Convention at
Dubuque.

There is in progress at the Harper
house this afternoon a meeting of the
executive committee of the Upper Mis-.
sissippi River Improvement associa.
ton called for the purpose of formu-
lating a basis of action for the third
annual convention of the organization
to take place at Dubuque. Iowa, Nov.
10 and 16 Thomas Wilkinson, the
president, and Lewis B. Boswell. the
secretary of the association, arrived
last evening from their homes to be
present at the meeting of the commit
tee
The executive committee is selected
from the various commercial and civ
ic organizations in the towns skirting
the river between st. Paul and st.
Louis. the territory in which it is
sought TO have the federal government
eXpend S12,OOO,OOO for the permanent
improvement of the navigable channel.
ConErcSsmen Arc Impressed.
1t was through the efforts of the
Upper Mississippi River Improvement
association that. last August, the riv-
ers and harbors committee of con-
SltoS, LOl JliS III SJ OlIllC III NIC lllSlolS
of the government, made trip of in
spection from St. Paul to St. Louis
in order that they might see for them
selves and appreciate the value to the
industrial interests the great waterway
is, and the need for congress giving
it more consideration than in the past
in the matter of liberality in appTO-
pr:atiOns. The congressman were i'm
pressed far beyond their expectations
with the Importance, from a CONNER
cial viewpoint. of the river, and
there is every assurance that, with a
continuation of the agitation that has
been so admirably begun by the men
who have been so earnestly devoting
themselves to the cause. that at the
next session of congress there will at
least be a portion of the amount asked
voted for the Improvement of the wat
erway.
biggest Convention of All.
Secretary Boswell states that the
Dubuque convention will be the larg
est of any held by the association
There will be present the governors
of the five states whose people are in
terested in the Improvement of tha
river. and United States senators and
congressman from those states have
agreed to attend also.
'As a movement wholly in the inter
est of commerce." said Secretary Bos-
well to an Argus reporter land not
the selfish scheme of one individual
it appeals to all the people in the cit
les along the river, and the country
adjoining. 1t is purely an act of pat
riotism on the part of the men who
are carrying forward the work, and
their only reward can be in securing
improved transportation facilities. The
, east has been very successful in OBJ
tanning governmental aid for her wat
erways The west has been neglected
from the fact that the people have not
gotten together and brought their wat
erways forward and made them as
! important as they should in the eyes
of the powers that be.
Cheap Transportation the Question.
The question is one of cheap trans
portation. and in this all the people
are concerned, and especially those
, that have their capital in
vested in the Industries skirting the
! river. New York state has apprOpria
ted S1O1, 100000 to deepen the Erie
/ canal. and France has been eXpending
= millions on rivers that are no wider
than the Hennepin canal And we
! are standing back with the Father
! of Waters running by our very doors
neglected simply because we have not
risen up and demanded of our lawmak-
ers that they protect us. 1t is not
their fault 1t is ours