Evening journal., 1907-12-03
PRESIDENT
FOR DEEPER
WATERWAYS
Says Should be Sys-
tenn md COntinu-
On
REFERS PARTICULARLY
TO EASTERN WATERWAYS

claiming of the marsh lands of the ma
ton. Although the President does nos
make specific reference to the Chesa-
peake and delaware Canal. he refers
to the waterway indirectly.
His references to the two subjects
follow:
'The conservation OF our natural
resources and their proper use con-
stitute the fundamental problem which
underlies almost every other problem
Of our National life. We must main
tain for our civilization the adequate
material basis without which that
civilization can not exist. We must
show foresight. we must look ahead
As a nation we not only enjoy Won
derful measure of present prosperity
but If this prosperity is used Alright il
is an earnest Of future success such
as no other nation win have. The re-
ward Of foresight for this nation Is
great and easily foretold But there
must be the look ahead. there must be
a realization Of the fact that to waste.
to destroy, our natural resources, 90
skin and exhaust the land instead OF
using it so az TO Increase its useful
ness. viii result in undermining in the
days Of our children the very pros
perity which we ought by right to
hand down to them ampnied and de-
veloped. For the last few years.
through several agencies, the Govern
ment has been endeavoring to get our
people to look ahad and to substitute
a planned ana orderly development OF
our resources in place of a haphazard
striving for immediate profit Our
great river systems should be develop
ed as national water highways; the
Mississippi, with its tributaries, stand
ing first in Importance, and the
Columbia second, although there are
many others of importance on the
Pacific. the Atlantic and the Gulf
slopes
Government Should Start Il.
The National Government should
undertake this work, and I hope a be-
ginning viii be made in the present
Congress; and the greatest of all our
rivers, the Mississippi, should receive /
especial attention. From the Great
Lakes to the mouth of the Mississippi
there should be a deep waterway. with
deep waterways leading from it to tho
East and West Such a waterway
would practically mean the extension
Of our coast line into the very heart
Of our country. II would be of in
calculable benefit to our people. If
begun at once it can be carried
through in time appreciably to relieve
the congestion Of our great freight
carrying lines of railroads. The work
should be systematically and continu-
ously carried forward in accordance
with some well-conceived plan. The
main streams should be improved To
the highest point of efficiency before
the improvement of the branches is at
tempted; and the work should be kept
free from every taint Of recklessness
or jobbery. The inland waterways
which lie just back of the whole east
ern and southern coats should likewise
be developed. Moreover, the develop
ment of our waterways involves many
other important water problems, all of
which should be considered as part Of
the same general scheme The Gov
ernment dams should be used to pro-
duce hundreds Of thousands OF horse
power as an incident TO improving
navigation; for the annual value of>un-
used water power of the United States
perhaps exceeds the annual value OF
the products Of all our mines. As an
incident to creating the deep water
way down the Mississippi, the Gov
ernment should build along its whole
lower length levees which taken to-
gether with the control of the head
waters. will at once and forever put a
complete stop to all threats of floods
in the immensely fertile Delta region.
The territory lying adjacent to the
Mississippi along its lower course will
thereby become one of the most pros
porous and populous. as it is already
is one of the most fertile, farming
regions in all the world. I have APP
pointed an Inland Waterway Commits
sion to study and outline a compre-
hensive scheme of development along
all the lines indicated Later shall
lay its report before Congress.
Reclamation Work.
Irrigation should be far more ex-
tensively developed than at present.
not only in the States of the Great
Plains and the Rocky Mountains, but
in many others.as, for instance, in
large portions of the South Atlantic
and Gulf States. where it should go
hand in hand with the reclamation Of
swamp land. The Federal Government
should seriously devote itself to this
task, realizing that utilization OF
waterways and water-power, forestry
irrigation, and the reclamation OF
lands threatened with overow, are all
interdependent parts of the same
problem. The work Of the Reclama-
tion Service in developing the larger
opportunities of the western half Of
our country for irrigation is more i'm
portant than almost any other move
ment. The constant purpose of the
Government in connection with the Re
clamation Service has been to use the
water resources Of the public lands for
the ultimate greatest good of the
greatest number; in other words, to
put upon the land permanent home
makers to use and develop il Cor
themselves and for their children and
children's childsssA There has been,
of course. opposition to the work; op-
position from some Interested men who
desire to exhaust the land for their
own immediate profit without regard TO
the welfare of the next generation. and
OPPOSITION from honest and well-mcall-
ing men who did not fully understand
the subject or who did not look far
enough ahead. The opposition is.
think, dying away, and our people are
understanding that il would be utterly
wrong to allow a few individuals 10
exhaust for their own temporary per-
sonal profit the resources which ought
TO be developed through us so as to