The Pacific commercial advertiser., 1908-12-23
DROPS OF WATER.
Continued from Page Nine.)

be encouraged, not only to reduce the
drain on other resources, but because
properly designed reservoirs and power
, plants retard the run-off and so aid in
the control of the streams for naviga-
tion and other uses.
The broad plan already framed by
statesmen and experts and approved
by the executive should be enacted
5 into law; it provides for a system of
waterway Improvement extending to
. all of the uses of the waters and bcne-
, fits to be derived from their control,
including the clarifcation of the water
and the abatement of floods for the
benefit of navigation. the extension of
irrigation, the development and appli-
cation of power, the prevention of soil
wash. the publication of streams for
watersupply and the drainage and
utilization of the waters for swamp and
overflow lands.
In the Atlantic-Interior system, there
should be a deep waterway from Gulf
of Mexico to the Great Lakes, and
! deep and continuous Atlantic inner
passage from New England to Florida;
! the present plan for improving the
! Ohio should be carried out promptly,
and should be perfected by any foresta-
| tion and reservoirs required to control
the headwaters; the upper Mississippi
l. IL II 4
and canalized; the lower Mississippi
should be connected with the Rio
Grande and with the waters of Florida
by inner passages; the navigable rivers
flowing into Gulf of Mexico and Allan
tie Ocean should be improved; and all
appropriate links in the system should
be adapted to vessels of standard draft,
and should be connected with one an.
other and with the Great Lakes by
canals of standard dimensions. In the |
Columbia-Puget system, the rivers |
should be improved and requisite con-
Meeting canals should be constructed; |
and the California, Sacramento, San |
Joaquin, and Feather Rivers should be
so improved as to open the country |
to interstate and foreign commerce.
1t has been roughly estimated that |
the inland waterways of the country |
could be improved in ten years at a !
cost of $50,000,000 annually in. such |
manner as to promote interstate COM
merce and at the same time greatly |
reduce the waste and extend the use |
of the waters. If done at the cost of /
the people, the burden would be
$O.6213 per capita per year, or 1925
in all.
1t is roughly estimated that the di-
rect benefits would comprise an annual
saving in transportation of $25O,000,-
600; an annual saving in flood damage
of $150,000,O0O; an average annual saw
ing in forest fires of at least $25,G00,-
900; an annual benefit through cheap
ened power of fully $75,OOO,OOO; and
an annual saving in soil erosion Cor
corresponding benefit through increased
farm production) of 100000, ,000-a
total of $1,OO0,O0O,OOO, or $3.50 per
capita annually, i. e., twenty times the
cost. In addition, large benefits would
result from extended irrigation, from
the drainage and settlement of swamp
and overflow lands, and from purified
and cheapened watersupply with con-
seguent diminution of disease and saw
ing of human life.
Various indirect benefits would arise
through the interrelations among the
natural resources. The development of ]
water traffic in lieu of rail carriages
would reduce the constantly increasing
consumption of ties and mine timbers,
now heavy drain on our forests; it
would reduce the consumption of iron, ]
since water vehicles require but quar-
ter to a third of the metal required
by rail vehicles of like capacity; and ]
it would correspondingly reduce the ]
of coal for both propul-
sion and smelling.
Reckoning the total cost of domestic
traffic by rail and water and wagon, d,
with freightage on imports, it is prob !
able that the average American family
pays for transportation of food and !
clothing more than % per cent. of their :
actual cost, i. e., our consumers pay 7
too much and our producers get too
little for the necessaries of life. This ;
would be relieved by the de- !
velopment of water transportation on
IN adequate scale. IL
1t is estimated that the income de- =
lived from power developed by works
Tor the improvement of navigation
would alone, at current market rates
Utilized in cooperation with States and
compensate the entire cost of
1