The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-12-08

forests, and it is criminal to permit
individuals to purchase a little gain
for themselves through the destruc
ton of forests when this destruction
is fatal to the wellbeing of the whole
country in the future.
INLAND WATERWAYS.
Action should be begun forthwith,
during the present session of the
Congress, for the improvement of our
inland Waterways which will
result in giving us not only naviga-
bic but navigated rivers. We have
spent hundreds of millions of dollars
upon these waterways, yet the traffic
on nearly all of them is steadily de-
Ginning This condition is the direct
result of the absence of any compre-
hensive and far-seeing plan of water
way improvement Obviously we can
not continue thus to expend the rev.
enues of the Government without re-
turn. 1t is poor businss to spend mon
ey for inland navigation unless we
get it.
Inquiry into the condition of the
Mississippi and its principal tributar-
les reveals very many instances of the
utter waste caused by the methods
which have hitherto obtained for the
so-called Improvement" of naviga-
ton. A striking instance is supplied
by the Improvement" of the Ohio,
begun in 1924, was continued under a
single plan for half a century. In
: 1875 a new plan was adopted and fol-
, lowed for a quarter of century. In
1902 still a different plan was adopted
, and has since been pursued at rate
which only promises a navigable riv-
err in from twenty to one hundred
= years longer.
} Such shortsighted. vacillating, and
2 futile methods are accompanied by
: decreasing water-borne commerce and
increasing traffic congestion on land,
by increasing floods, and by the waste
of public money. The remedy lies in
l abandoning the methods which have
!, so signally failed and adopting new
: ones in keeping with the needs and
: demands of our people.
In a report on measure introduce
ed at the first session of the present
Congress. the Secretary of War said:
"The chief defect in the methods
= hitherto pursued lies in the absence
. of executive authority for originating
y comprehensive plans covering the
, country or natural divisions thereof"
> In this opinion heartily concur The
= present methods not only fail to give
us inland navigation, but they are in
= furious to the army as well. What is
I virtually permanent detail of the
> corps of engineers to civilian duty
, necessarily impairs the efficiency of
T. our military establishment. The mill
l. tary engineers have undoubtedly done
efficient work in actual construction.
n but they are necessarily unsuited by
q their training and traditions to take
v the broad view. and to gather and
/ transmit to the Congress the CONNER
e cIal and Industrial information and
e forecasts. upon which waterway i'm
s provement must always so largely
e rest. Furthermore. they have failed
g TO grasp the great underlying fact
J. that every stream is a unit from its
v source to It's mouth. and that all its
It uses are interdependent. Prominent
S. officers of the Engineer Corps have
l. recently ever gone so far as to assert
v in print that waterways are not de-
e pendent upon the conservation of the
o forests about their headwaters. This
a position Is opposed to all the recent
e work of the scientific bureaus of the
o Government and to the general expe
n rience of mankind. A physician who
y disbelieved in vaccination would moi
re be the right man to handle an epidem
&c of smallpox, nor should we leave
is a doctor skeptical about the trans
IS mission OF yellow fever by the Stego
lie myia mosquito in charge of santa
Re ton at Havana or Panama. So will
m the improvement of our rivers; it II
at no longer wise or safe to leave TIL!
Id great work in the hands of men whit
Sc fail to grasp the essential relations
le between navigation and general de
Oh velopment and to assimilate and us'
Sc the central facts about our streams.
lie Until the work of river improve
is ment is undertaken in a modern wa,
OIL 1t can not have results that will NEE
r. the needs of this modern nation
10 These needs should he met withou
p further dilly-dallying or delay Tn
~ plan which promises the best an
w. quickest results is that of a permf
nent commission authorized to co-ol
" dinate the work of all the Govern
nss ment departments relating to water
~ ways, and to frame and supervis
w the execution of a comprehensive
o plan. Under such a commission tn
- actual work of construction might b
- entrusted to the reclamation service
-, or to the military engineers actin
=. with sufficient number of civilian
70 to continue the work in time of wal
"a or it might he divided between tn
- reclamation service and the corps {
i'm engineers. Funds should be provide
nd from current revenues if it Is deeme
he wlse-oIner"lSe IIolh lhe sdIe