The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-12-01
IMPORTANCE OF THE RIVERS AND
HARBORS BILL.

greatly increased the Importance of the
rivers and harbors bill. That fact
was clearly brought out by Senator
Knox of Pennsylvania recently in an
interview relative to the improvements
that are being made in the Delaware
river. In the course of his interview
Senator Knox laid down these general
principles:
First That from the moment it
first assumed the task of providing
channels and harbors for the ocean
carrying trade, the federal government
has been irrevocably committed to the
maintenance of these facilities, not at
certain depths, but at sufficient depth
to perfectly accommodate increases in
the size of the carriers of the COM
merce for which they were designed
Second. That if the United States
is, in the commercial sense, to properly
protect its investment of 5000, 100000 In
the Panama canal enterprise, 1T must
maintain in every great American port
a minimum depth of water equal to the
maximum depth of the canal which Is
to be thirty-fve feet"
1t is doubtful If the duty of the gov
eminent in respect to rivers and har-
bors has ever been so clearly and so
strongly stated. In voting appropria-
tons for rivers and harbors hereto
fore Congress has acted If 1t were SIM
ply making donations to differentepar
of the country. When the majority
party has wanted to promote some
special interest, such as the navy or
the army that required an unusual
demand upon the revenues, it has done
so at the expense of the rivers and
harbors. In recent years there have
been a number of sessions at which
no rivers and harbors bill was passed.
According to the view which Senator
Knox takes it is just as much the
duty to make provision for the deep
ers and harbors as it is to provide for
the maintenance OF the army, the navy
or the departments of the government
And the reason for this is plain. With
out commerce the nation would soon
go into bankruptcy, and in order to
compete with other nations in the mat
ter of commerce our rivers and har-
bors must be made to meet commences
demands.
And. as Senator Knox points out,
the Panama canal makes 1t the duty
of the government to give all of the
important harbors of the country the
depth of water that will accommodate
as large ships as that canal will ac-
Ja4 1f
canal is to be thirty-five feet There
fore all of the important harbors
should have a depth at mean low wa
ter OF thirty-five feet.
Savannah is the most important flar-
Dor on the South Atlantic coast. Her
is as great probably, If not
greater than that of Philadelphia She
is asking that her harbor shall be so
improved that it will have a depth of
thirty-tive feet. That is the depth that
Philadelphia is asking for and which
Baltimore has. New York is now
dredging for a channel of forty feet,
but 1t will be a long time probably
before Savannah will require as deep
a harbor as that city has. Neverthe-
less it is a fact that there is a steady
increase in the draught of vessels Wis
iting this port. There is every reason
for thinking that the limit in the size
of steamships has not yet been reached.
Their size will be increased as long as
1t is safe and profitable to do so.
AS it is practically certain that Sa-
vannah will be one of the ports that
will have much of the commerce that
will. pass through the Panama canal
ship the canal will accommodate. 1t
is certain therefore that those who are
interested in Savannah harbor will do
all they can to have 1t deepened to
thirty-five feet.
AS the position Senator Knox takes,
a position which cannot be success
fully assailed. that the government is
bound to see to 1t that all of the coun-
try's important harbors have as deep
water as the Panama canal has, there
is a bond that holds all harbor inter-
ests together. Senator Knox, for in
stance, is under obligations to insist
that Savannah harbor shall be given
a depth of thirty-five feet and Sena-
tors Bacon and Clay are obliged to
join the Pennsylvania Senators in de-
a thirty-five foot channel in
Delaware river.
1t is already evident that the rivers
and harbors bill that will be reported
at the approaching session of Congress
will be a big one, but then the fact
must not be overlooked that the riv-
ers and harbors interest is big one.