The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-07
WATERWAYS MAKE
 RAILROAD RATES
Governor Conner At Memphis
 Addresses Convention
BENEFITS FOR ALABAMA
Points Out the Manyt Advantages to Ills State to Be Gained By Development of the MIssls-
 slpp.

Following Is the address of Gov. B. B. Conner at the Lakes to the Gulf Water ways convention at Memphis:
 "A 14-foot channel from the lakes to the gulf Is one of the most interesting, one of the most important questions before the American people-continent wide, con- tinent long, and, the accomplishment, world advantageous.
 We have long since found the value of continuity of the mercantile touch: a continuity which like air and sunshine fructif1es everything everywhere and best carries out the object of that Creator who made all things for all people. The fantasy of individual or contiguous ap- propriation of such a property as a ship channel from the lakes to the gulf Is a mlserly conception, as abject in it's rep rehenslbil1ty as that which for years sur rounded the opening of the Panama canal. as abJect IS that which today enters Into the policy of many of our great combinations of capital, some of which nave attempted to lay embargoes and hlndrances on the development and use or our national properties; on the de- Velopment and use of these great cross cuts from the lakes to the sea, and from ocean to ocean.
 ne federal government attempted the Eads Jetties and accomplished it: at- tempted the levee system, and they are being built stronger and better year by year; has attempted a cleared channel Of waterways, and Is fast accomplishina that It Is true that many, many mill lions have been exhausted: it is true that the interest on this expenditure is not registered In the treasury. vet the aerlVed value is everywhere apparent and in every treasure vault. It is A bit like citizen from Iowa whom I heard discussing with some fellow-pa ssangers rom wyoming and Colorado on a wes- tern train, the advantages. of their re- spective states. The gentlemen from Colo rado and Wyoming were claiming the great advantages from irrigation and it's immense wealth productions. The Iowa cltizen proudly asserted that he lived in Iowa where the good Lord sent the rain at the right time to fructify inc crops in the right way, and please God. ne sald, he and his would stay there forever
 Benefits All Places and People.
 The benefits from the expenditures on 1etties channels, levees, canals. if need be, though unregistered, vet like the rains In Iowa and irrigation of tn e west are filling and will fill the h. diVidual treasury and Is filtered into and made to increase the wealth of every section from the Pacific to the Atlantic, from the Canadian borders to those states which hold within bounds the gulf, so that no matter where we live In this great commonwealth. Whether even we live within the con fnes of this government or in dis tant land, there is q concurrant bAnef1t to every citizen everywhere-a benefit that protects and increases the vaiua ton of the products of this most won derful country
 Calico claimed that if he had a sufficient fulcrum he could move the world The demands of commerce fur nish the fulcrum, and the world is be- Ing moved. The Suez canal Is in use a railway through the Alps is ac- complished; bridges span the river from New York to Brooklyn: tubes have been driven under North and East rivers and railways built tn erein. so that travel and commerce are delivered in the heart of New York city. The Panama canal, 8 short route from the Atlantic to the Pacific, is being &C., complished; a railroad from the Cape to Cairo Is being accomplished. All VI thcSt thihBSs SttliliHBiy tH1IntTlCdl and impossible are yet so far accom- plished, or in process of building, that they are certainties. A deep waterway from the lakes to the gulf is being formulated in the mind of commerce.
 "It looks like far-off dream. yet 1t is a demand of commerce, and this proposed water-carrier from the inland seas to the broad expanse of the gulf, on cut into the ocean; all of 1t unlaid with rails and unfettered with bonds and stocks, still free to every nation and touched by the commerce of every people and if we but do our duty will soon be accomplished. This connect ing channel may be like the navy which the government has built and is building; like the fleet of bat/le- ships which will soon sail from the eastern to the western shore. may ap- pear spectacular, may look like folly, yet, like that glorious fleet. we will all recognize in 1t 8 protection for ever.
 This channel, an investment like the navy would have no issue of interest coupons, yet would pay an interest that property recognizes and property demands This water channel is more physical in it's nature than our fleet and our army. It not only has an in herent carrying value, which will be used forever, but 1t has also great worth as a protection against trusts; as protection against combinations of capital, and wh ether used or not, its benefits will be incalculable. no matter what the cost
 Advantages to Alabama.
 q am asked to state the advantages which will come to Alabama from con necton with these waterways, the bene fits the opening of this channel and it's tributaries will furnish.
 "The Erie canal may never have car ried all of the freight that it was de- signed to carry, yet it has carried limita- tions on the charges of other carriers and has made possible commercial rela- tions between great inland seas and tho commerce of all the states and of the world, which value has far overpaid the interest on cost of same. Just above Cairo, commencing at the Three Rivers Town, where the Ohio, the Cumberland and the Tennessee join in their onfow to the Mississippi, the Ohio, from it's mouth coming down through illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio West Virginia and Pennsylvania, made navigable as far as a channel cleared and an inter- lock holding enough water, has carried fleets of barges and numbers of vessels, not as numerous as materialist would