Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-12-08


 tion would not be the right man Co handle an epidemic of smallpox, nor should we leave q doctor skepticsi about the transmission of yellow fever by the stegomyia mosquito in charge of sanitation at Havana or Panama. So with the improvement of our riv- CTS. It Is no longer wise or safe tc leave this great work in the hands of men who fail to grasp the essential relations hafwean navication and snr eral development and to assimilAte and use the central facts about our stre4ms.
 Until the work of river improvement Is undertaken in a modern way 1t can not have results that will meet ths needs of this modern nation. Thae needs should be met without further dilly -dalIy!ng or delay The plan which promises the best and quickest results is that of permanent commission au- thorized to co ordinate the work of all the government departments reintiug l 10 waterways and to frame and super wise the execution of a comprehensive plan. Under such commission the actual work of construction might be intrusted to the reclamation service or to the military engineers acting with sufficient number of civilians to con tinue the work in time of war. or 1t might be divided between the reclnma- nd ha ,P v1<wiss Funds should be provided from cur rent revenues if 1t is deemed wise. otherwise from the sale of bonds. The essential thing Is that the work should go forward under the best poestbls plan and with the least possible delny. We should have a new type of work and q new organization for planning and directing it. The time for playing with our waterways is past. The coun- try demands results.
 National Parks. 1 I urge that all our national parks ad. jacent to national forests be placed completely under the control of tho forest service of the agricultural de- partment instead of leaving them, as they are now, under the interior de- l partment and policed by the army. The congress should provide for su- 1 perintendents with adequate corps of | first class civilian scouts or rangers and, further, place the road construc- 1 ton under the superintendent instead of leaving 1t with the war department Such change in park management would result in economy and avoid the difficulties of administration which now arise from having the respousi- bility of care and protection divided between different departments. The need for this course is peculiarly great in the Yellowstone park. This, like the Yosemite, is a great wonderland and should be kept as a national play ground. In both all wild things should be protected and the scenery kept wholly unmarred
 am happy to say that have been able to set aside in various parts of | the country small we'll chosen tracts of ground to serve as sanctuaries and ! nurseries for wild creatures.
 Dsnatured Alcohol.
 had occasion in my message of May 4, 1906, to urge the passage of some law putting alcohol used in the arts. industries and manufactures upon the free Iist-that is, to provide for the withdrawal free of tax of alcohol which is to be denatured for those purposes. The law of June 6, 1906, and it's amendment of March 2, 1907, accomplished what was desired in that respect, and the use of denatured al- cohol as intended is making a fair de- gree of progress and is entitled to fur ther encouragement and support from the congress.
 Pure Food.
 The pure food legislation has already worked benefit difficult to overestis l mate.