The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-03

rivers and harbors congress, which in- cludes all improvement that can pos- sibly be made in the Union as outlined by government engineers. and for which the congress desires the appro- priation of s5OO.0oo.0O0, that it would be equal to the carrying capacity of 45o.O00 miles of railroad. He also gave statist.cs showing how rates had been cheapened by several hundred per cent by the improvement of certain harbors and rivers.
 50 far the United States has spent s523,o00, 900 on waterway Improvements. but while it has resulted in untold good 1t was not expended altogether in the right way on account of the senators and representatives in Congress each one fighting for his own little terri tory. We propose to go about this in a business4like, way. We must have national policy. If we can spend this $500.000o0O during the next 10 years at the rate of $50. 1000. 900 it means that we will have improved every river and harbor in the country. It will also mean that at the end of 10 years Congress won't have to appro- priate another s50,O0o,00O for water way improvment as all of it will have been improved"
 Value as an investment. The speaker then touched on the im- provement of harbors and the good which had resulted from 1t in the cheapening of rates and greatly increased business. Along this line he said that the total amount expended on the improvement of harbors along the Atlantic and gulf coasts had amounted to S4S. 600, while the import duty received on shipments coming into these ports had amounted to s251, All, 900 during 1907 alone. What about that for an investment?' He then quoted statistics showing how business had in- creased in the Boston and New York harbors by the deepening of them, which allowed ships of greater tonnage to en- ter.
 A comparison with the Monongahela river in Pennsylvania and the Warrior river in Alabama was then made. MT. Fox stating that in 1867 the Monongahela was no more navigable than the War rior Is now, but how the persistent ef- forts of the people of Pennsylvania had resulted in the deepening of that river until now it had a 6-foot channel, which had cheapened the cost of trans-
 
 charge being A cents per ton and now with the improved river, being only cents per ton.
 If the whole southern states could only realize what it would mean to the whole world by the opening of these Alabama coal fields there would be no doubt about their demanding the improving of the wa terways here. You have S65 miles of waterways here now capable of being made navigable
 If Alabama will join this crusade and help us we can land this appropriation. 1 want your full cooperation In getting this entire state aroused, and this coming De- cember we want not 2000 but 5000 dele gates to the National Rivers and liar bors congress. We want to take this up in a business like way and convince Congress, and ten years from now will find us with the transportation problem settled"
 After the conclusion of MT. Foxs ad- dress, A. R. Dearborn offered resolu- ton of thanks to MT. Fox for his talk and expressed the regret that a larger audience had not been present, saying those absent had suffered a distinct loss.
 MT. Fox will remain in Birmingham un- til Wednesday night when he will pro- ceed to make a campaign of the state. He is an attractive speaker and prolonged applause greeted his address.