The Kemper herald. (Scooba, Miss.) 1875-1908, 1907-12-12
$5o0,O00,OOO
IN TEN YEARS
CONGRESS ASKED FOR TEN
ANNUAL APPROPRIATIONS.
WATERWAYS IMPROVEMENTS

fOrclI III heS0lut1OnS Arc A0Opteo py
the Congress Which Was . Success
in Every Respect. Attendance Was
Good.
Washington-An annual appropria'
ton of at least $50,00O,000 for the
improvement and development Of the
waterways of America is the gist Of
the recommendation Of the Rivers
and Harbors Congress which conclud-
ed its session. No particular project
was. advocated by the convention, the
recommendation of the committee on
resolutions, which were adopted, unan
imously, being that a national policy
for the improvement Of inland water
ways be adopted by the congress Of
the United States.
j. Hampton Moore, Of Philadelphia
chairman of the committee on resolu-
tions, presented the platform of the
association as the unanimous sentl-
ment of thirty-seven states, and he
said that the committee required the
approval of the report in the hope
that it would receive the respectful
consideration of the national congress
The report of the committee follows:
Frcful Statement of Facts.
"After years consideration Of
the aims and purposes of the national
Rivers and Harbors Congress as ex-
pressed in resolutions adopted by that
body in 1906, the American people
have. given them emphatic endorse
ment by sending to this convention,
assembled at the national capitalS De-
cember 4, 5, and 6, 1907, nearly two
thousand delegates from thirty-sevea
states and territories representing the
commercial men, producing and con-
suming interests Of the. country and
these delegates are unanimous of the
belief:
''First-7-That profitable and sue
cessfuT commerce is absolutely de-
pendent upon economical transporta-
ton of commodities, and that the i'm
portance of transportation will in
crease with the growth of population
and the developments of the nation s
sources. -,
"Second-That the railroads Of the
United States are now unable to ham
die business offered them and much
loss results from the congested condi-
tion of traffic; that according to high
railroad authority, the business of the
country. has increased over 100-per
cent. within ten years, while the ia
cilities for handling it by rail has
been increased only about twenty per
cent, and as the railroads cannot be
expected in the near future to ia
crease their facilities sufficiently TO
relieve the situation other means of
transportation should be provided at
once.
"Third-That transportation If
heavy commodities by water on all
rivers and inland waterways is much
cheaper and usually quicker than by
rail; that no country in the world has
been so'blessed by nature with wa
ter, courses as our own, and that If
properly improved and connected by
canals, they would furnish conve-
nient means of. shipping enormous vol
umes of freight, thereby relieving the
congestion on the railroads and fur
nishing cheap and safe transportation
for the benefit of the producer and
consumer. y st sft,%
"Fourth-That the time has come
when the policy of the federal gov
ernment towards .watersways over
which it rightly has. supreme call,
should be more libera,, persistent and
continuous than heretofore; that as
a result of intermittent action, mer-
itorious works of Importance begun
many years ago are still far from
completion; that appropriations fo.
rivers, watersways and harbors have
,heen made at intervals OF three years
instead of,annualiy +; shat for the past
ten years they have averaged only
about $22,000,00O year or less than
three per cent. Of the average annual
expenditures Of the government, and
that enough money should be appro-
priated each year, for at least the
next ten years, properly to improve
the various rivers, waterways and
harbors on plans, which have been
and shall be surveyed and approved
by the government engineers and used
by the congress of the United States.
therefore, be it resolved by the
National Rivers and Harbors Congress
at the present session, containing del
egates of every shade of opinion and
representing every business interest
in the land, standing for policy not
for project.
"First-That We earnestly urge the
adoption by the federal government of
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