Williams news., 1907-11-02
WANTS A SQUARE DEAL

and thus make up the loss sustained by them in hauling freight at less than cost to and from favored socalled water com petition points? Inland communi- ties, such as Denver. Spokane Wichita. Topeka, Fort Worth and Oklahoma City say they do and place the burden of blam on con gress. It is claimed that millions of dollars of the peoples money is expended annually upon artificial l socalled naviga bic streams which never have been, and never will be to any great extent, actual mediums of transportation. "Such projects,' > says a prominent shipper, "are concocted by scheming individuals and communities for their sole benefit, to the detriment of the people atlarge."
 The belief is general that the present effort to secure large ap- propriations for socalled naviga ble streams is carried forward largely by communities that have no actual natural opportunities for water transportation but which hope to make A purely artificia l showing for the purpose of securing railway freight rate advantages based on alleged water competition.
 To put an end to this abuse and practice, every inland commercial organization in the country west of the Missouri river has signifed its intention to participate in the Inland Communities Convention. which will be held at Wichita Kansas, Novemb Der 18th, 1907, for the purpose of discussing the sub feet of river and harhor appropri ations by congress to the end thai members of congress may be asked to avoid favoring appropriations for waterways when actual regular transportation of freight on such waterways is not practical. It is contended that in great many :ases railroad rates are based or water competition that purely is theoretical. This convention will also be called upon by the inland merchants to petition congress to amend the interstate commerce law in such way as 10 obleviatt present unjust freight rate con ditions produced and fostered by alleged water competition and other farce theories.
 The official call for the Inland Communities Convention has been sent to over 800 commercial l organizations and traffic bureaus. and to the mayors of over 500 cities, as well as the governors, railway commissioners, and to United States senators and con- gress men of every state west of the Missouri river.
 It is expected that the conven- tion will rival in Importance the river and harbor congress thai assemblies in Washington every winter to urge upon congress the necessity for improving the water ways of the country and thus alleviate present congested traffic conditions The Inland Communi- ties. Convention is also in favor of waterway mprovements hut would eliminate all chimerical, impracti- cal and pet projects which find their way into the appropriation bills not through merit but because of this or that congressman's in- duence with the national admins tration. The coming convention will probably be one of the larges, conventions ever held in Kansas. and promises to become a per manent organization. That this organization can exercise a healthy influence at Washington when con- gress is in session and voting away the peoples money is ne longer a matter of doubt.
 A splendid example of the in fa roOuS wOrE ipuc of fraiubt rotoe