Los Angeles herald., 1906-08-23
WOULD BENEFIT
WHOLE COAST
HARBoRS CONGRESS- CHAIR
MAN AWAKENS SENTIMENT
Pacific Cities VIII Be Visited for the
Purpose Of Inducing Larger APP
preparations for Waterways
improvement Projects

Special to The Herald.
ment has just been made here that
Congressman Joseph e. Ransdell Of
Louisiana, chairman of the executive
committee of the National Rivers and
HarborS congress and member of the
house committee on rivers and har-
bors, will leave at the end of the
month on an extensive trip to the
Pacific coast for the purpose of urging
support for the National Rivers and
Harbors congress in it's efforts to Sc
cure the passage Of an annual rivers
and harbors appropriation of at least
$50, 900, 900, in place of the totally made
quate and irregular sums now af-
forded. The trip, which is under
taken at the urgent invitations which
Mr.. Ransdell has received from mem
bers of prominent commercial bodies,
will have as its choef purpose a careful
Investigation of all Pacific coast river
and harbor improvement projects.
Mr.. Ransdell will visit and speak in
all the larger cities on the coast, his
itinerary as now mapped out including
Portland. Seattle, San Francisco, Los
Angeles and intermediate points.
The levee system of the Sacramento
ll1C OI Lie 0OluiuDld, DOlil
at it's mouth and at the Dalles, will re-
ceive special attention.
The wants of the coast in the line of
improved water transportation ,falil-
tiles will be carefully considered, and
1t is Mr.. Ransdell's hope that the real
ization on the part of the people of the
necessity of such work will make itself
strongly felt.
Awakening the People
The National Rivers and Harbors
congress, an organization in which COM
mercial bodies and business mems clubs
In all part of the coun try have mem
bership, is working steadily and ener-
getically for the accomplishment of
its one object-that is, an awakening
Of the people of all parts of the coun-
try to the realization that even the in
direct benefits of such a scheme of
waterway improvements as could be
accomplished with annual appropria-
tlons of $50,00O,00O are so great as to
make them absolutely necessary to the
shipper.
Such national and non-partisan
scheme of Improvements as Mr.. Rams
dell proposes would save hundreds of
millions of dollars to shippers annually.
since, aside from Offering transporta-
sixth of the present rail rates, 1t would
far surpass any rate law as regulator
and reducer.
No important country in the world
has done so little for it's waterways as
the United States-a fact which rem
ders prompt and sustained action all
the more necessary.
AS a single instance, typical of the
needs of the Pacific coast, the case of
the Columbia river is cited, since its
Improvement would be not only Of local
benefit, but one yielding large returns
to the whole coast and the northwest.
For the completion of the great pro-
ject for the construction of a canal and
locks to overcome the distractions to
navigation between the Dalles rapids
and the head Of Cecilo falls on the
Columbia 1t is estimated that $3,7S3, 392
will be required. Yet great as are the
needs of this Improvement the last
rivers and harbors bill appropriated
for it's continuance only $4,000.
Rivers and harbors acts during the
last ten years have appropriated only
about $19,5O0,000 per year. While the
army and the navy have received
something like 40 per cent of the total
annual appropriations of the govern
ment, only 8 per cent of the total was
devoted to rivers and harbors, although
this latter expenditure was directly in
the interest of industry and commerce.