The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-10


 Lakes with the ocean, and is planning q sl-ioot canal through Georgian Bay and the Ottawa River, we must make as good connections with the sea or the commercial supremacy of our great ports is liable to pass to a Canadian | eity.
 Fifth-Because we are spending vast sums at Panama to connect two oceans by canal thirty-hve feet deep, and to make the greatest artifIciaI water way on earTh, and in order to reap it's Full benehtslo our rivers must be so im- proved as to get our commerce to the sea quickly at the lowest rates and our harbors so deepened that any ship passing through that canal may enter l any one of the important, harbors on I our seaboard Sfxth--Because waterway improve ments are. as imperishable as the sol- i'd rock and concrete out of which they are constructed. They are permanent l investments. returning to the nation, 1 every year and for all time, a large dividend upon vheir cost
 The meeting at Washington will en- l deavor to Impress upon the minds Of | the people of the cDAntry that the United States is one of the, most back | ward of the nations in taking up the 1 work of inland waterway transporta- ton improvements. It Is a fact. even now, that an American producer can not compete with German producer 1 in the markets of the Argentine Re- public. The freight rate on the ocean may be the same, 1t may cost exact | ly as much to move the product from Hamburg-&o BueIos Ayres as 1t costs | to move 1t from New York to Buenos AyreS. but 1t costs the American so much more than 1t costs the German to get his product from farm or mine or factory to the seaboard of his own country that the American is handi- capped and driven from the field Even Russia a nation which Am ericans are prone to regard as De- nighted. has adopted systematic pro- gram of ofwaterway Improvements. Rus sla is constructing @ deep canal to connect the Black Sea with the Baltic l which will cost $f5O.000. 900, or three l times the amount which it. is urged that Congress shall set as the annual expenditure upon American waterways. Holland. Belgium. Germany and l France have paid great attention to waterway development and their wat CT courses furnish the cheapest trans Il portation known to the world. The United States leads in railroad trans l portatiop, but 1t has neglected It's wat | CTS Paris is connected with Antwerp, l the great seaport of Belgium, by no l less than seven waterway routes. Der l lin. an Interior city, is joined to every part of Germany by perfect network of canals and rivers. The Manchester ship canal Is a mondment to the wis dom of the. English, government which | did not fear to spend an enormous sum to convert inland Manchester Into | one Of the leading seaports Of the world, And yet the making of the Manchester seaport did not inture Liv- l erpool, its former port, but rather aid- ed and helped it by creating new and greater activity in trade and transpor- tation.
 There was a tIme when the powerful influence of the railroads was exerted in Congress and in other branches of the government In opposition to any systematic project for the improve ment of waterways. There is still more railroad opposition to particular projects but the great railroad men have found that they were mistaken. There is no more earnest and intel ligent advocate of the waterway in1- provement policy than James J. Hill, the railroad wizard and empire build CT of the Northwest. President Finley of the Southern Railway never over looks an opportunity to say or do something for the advancement of the waterway cause Thsre usanRns1s Annaaition to the ambltI66s sd by the Rivers and Harbors Congress. but it is rapidly disappearing The principal reason advanced in opposition is that f. will cost too much. The govern ment has undertaken a work in Pana- ma which will be of as much benefit to other nations as to the United l States, and in tiIat work Is bound to the expenditure Of approximately y5O0. 900 900 before it is completed The | United States has spent more than | $500, 100000 on its navy in the past i've years, and the outlay will proceed at | the rate of a hundred millionsor more | each year.
 Since the foundation of the govern ment the total amount spent upon the l rivers and llarbors has been but $55o.- | 0O0, ,00O about as much as has been l spent oA the navy since 1905. If Con+ gress would appropriate haI( as much | each year for the stimulation of i'm ternational commerce. by affording the | people cheap water transportation as | if approprlates to protect our com, merce from foreign foes, the Rivers and Harbors Congress would be sat isfed. That is what is asked for-the annual appropriation of $50,0O0,000 for waterway improvement. Of this or ganization and its policy. Mir. Taft said"
 Perhaps the greatest influence to- ward the framing of a broad, compre- heusive and progressive policy of Riv- CTS and Harbors Improvements Is be- ing exercised by the National Rivers and Harbors Congress" MT. Taft will be the next President of the United | states and the men in the Rivers and Harbors Congress believe that they will see their policy, which has met with his approval, become the fixed | policy of the government before the | expiration of the first Taft adminis- 1 tration.
 (Copyright. 1908, by Frederick J. Has
 kin.)