The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-02-01
ATTACK ON
 MIR. BURTON Missouri Delegates Are
 Wroth. COMBINATION AGAINST WEST North and South Get Together in
 Report. wanted Feurteen-Foot Canal from st. Louis to Chieaxo, But Got Adverse Report--Bapk-
 head to Speak.

WaSnlngton, Jan. sl,---in tne Aouss today Mir Burton of Ohio moved that that body resolve itself into q commit tee of the whole for the consideration of the river and harbor appropriation bill; coupling his motion with a propc- sition that the time be controlled by the chairman of the committed of the whole, If such time be less than one hour, and time over that limit be df- vided between the chairman of the Waterways Committee and the ranking member of the minority, Mir. Bankhead of Alabama.
 Objection was made to this by Mir. Payne of New York, Mir. DalzeiI of Pennsylvania and MT. Clark of Mis- souri.
 Speaker Cannon cut the knot by ex- plaining that the condition of public business warranted the time to be ap- portioned by the chairman of the com mittee of the whole, in order that the bill might be expedited. The House then began in committee of the whole tho consideration of the waterways bill. Mir Burton making the opening statement.
 MT. Burton, In making the opening statement on the bill, said 1t was the largest river and harbOr bill ever pre- sented to Congress, and the best, ai- though the act of June, 1908, contained a larger amount of authorizations Provision Is made in the pending bill for the completion of much larger proportion of projects than in any preceding measure. In providing for the completion of new projects, radical departure Is made In tne phi from former methods
 It has been thought best. Mir. Burton remarked. "to undertake no new im- provement unless the whole amount required for it's completion, whether inc project involves large or small expense. Is appropriated or author ized."
 This policy, Mr. Burton says. has been followed in preparing the biil with barely an exception. and ne dweit at length ou the adyantAges oT fact that Ses, ,0U:8ss or the amount ihs eIuded in the bill is for improvements Of considerable magnitude already un- dertaken by the government or for improvements in connection herewith, where increased trafflc requires addi- tional facilities.
 In the discussion of the river and harbor bill of 1902, Mir. Burton said, there had been a popular misapprehen- sion to the effect that q very large amount of money had been appro priated for rivers and creeks of triv- ial importance. but it was shown that by the act of that year only $1,417.00O had been appropriated for small streams.
 As to Hennepin Canal.
 Speaking of the Hennepin canal MT. Burton traced the agitation in favor of it to popular feeling but he doubt ed if it would be of the advantage an- ticipated.
 Representative Bartholdt of Missou ri. one of the champions of a fourteen foot channel between St. Louis and Chicago. which the committed refused to include in the bill. followed Mir. Burton. He charged that the com mittee under the influence of its chairman (Mr. Burton) had unfairly discriminated against that project In favor of a rival route from the lakes to the Mississippi by way of the Pitts burg and Lake Erie canal and the Ohio. MT. Bartholdt asserted that there was a combination of the East and the South in the committee against the middle West.
 MT Ransdell of Louisiana said the railroads were beginning to realize that waterways must be improvAd to relieve the freight congestion which Is alarming the public. The result. he said, Is a decided change in the atti- tude of the railroads towards waterway improvement. He spoke of the recom- mendation of President J. J. Hill of the Great Northern Railroad that a fifteen foot waterway be provided from Chicago to the Gulf and said that the far-sig ghtedness of that railroad official was thoroughly well known.
 Passing 10 the question of the cost of water transportation he said that 1t was about as one to three as compared with the cost of railway transportation.
 Leave COngressmen at Home.
 ''The American people are in favor of improving their waterways" de- clared Mir. Ransdell. "and the members policy are going to be left at home," a statement which called forth a round of applause.
 He criticized the practice of report ing a river and harbor bill once every three or four years and insisted that A waterways bill should be made an an- nual proposition like any of the yearly budgets.
 MT. Burton in discussing the practice of reporting river and harbor bills but once every two or three years, said. speaking of the navy:
 My heart and the heart of every American swells with a just nride when we consider the glorious record of our navy, without one blemish unon US Ialr ebCutCueon from the days of John Paul Jones to this date of Dewey Sampson and schley. (Applause.) But 1t is giving to commerce a square deal when 1t receives from it's rivers and harbors practically the only appropria- tions made for commerce, per cent and war and It's rewards in this peace loving nation of ours receives 40 ner cent a year of our total annual appro- priations for all the purposes of tha government.
 MT. Burton said that dring the pas+ five years the navy had alone received .a total of 90,OO0.OO0. almost as much in five years as rivers and harbors had received dring the entire 11S years of or national life.
 "The policy of the Government fin the past" emphatically declared Mr Burton, has been niggardly and par simonious in the extreme"
 Resident Commissioner Larrigna of Porto Rico made his maiden speech in support of a policy of improvement in that island. With a slight Spanish ac- cent he spoke of the penny wise. pound foolish policy of the Commit