The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-22
WATERWAYS IMPROVEMENT Meaning of Visit of John
 A. Fox. ALABAMA's SPECIAL INTEREST State Will Be Most Benefited by
 Improvement. Secretary nawe wrstes of Peculiar Conaitions in Aiabsma which cAH for Aia in DeveIopment
 sf Natural Ressurces.
SPECIAL INTEREST
BY. 6. GRosvENOR DAVE.


 The presence In this city of Hon |. John A. Fox, on an errand of publicity in connection with the work of the National Riyers and Harbors Congress accentuates sharply the relation of Alabama to the great purpose of se- curing s6e.eo0,0Do each year for water way development.
 Many men in many places through out this State feel that they have re- cognizsd the importance of waterway Improvement and have worked for 1t for years; but largely as related to their own Congressional districts. In view of this narrow way of inter preting the States needs no great blame attaches to. our congressmen for expending their energies getting pork out of the barrel each time the Rivers and Harbors biii was introduced, We have beautiful specimens of pork in less now and forever. useless unless the coosa is opened), In the dams and locks above Tuscaloosa, constructed without relation to down-stream needs, and in the dribbles of appropriations given in earlier years to the Aiabama in order to pacify cIamor. Under the method of appropriation prevalent nnr til the day when great improvements became placed on the continuing con- tTACI D4Eibt &HQ 4fGH HOWt iAuC hIR CTS and Harbors bill has been pro- life source of dicker and trade be- tween congressmen of opposite par ties: for the reason that Democrat in Southern States could not pacify his constituents unless some way. some how be brought a little Federal money into his district; the arbiter of such money has been eonsistenkly Repubii- can. These conditions are thoroughly familiar to the leading men of all the States and will not be further dwelt upon here. They are mentioned to make clear the evolution that has gone forward and called Into being the Ma tional Rivers and Harbors Congress.
 The purpose Of that Congress is to lift river and horbor improvement at once and forever out of the realm of party politics, treating all improbable waterways or feasible canals as na- tional assets to be developed by q na- tional policy. whether in the Solid South or the Solid North.
 The difference is the vast distance that lies between petty politics and statesmanEhip. Under the new pur- pose the interest of Alabama in water way development should be immedi- ately increased. for it will give our State a fighting chance for rapid de- yelopnent on merit alone. A vast merit Hes in the water systems of this State because they lead to vast tom mage or vast power doomed to lie in- ert so long as temporizing methods are used. Let us ask ourselves a question like this--What great use will the Tombigbee and Warrior works be to the State unless Mobile Is truly a deep water point with a good chan psi2ssand we see at-ones that=zone der yelopment has relation to another for good or III, and that therefore the question is not to any sense one to be hampered by the lines of Congressional districts. The broader view .s full of hope for Alabama and therefore every man who is interested in the develop ment of the State should rally to the support of the National Rivers and Harbors Congress far more earnestly than we have ever done to the nar- rower view.
 Under the purpose to spend $5o.O00,- 900 year for ten years and thus im- prove in decade every one Of the 4b,O0O miles of improvable waterways