Arizona republican., 1907-10-05


 bors The great harbors are of con- sequence not merely to the immediate localities. but to immense stretches of country; and the same is true oi the great rivers. It is these great rivers and great harbors the improvement of which is of primary national interest. The main streams should be improved to the highest practical degree of ef- ficiency before improvements are at tempted on the branches. and work should be undertaken only when com pletion is in sight within a reasonable time, so that assured results may be gained and the communities affected depended upon the improvements. Moreover, as an incident in caring for the river so that \it may become an efficient channel of transportation. the United States government should do its full part in' levee building. which. ! in the lower reaches of the river, will | not only give channel for commerce. but will also give protection to the | adjacent bottom lands.
 Immense sums have already been spent upon the Mississippi by | the states of the nation, get much oi it remains practically un- used for commerce. The reasons for tbs fact are many. One i is that the work done by the national I government at least has not been based | upon a definite and continuous plan. | Appropriations by congress, instead of 1 assuring the steady progress and time 1 ly completion of each piece of work as it was undertaken, have been irregular and uncertain. As a direct conse- quence, reaching plans have been discouraged and continuity in execu | tion has been made impossible. It is altogether unlikely that better results will be obtained so long as the method is followed of making partial appro- priations at irregular intervals for works which should never be under taken until it is certain that they can be carried to completion within def mite and reasonable time. Planned and orderly development is essential : to the best use of every natural re- source. and to none more than to the best use of our inland waterways it has been conspicuously absent. Be- ! cause such foresight was lacking. the interests of our rivers have been in fact overlooked, in spite of the i'm mense sums spent upon them. It is evident that their most urgent need is a farsighted and comprehensive plan. dealing not with navigation alone. nor with irrigation alone. but considering our inland waterways as a whole. and with reference to every use to which they can be put. The central motive of such a plan should be to get from the streams of the United States not ] hs fttll i.itr all ha manent service they are capable of rendering to the nation as a whole.
 The industries developed under the stimulus of the railroads are for the most part permanent industries. and therefore they form the basis for fu- ture development. But the railroads have shown that they alone can not meet the demands of the country for transportation, and where this is true the rivers should begin to supplement the railroads, to the benefit of both, by relieving them of certain of the less profitable classes of freight. The more farseeing railroad men, I am glad to tell you, realize this fact. and many of them have become earnest advo- cates of the improvement of the Mis- sissippi. so that it may become sort of inland seaboard. extending from the gulf far into the interior, and I hope ultimately to the Great Lakes. An in- vestigation of the proposed Lakes-on- the-Gulf deep waterway is now in pro- gress under an appropriation of the last congress. We shall await its re- suits with the keenest interest. The decision is obviously of capital inn portance to our internal development and scarcely less so in relation to ex- ternal commerce."
 The president spoke of other plans of the development of internal naviga- tion. relating to the Columbia, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin val leys and Of the work the government had undertaken in the reclamation of arid lands and the conservation of the forests
 In connection with his remarks upon the construction of the Panama canal he again urged an increase of the strength of the navy. The address was closed with a repetition of his views regarding government control of the corporations especially the rail- roads and the purpose of the adminis- tration to continue the prosecution of the latter for violation of the laws.