The National tribune., 1907-12-12

will be prepared by Senator Aldrich
and members of the Finance Commit
tee.
DEEP WATERWAYS
CONTINUED from page one.)
States are represented" He said that
.23 Governors appointed delegates, while
81 Mayors and 1873 associations of va
rious kinds were represented by their
appointees.
OF course, you do not know it. but
that meant to those eager delegates
that they were attending the very larg-
est Congress ever yet gathered in the
interest of deep waterways, and they
were greatly pleased, as a matter OF
course.
The Governor of California.
Another speaker of note was Gov.
Pardee, of California, ex, by the way.
Gov. Pardee spoke on Rivers and har-
bors begin in the mountains" He told
of how he had the good fortune some
time ago to take the most distin-
guished gentleman in the United
States thru the forests of California.
He said this visitor, on seeing the devas-
tated forests, had inquired who might
be responsible? The Governor replied,
L
they came to bare place in the woods,
where waters in time of heavy rains
gushed in torrents because of the lack
of trees. Again the guest asked who
was responsible. Again the Governor
replied, "The lumberman." After
time, guide and guest penetrated thru
portion of forest that was burning.
guest asked the same question for the
third time. The Governor replied as
before, THE lumberman." Then the
guest, the Governor said, quite audibly,
so that even the little birds in the trees
might hear, remarked, Damn the lum-
herman" III n,
The American Republics. ,.
Mr. John Barrett, Director of the
Bureau of American Republics, always
interesting and always very statistical,
fairly made one gasp with the immense
ness of his totals. He isaida9l-
Five of our 20 sister Nations, name
ly, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile
and Mexico. have now under way har-
Dor and channel construction, for which
direct appropriations of not )leSS than
sI00,000,00O have been made and these
same Governments announce they have
only begun a vast scheme of improve
ments which they contemplate"
A Representative Farmer.
And then there was John F. Stahl,
of Chicago, ex-President of the Farm
ers' National Congress, who got off
story which is as old as the flood itself,
about Noah being the first to interest
himself in water transportation; but,
of course, everybody laughed. That's
the proper thing to do when your friend
gets off a chestnut; but if you want to
make him squirm instead. say, "Oh,
yes; that reminds me of the twin chest
nut to that story" and the business is
done.
There were a great many other dis
tinguished speakers, and all the time
you were impressed with the idea that
this is the way to go after real things.
Get down into the heart and soul and
belief of the business and make it your
own, and then let 1000 determined men
start after it-well, something has to
come of it, that's all.
Reception by the President.
The Congress had a d-e-e-l-i-gh-
full reception from the President, and
spent over an hour at the White House.
They were also received at the Library
of Congress-. and they descended collec-
lively and Individually upon Congress
itse-f. Now, whisper it low-it is more
than murmured about that there may
be rivers and harbors bill this session!
Unheard of thing-yes, to be sure; but
you were told in the beginning that
these gentlemen mean business, altho
they are not the money kings of the
earth.
Presentation of a Silver Cup.
A delightful feature of the Congress
was the presentation to President Rams
dell of a silver loving cup. 1t came
from the retiring Board of Directors
of "a. The cup was presented by Will
liam H. Lincoln, of Boston, one of the
oldest members of the Executive Board,
who spoke for the committee. The
cup stands 1S inches in hight. The
spaces between the three handles leave
ample room for the inscriptions, which
will be engraved upon them. One space
will contain the names of the "a di-
rectors, another an inscription express
ing the sentiment of the donors, and
the third the date and the occasion of
the presentation.
By the way, when President James
J. Fill, of the Great Northern, spoke
it was in part after this fashion,:
Both railroads and waterways" he
have suffered from the ar
tifices of demagogues, who care moth
ing for either, or for the welfare of
the people dependent upon them. The
one has been indiscriminately- assailed.
The other has been made football of
politics by appeals to local interests.
1t is time for n wiser policy; one
wOrthier of a great industrial Nation. |
The railroads have nothing to ask but
justice and fair play
Now, who on earth could he be slam
ming?
The Resolutions.
The report of the Committee on Res
which was unanimously adopt
ed, was made by Representative ]. |
Hampton Moore, Of Philadelphia. The
after reciting that nearly |
2, 600 delegates had attended from 81
States and Territories, called attention
to the inability of the railroads to
handle all the business, and that it
was imperative that other means OF
should be Immediately
provided for. The time has now come
for the Government to adopt a more
liberal and persistent policy. In brief
it was urged that the Government
stand for policy and not a project"
1t was urged upon Congress the imme-
date adoption of a comprehensive plan
Of waterways improvement, assigning
to this work a sufficient corps of able
engineers and the institution of a pol
icy of liberal annual appropriations for
on the work. The President
was praised for his appointment of
special Inland Waterways Commission,
and it was recommended that this Com
mission be made permanent by Con-
gress. The fifth and final resolution
read:
Fifth. That we ask Congress to view
the river. waterway and harbor ap-
not as the appropriation
nf fnopay fOr ha c,,rrant aynopvoc Of