The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-01-14
NEVADA MAN ON WATERWAYS MT. Newlands Talks of
 Transportation. NATION MUST DO ITS PART More Water Routes Would Improve
 Railroads. Ansericau People, He Says, Demand That The True status of Com
 mon Carriers Shah Be Established.
 
BY ALFRED ,. sToFER.

washington. Jan, 13-{SpeciaI) = Senator Newlands of Nevada, is an en fhusiastic advocate of the proper i'm pfpvement of the waeerways of tn, United States.
 For ten years or more he has beer prominent in the national gatherings at which river and harbor matters have been discussed. He has decided views as to the best means of bring ing about results that will enable the railroads to handle the transportation Of the country, and below will be found In nutshell shis views regarding the sharp conflicts that have occurred be- tween railroads .and Congress and many of the state legislatures:
 The raHroadsNhave now reached the point where they admit to some degree the powers and the rights of the pub- lie. They now talk about -co-opera- ton; they will talk later on about obedience; and obedience is what the American people demand.
 The only limitation upon the power of the American people oyer the high is that the Legislation shall not be confiscatopy in character. That con- test Is not yet ended. Meanwhile the finances of the railroads have been embarrassed: rates of interest have gone up; and the very agitation which has gone on has affected their negotia- tions in foreign countries for cheap money. They have been unable, even if they willed 1t. to keep up with the necessary construction in order to meet the demands of increasing population and of business. f
 One eminent railway man declares that 1t will be necessary for these rail- roads to expend, believe, within the next i've years, five and one-half bill lions of money in order to meet the requirements of the country. We all realize that it is now impossible for them to get the money. We might en- able them to get the money if we stopped the agitation; but the Ameril can people will not rest, whatever may De the consequehces, until the true status of the common carrier is ascer- tained and determined as that of a pub- lic servant. So that we cannot hone Tor such conditions as to enable them 10 finance the construction that is ynec- essary. It is therefore of great inn portaqce that we should develop the waterways and that we should develop them quickly.
 Tt would startIe the country, per- haps, If we were to say that sIOo. GOO : 900 annually for the, next five, years should be expended; but I.s believe it ought to be expended in order to meet the requirements of transportation. and the public mind must become acous- toned to It. After 1t is all exnended the business of the railroads will moi pc injured They will have more than tney can then carry, and their car- riage will be of products more compen- satory than the cheap and bulky pro- aucss tun tnat VIII be carried by water
 We have had a most marvellous rairoad devsloIament in this country, which has surpaesed that of any other part of the world. But our deyelon- ment has not been as rational as com prehensive, and as scientific in the mat Ter of transportation as has that of S4ermany' Hor railway transportation, her river and canal transportation and ner ocean transportation have been dovetailed together in such a fashion as to- make her carriers the most ef- ficient servants of production and of commerce in the world.
 This movement Is mot one of hos- tiifty to the railroads. It Is one that supplements the railroad system of the country. If we can add to cur ocean seEvice so that >oce4n service and inc river and canal service and the rail road service of the country will act in cooperation as the handmaidens of
 
 have marvellous results.
 After we get these waterways de- veloped the question wiIE$be. How shall we administer them? Are the rail roads to be allowed to put down their rates during the navigation season to the destruction of their river connect itors and to put. them up during Sthe winter season when that competition ceases? Shall we permit one public to destroy another public ser- want necessity to the public good?
 We might crowd these rivers will, boats, sbut capital, regArdful of the bitter experience of the past, will, hes itate to enter upoh the enterprise. As a party of which I was a member not long ago passed down the Mississippi river we hardly saw a boat On both sides of the river we saw long trains of cars carrying the products of the If the railroads refuse to act in cooperation with the rivers in the future. as they have in the past, they. may paralyze the very instru- which-we create for inter- state and foreign commerce. @
 we must . ourselVes-the nation the corporations that are to act as water carriers. We should not submit the incorporation of these great public servants engaged in in- terstate carriage to the shifting leg islation of forty-fiTe different states"
 ''There is no river boat that -on it's course will not fin going from bank to bank move from one state to another in the Interstate commerce. The na- tion should create it's own public cor porate servants, and~we should pro- teSt them"