The San Francisco call., 1906-09-23
MILLIONS NEEDED
FOR WATERWAYS.

CONGRESSMAN Joseph z. RansdeH OF
Louisiana, 8 member of the House COM
mittee on rivers and harbors and chair
man of the executive committee OF the
National Rivers and Harbors Congress,
arrived here yesterday and is registered
at the St Francis Hotel. The Louisi-
ana representative has come West for
the purpose OF studying the rivers and
harbors on the coast and 70 invoke the
cooperation OF commercial bodies In
the plans 10 secure better appropria-
tions for the furtherance of projects
for the Improvement of the various
waterways of the country. On his arr
rival at Oakland yesterday morning
from the north, he was met by Sena=
tor George c. Perkins and Congress
man Joseph 1. Knowiand, who, after
showing him about the city of Oak
land, took him aboard a tug, from
which he inspected the Government
work now in progress in the Oakland
harbor After he. reached his hotel in
this city the Congressman said:
/ have seen nearly every waterway
in this country. but must say that the
harbor of San Francisco has few if any
ture has provided you with a marvel
Gus situation here and one that has
needed little attention from the
spea king On my way from the Sound
ports, where / carefully inspected the
waterways and learned much that will
guide me In future legislation, in Con-
gress, stopped off to study the needs
of the Sacramento and San Joaquin
rivers and 1 was pleased with the pos
sibilities of those streams.
GOOD WORK ON THE YUBA.
Congress would be fully justified in
Although the people who were inter-
ested in showing me over that section
of the State did not suggest 1t, l believe
{ney w 4e qSSck TO the aa
streams and will be calling on Congress
soon TO undertake this work was
also pleasantly surprised with the large
amount of good work that is bein :
done on the Iuba with view of con-
trolling the debris and | think that
the scheme will be most effective and
bring great results.
Congressman Ransdell expects to
continue his journey southwark to-
night, visiting San Pedro and San
Diego harbors before he returns ia
Louisiana. He speaks most enthusiasts
caily of his Western trip In so far as II
pertains to the gathering of informa-
tion, and particularly to the results OF
his efforts to interest public bodies in
the plans of the National Rivers and
Harbors Congress. He said:
What the congress aims at is con.
certed action on the part of the entire
country toward getting larger appro-
priations from the United States Com
gress for the Improvement of the wa
terways. Not only do we want larger
appropriations, but we will insist or
having. the Government give US money
annually. as is done in the case of the
Army. the Navy and the Postoffice de-
partments.
FIFTY MILLIONS DESIRED.
Fifty millions a year is actually need
ed now for the carrying out of the
work that the Government engineers
have been planning. 1t is estimated
that the work already planned will cost
$500, 100000, for the payment of which
Congress gives us an average of s19,-
251.7S1 year. miserable sum In com.
parison TO what IL allows for the main
tenance of other national departments
When one stops to consider that trans.
portatfon by water costs but one-sixtf
as much as rail transportation and thai
for every dollar expended by the GOV.
ernment for the betterment of the
means Of water transportation there Ii
an annual saving of 100 per cent, ii il
easy TO imagine the great results thai
would accrue to the commercial inter,
ests of the country If Congress were
persuaded to increase its appropriation
in more generous proportion to the al