Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1907-10-02
ROOSEVELT ON WATERWAYS.
CONTINUED From Page 50

and the Rockies, yet it is of concern to
the rest of the country also, for it can
not too often be said that whatever is
really beneficial to one part of our
country is ultimately of benefit to the
whole. Exactly as it is a good thing
for the interior of our country that the
seaports on the Atlantic and the Pa
cific and the gulf should be safe and
commodious, so it is to the interest
of the jewellers on the coast that the
interior should possess ample facilities
for the transportation of its products.
Our interests are all closely interwov-
en-, and in the long run it will be found
that we go up or go down together.
Take, for instance, the Panama can
al. If the Mississippi is restored to it's
former place of Importance as a high
way of commerce, then the building of
the Panama canal will be felt as an
immediate advantage to the business
of every city and country district in
the Mississippi valley. think that the
building of that canal will be of espe-
cial advantage to the states that lie
along the Pacific and the states that
lie along the gulf; and yet, after all, /
feel that the advantage will be shared
in an only less degree by the states
coast In other words, it is a thor
oughly national work, undertaken for
and redounding to the advantage of all
of us-to the advantage of the nation
as a whole. Therefore am glad to be
able to report to you how well we are
doing with the canal. There is bound
to be a certain amount of experiment,
a certain amount of feeling our way.
in a task so gigantic task greater
than any of it's kind that has ever
hitherto been undertaken in the whole
history of mankind; but the success so
far has been astonishing, and we have
not met with a single one of the acct
dents or drawbacks which 1 freely
confess 1 expected we should from
time to time encounter. We, in the
first place, laid the foundation for the
work by securing the most favorable
health, comfort, and safety of the
men who were to do it; and now the
canal zone is in point of health better
off than the average district of the
same size at home Then we went at
the problem of the actual digging and
have been engaged in making the dirt
fly in good earnest, and the output of
the giant steam shovels has steadily
increased. 1t is now the rainy season,
when work is most difficult on the
listhmus, yet in the month of August
two hundred thousand cubic yards of
earth and rock, a greater amount than
in any previous month. If we are able
to keep up substantially the rate of
progress that now obtains we shall
finish the actual digging within five or
six years; though when we come to
the great Gatun dam and locks, while
there is no question as to the work
being feasible, there are several ele-
ments entering into the time problem
which make it unwise at present to
hazard a prophecy in reference there
to.
Now, gentlemen, this leads me up to
another matter for national considera-
ton, and that is our navy. The navy
is not primarily of importance only to
the coast regions. 1t is every bit as
much the concern of the farmer who
dwells thousand miles from sea wa
ter as of the fisherman who makes his
living on the ocean, for it is the con-
Germ of every good American who
knows what the meaning of the WORD
patriotism is. This country is definite
ly committed to certain Fundamental