The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-17
WATERWAYS
 COMMISSION Roosevelt Creates the
 New Body. MR BANKHEAD IS HoNoRED Veteran Congressman Appointed by
 Chief Executive. Duty wiii he to Prepare comprehensive Plan for Improvement sud Con- froI of River systems
 of Nation.
MR BANKHEAD IS IGNORED

wasFington, March is.--Compiyfnt with petitions presented by numer ous commercial organizations of th' Mississippi valley. President Rocse' welt has decided to appoint ar inland waterways commission whose duty 1t will be to prepare compre- benaive plan for the improvement and control of the river systems of the United States,
 Eizht public mon have beea asked to serve on the commission and Repre- sentative Theodore E. Burton of Ohio, chairman of tho rivers and harbors commfttee in the last Congress, is to be chairman.
 In a letter which he has addressed to each of these persons, the president sets out that he is influenced In cre- atfng the commission by considerations of natonal policy: that the railroads are no longer able to move crops and manufactures rapidly enough to se- cure the prompt transaction of busi- ness and that there appears but one compete remedy--the development or a complementary system of transpor- tation by water. The presidents let ter in full is as follows:
 aThs White House, washington, D.
 C., March 14, 1907.
 My Dear Sir Numerous commercial organizations of the Mississippi Valley have presented petitions asking that appoint a commission to prepare and present a comprehensive plaa for the improvement and control of the river systems of the United States. I have decided to comply with these requests by appointing an inland waterways commission and I have asked the fol- lowing gentlemen to act upon it.: shall he much gratifled if you will consent to serve: Hon. Theodore K Burton. chairman; Senator Francis 0 !. Newlands, Senator William Warner, Hon John 1T. Bapkhead, General Alex auder Mackenzie, pr. W. J. Melee, Mir K, IT. Newell, Mr. GiefOrd Pin chot, Hon. Herbert Knox smith.
 Is National Policy
 Tn creating this commission I am influenced by broad considerations of national policy. The control of auT navIgable waterwass lies with the federal EoYernment and carries with | corresponding responsibilities and ob- li9atlous The, energy Of our people has hitherto been largely directed to- ward industrial development connec- ted with field and forest and with coal and iron and some of these sources of material and power are already largely depleted. while our inland waterways as a whole have thus far received scant attention.
 "It Is becoming clear that our streams should be considered and con- served as great national resources. Works designed to control our water ways have thus far. usually been tp- dertaken for a single purpose, such as the Improvement of navigation, the development of power; the irrigation of arid lands. the protection of low lands from floods or to supply water for domestic and manufacturing pur- poses. While the rights of the peo- pie to these and similar uses of wa ter must be respected, the time has come for merging local projects and uses of the inland waters in a compre- heAsive plan designed for the benefit of the entire country.
 Such plan should consider and include all the use to which streams may be put and should bring together and coordinate the points of view of all uses of water. The task involved in the full and orderly development and control of the river systems of the United States is a great one, yet 1t is certainly not too great for us to ap- proach. The results which it seems to promise are even greater.
 RaiIrOads Incompetent
 Tt Is common knowledge that the railroads of the United States are no longer able to move crops and manu- lectures rapidly enough to secure the prompt transaction of the business of the nation and there is small prospect of immediate relief. Representative railroad men point out that the pro- duets of the Northern interior States have doubled in ten years while the railroad facilities. have increased but one eighth and there is reason to doubt whether any development of the IL d. Ea.. will suffice to keep transportation abreast Of production. There appears to be hut one complete remedy--the development of a complementary sys- tenn of transportation by water.
 The present congestion affects chiefly the people of the Mississippi Valley and they demand relief When is relieved, the whole nation will share the good results.
 While rivers are natural resources of the first rank. they are also liable to become destructive agencies, endan- gering fife and property and some of our most notable engineering enter prises have grown out of efforts 10 control them. It was computed bv Generals Humphreys and Abbott half a century ago that the Mississippi alone sweeps into its lower reaches and the gulf 400, 0,000, ,000 tons of float ing sediment each year, (about twice the amount of material to be exca- vated in opening the Panama Canal. besides an enormous but unmeasured amount of earth salts and soil matter carried in solution. This vast load not only causes It's channels to clog and flood the lowlands of the lower river. but renders the flow eapricious and difficult to control
 '.Furthermore, the greater part of the sediment and solid matter Is com posed of the most fertile material of the fields and pastures drained by the smaller and larger tributaries. Any plan for utilizing our inland water ways should consider floods and their control by forests and other means: inc protection of bottom lands from injury by overfiews, and uplands from loss by soil-washs. the physics of sed- ment-charged waters and the physi- cal OF other ways of purifying them; the construction Of dams and locks, not only to facilitate navigation. but to control the character and movement of the waters. and should look to the fun use and control of our running waters and the eenanlsts artihcislisa-