The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-12-07
MIR. VANDIVER SPEAKS FOR
 WATERWAYS RETIREMENT

Washington, Dec. s.--(Special. J. W. F. vandiver of Montgomery today addressed the National Rivers ana Harbors Congress in an earnest ap- peal for higher development of the waterways.
 MT. Vandiver spoke as follows:
 ~Afr. President ana Gentlemen of the
 National Rivers and Harbors Con-
 T have the honor to represent the merciaI Club of that city and z the Freight Bureau, whose interests are identical and who are in full syrnpa- thy with the purposes of this conven-
 Representing as I do,. typical Southern city. the capital of one of the leading States of the Southern group; having been born and reared In the ] growth and successive achieyements with a feeling of patriotic pride ana feel am in position to speak know ingly of the conditions there.
 Tt is with no beastful spirit that l accredit to the South it's value as great producer of the nations wealth. Her cotton alone contributes some thing like six hundred million dollars. furnish iumbef to ail parts of the world. Her supply of Iron and coal IS unlimited and every nation on the globe Is her patron. Sne mas tahen one-fifth of the cotton produced Is woven by Southern mills; one-half her iron Is melted and large per centage converted into finished products , by decade phenomenal progress has been made in bringing the latent resources of the Southern States to the attention of the world, and the marketins or transportation facilities which are ut terly Inadequate to justify the rapidly increasing interest now being mani. Tested in our economic development and
 sThis matter of river and harbor ,ini- provement Is one of great scope. The objects of this convention are to deai with the subject as . whole; to get ex- pressions of opinion from those or din- ferent sections of this great and grow ing country, and to inculcate and diI- fuse a degree of enthusiasm which VIII follow these delegates to their rsspec- tes are not discharged when we leave tnis hall; we should carry with us the IT.. spiration derived and disseminate l among ouf omh people take every oc- lute necessity for sufficient appropria- tions by Congress to begin this great work and to carry 1t to completoh: This general interest will De renecLea by our Representatives in congress They are keen to grasp the popular idea of their constituents and endeavor to carry out their wishes. They real ize their return to Congress, from ttine to time, depends largely upon this. Lit tie wonder then they watch the wave of popular sentiment.
 Importance of Work.
 We have great many men n our selves realize the importance of large appropriations for improvements or rivers and harbors, and l am glad 70 see some of the staunchest friends are worthy projects suffer because Of per- sfstent claims for wholly unworthy and impracticable propositions. Inere should be a spirit of fairness l, and ssa,5d ll65 not apply for, nor insist upon. appro- priations from the government where the scheme has no merit. The pork was formerly called, was used to such an extent for purely political purposes that 1t actually became a stench In the nostrils of our people. So many utter came up and so much of the nations money literally thrown away that the people became distrustful but now the whole system of making appropria- deal honestly with the government and we want the cooperation of our Con
 'Tf a project receives the proper rec commentators WdubS hO b0 RY1ACds if some of us are so unfortunate As not to have an available or practicable pet scheme or local project let us not be guilty of the dog in thef manager act but lend hand and help others who have projects of real merit.
 we realize that all this work can not be done at one time; we should bide our time and wait patiently for the op- can be reached. However, by securing an ample annual appropriation the work should progress rapidly on each of the many feasible Improvements and the entire country benefited by each individual project. which will ulti- mately form a link in the complete chain.
 My reference to the conditions ip the South applies with equal force to the entire Union. Within a compara- lively few years. the United States has risen to first place as a producing and manufacturing nation. Our products