The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-10-04
President Roosevelt Advises
People of Mississippi Valley
Not to Be Carried Away by
Manufacturing Interests.
AN EMPIRE ITSELF.
He Calls the Region the Heart
of the Country.
Cannot Afford Any Longer to
Neglect the Waterways.

Memphis, Oct 4-The Inland Water
Ways convention which opened here to-
day was addressed by President Roose-
welt, who spoke as follows:
Under any circumstances I should
welcome the chance of speaking at
Memphis in the old historic state of
Tennessee, rich in its glorious past and
in the certainty of even greater fu-
ture; but especially congratulate my
self that I am able to speak here on
an occasion like this, when I meet not
only the citizens of Tennessee, but
many Of the citizens of Mississippi and
Arkansas and of other states well;
and when the chief executives of so
many states are gathered to consider
a subject of momentous interest to ALL
The Mississippi valley is a magnificent
empire in size and fertility. 1t is bet
ter adapted to the development of in
land navigation than any other valley
in either hemisphere: for there are r.
600 miles of waterway now more or less
fully navigable, and the conditions are
SO favorable that 1t will be easy to in
crease the extent of navigable water
ways to almost any required degree by
canalization. Early in our industrial
history this valley was the seat of the
largest development of inland naviga-
ton in the United States, and perhaps
you will pardon my mentioning that
the first steamboat west of the AL
1eghenies was built by a Roosevelt, my
greatgrandfather's brother, in 1911, for
year made the trip from Pittsburg to
New Orleans. But from various causes
river and canal transportation declined
all over the United States as the rail-
road systems came to their full de-
velopment. 1t is our business to see
that the decline is not permanent; and
1t is of interest to remember that near
~ century ago President Madison ad-
vocated the canalization of the Mis-
sissippi.
In wealth of natural resources no
kingdom of Europe can compare with
the Mississippi valley and the region
around the Great Lakes, taken togeth-
er, and in population this huge fertile
plain already surpasses all save one or
two of the largest European kingdoms
In this empire a peculiarly stalwart and
masterful people finds itself in the sur
roundings best fitted for the full de-
velopment of its powers and faculties.
- Stick to the Farm.
There has been great growth in
the valley Of manufacturing centers;
the movement is good if it does not go
too far; but most earnestly 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 medium-sized
farms on which they live, make up
what is on the whole the most valu-
able asset in our national life. There
can be just as real progress and Gull
ture in the country as in the city; es-
pectally in these days of rural free de-
livery, trolleys, bicycles, telephones,
good roads, and school improvements
The valley of the Mississippi is politi-
cally and commercially more important
than any other valley 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
clvl!zation reached in this |
mighty valley, in this vast stretch of |
country lying between the Alleghenies |
and the Rockies. the Great Lakes and !
the Gulf. will largely fix the type of
Hemisphere. Already, as our history |
shows, the west has determined our
national political development, and the
fundamental principle of present Amer
lean politics, political equality, was or
tginally 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
surface of the soil and beneath the
soil the riches are great. There are
already evident strong tendencies to
increase 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 be-
comes dryer we enter upon the ranch
ing country; while in addition to the
products of the soil there are also the
manufactures supplied in innumerable
manufacturing centers, great and
small Cities of astonishing growth
are found everywhere from the Gulf
to the Great Lakes, from the Allie
ghenies to the Rockies; most of them
being situated on the great river
which flows by your doors or upon
some of its numerous navigable tribu-
tarjss. New mineral fields are dis
covered every year; and the constant
1y increasing use of all the devices of
intensive cultivation steadily adds to
the productive power of the farms.
Above all, the average man is honest,
intelligent, self-reliant and orderly
and therefore good citizen; and far
mer and wageworker alke-in the
last analysis the two most important
men in the community-enjoy a stan
dard of living, and have developed a
standard of self-respecting, self-re-
liant manhood. which are of good
augury for the future of the entire
republic. No man can foresee the
limit of the possibility of development
in the Mississippi valley.
The Heart of the Country
Such being the case, and this valley
being literally the heart of the United
States, all that concerns its welfare
must concern likewise the whole
river and it's tributaries ought by all
means to be utilized to their utmost
possibility. Facility of cheap trans
portation is an essential in our mod
ern civilization, and we can not af-
ford any longer to neglect the great
highways which nature has provided
for u.s. These natural highways, the
can never be monopolized
by any corporation. They belong to
all the people, and it is in the power
of no one to take them away. Where
ever a navigab1e river runs beside
railroads the problem of regulating
the rates on the railroads become far
easier because river regulation is rate
When the water rate ,
sinks. the land rate can not be kept
Tharafnra iS |