Arizona republican., 1907-10-05
Mir, ROOseveIt's Address Before the Deep
 Water Ways Convention
Incidentally Repeats His OtiOns the Subject of the \ avy and the Need of Curbing the Law Break ing Corporations.

Memphis, Oct 4.-The chief figure of the Deep Waterways Convention today. was President Roosevelt, who was given a great ovation by the del- egates from the broad territory to be benefited by the accomplishment of the movement. II was shared by the members of the commission and by the governors of twenty-three states.
 The president spoke at great length on the desirability Of opening the Mis- sissippi for deep water navigation and in the course of his address said:
 From various causes river and canal transportation declined all over the United States as the railroad sys- tems came to their full development. IL is our business to see that the de- cline is not permanent; and n is of interest to remember that nearly a century ago President Madison adVo- cated the equalization of the Missis- sippi. In wealth of natural resources no kingdom of Europe can compare with the Mississippi valley and the region around the Great Lakes. taken together, and in population this huge fertile plain already surpasses all save one or two of the largest European
 
 stalwart and masterful people finds it. self in the surroundings best fitted for the full development of its powers and faculties. There has been a great growth in the valley of manufacturing centers; the movement is good if it does not go too far; but I most earn estly hope that this region as a whole will remain predominantly agricultural. The people who live in the country districts, and who till the small or mediums sized farms on which they live make up what is on the whole the most valuable asset in our national life. There can be just as real pro- gress and culture in the country as in the city; especially in these days of rural free delivery, trolleys, bicycles, telephones, good roads, and school i'm provements. The valley of the Mis- sissippi is politically and commercially more important than any other valley on the face of the globe.
 Here more than anywhere else will be determined the future Of the United States and indeed of the whole western world; and the type of civilization reached in this mighty valley, in this vast stretch of country lying between the Alleghanies and the Rockies, the Great Lakes and the Gulf will largely fix the type of civilization for the whole western hemisphere. Already, as our history shows. the west has de- termined our national political develop ment and the fundamental principle of present American politics, political equality, was originally a western idea.
 The wonderful variety of resources in different portions of the valley make the demand for transportation altogether exceptional. Coal, lumber, corn, wheat. cotton. cattle-On the sur face of the soil and beneath the soil the riches are great. There are all ready evident strong tendencies to in crease the carrying of freight from the northern part of the valley to the gulf. Throughout the valley the land is so fertile as to make the field for the farmer peculiarly attractive; and where in the west the climate becomes dryer We enter upon the ranching country; while in addition to the pro- ducts of the soil there are also the manufactures supplied in immune: able manufacturing centers, great and small. Cities of astonishing growth are found everywhere from the gulf to the Great Lakes, from the Alleghenies to the Rockies; most of them being sit