The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-03


 The President said:
 It is a very real pleasure to address this body of citizens of Missouri here in the great city of St. Louis. havo often visited St. Louis before, but always by rail. Now I am visiting It in the. course of a trip by water, 0 trip on the
 great natural highway which runs past your very doors-a highway once so I'm
 portant, now almost abandoned, whlch ! l hope this nation will see nQt only re- 1 stored to all it's former usefulness, but
 given a far greater degree of usefulness | to correspond with the extraordinary growth in wealth and population Of the Mississippi valley. We have lived in an era of phenomenal railroad building. As routes for merchandise, the iron highways have completely supplanted the old wagon roads, and under their competition the importance of the water highways has been much diminished. The growth of the railway system has been rapid all oyer the world, but nowhere so rapid as in the United States. Accompanying this there has grown in the United States q tendency toward the practically complete abandonment of the system of water transportation. Such tendency Is cer- tainly not healthy and l am convinced that it will not be permanent. There are
 many classes of commodities, especially those which are perishable in their na- ture and where the value Is high rea- lively to the bulk, which will always be carried by rail. But bulky commodities which are not of a perishable nature will always be specially suited for the condi- tions of water transport. To illustrate the truth of this statement 1t would only
 be necessary to point to the use of the ca
 nal system in many countries Of the Old World; but it can be Illustrated even better by what has happene1 nearer home.
 A Prime Example. | The Great Lakes offer prime example
 of the importance of a good water high
 way for mercantile traffic. As the line of traffic runs through lakes, the condi- ! tions are in some respects different from l what must obtain even the most inn
 portant river Nevertheless, it Is well l to remember that very large part of
 this traffic Is conditioned upon an ar | tlicial waterway. a canal-the famous l Soo The commerce that passes through | the Soo far surpasses in bulk and In value | that of the Suez canal
 From every standpoint 1t is desirable
 for the nation to join in improving the
 greatest system of river highways within | it's borders, a system second only in | importance to the highway afforded by
 the Great Lakes; the highways of the
 Mississippi and it's great tributaries, such | as the Missouri and Ohio. This river 1 system traverses too many states to ren- | der it possible to leave merely to the
 states the task of fitting it for the great
 est use of which it is capable. It is em- | phatically a national task. for this great l river system is itself one of our chief
 national assets. Within the last few years there has been an awakening in | this country to the need of both the con servauon and the development of our na- | tional resources under the superyision of
 and by the aid Of the federal government. 1 This is especially true of all that con
 cerns our running waters. On the noun | tains from which the springs start we | are now endeavoring to preserve th
 forests which regulate the water supp
 and prevent too startling variations | tween droughts and freshets. Below
 mountains, in the high dry region, | the western plains, we endeavor to $ | the proper utilization of the wate- ! irrigation. This is at the sourcesI I streams. Farther down, where H come navigable, our aim must b | to develop a policy which sh9
 the utmost advantage from the waters. Finally, on the lower
 the Mississippi, the nation sf | full share in the work Of
 | ing; and, incidentally to 1t serving navigation, this | vent the ruin of ailuviaJ .= floods. Our knowledge Is .. | far advanced to enabl H definitely as to the pl9
 ] be- adopted; but let me
 | warning: The danger He tI | such scheme lies in | possible and undesirg i4 .fr
 adoption of whici money extravaga r- l ton to the return ssi- 1 ble,- are not, rela taa $ of an importance VI Hrfa -rf ldop- | ton. It will no sH ta sreDfe the assent of a funt fh peo- | pie like our own HaelfIa such
 a policy as that ta ego a opted . and even if we fr F laaon 2 such