Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1908-12-08

III places.
What has thus happened In north
crn China. what has happened in Cen.
trail Asia, In Palestine. in North Afri.
ca, In parts of the Mediterranean
countries of Europe, will surely hap.
pen In our country If we do not cxer.
else that wise forethought which
should be one of the chief marks of
any people calling itself civilized.
Nothing should be permitted to stand
in the way of the preservation of the
forests, and 1t Is criminal to permit
individuals to purchase little gain
for themselves through the destruc.
tion 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 Con.
gress. for the Improvement of our in.
land waterways-action which will re.
suit In giving us not only navigable
but navigated rivers. We have spent
hundreds Of millions Of dollars upon
these waterways, yet the traffic on
nearly all OF them Is steadily declin.
ing This condition is the direct re.
suit Of the absence of any comprehen.
sive and far.seeing plan Of waterway
improvement. Obviously we can not
continue thus to expend the revenues
Of the Government without return. II ia
poor business to spend money for in.
land navigation unless we get Il.
Inquiry into the condition of the
Mississippi and its principal tribu.
taries reveals very many instances of
the utter waste caused by the meth.
DDS which have hitherto obtained for
the so.called Improvement" of navi.
cation. A striking instance is sup.
piled by the Improvement" of the
Ohio. which, begun in 1924. was con.
tinued under a single plan for half a
century. In 1875 new plan was
adopted and followed for a quarter of
century. In 1902 still different
plan was adopted and has since been
pursued at rate which only promises
nav;gable river in from twenty to
one hundred years longer
Such shortsighted. vacillating, and
futile methods are accompanied by
decreasing waterborne commerce and
tldih tOHEtStlOl OU lunu
by increasing floods. and by the waste
of public money. The remedy lies in
abandoning the methods which have
so signally failed and adopting new
ones In keeping with the needs and
demands of our people. q. p
In report on measure introduced
at the first session of the present Con.
gress, the Secretary of War said
THE chief defect In the methods
Hitherto pursued lies In the absence
OF executive authority for originating
comprehensive plans covering the
country or natural divisions thereof. y
In this opinion I 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
virtually a permanent detail of the
corps OF engineers to civilian duty
necessarily impairs the efficiency OF
our military establishment. The mill
tary engineers have undoubtedly done
efficient work In actual construction
but they are necessarily unsuited BY
their training and traditions to take
the broad view. and to gather and
transmit to the Congress the CONNER
cial and industrial information and
forests, upon which waterway i'm
provement must always so largely
rest. Furthermore. they have failed
to grasp the great underlying fact
that every stream is a unit from its
source TO it's mouth. and that all Its
uses are interdependent. Prominent
officers Of the Engineer Corps have
recently even gone so far as to assert
In print that waterways are not de.
pendent upon the conservation of the
forests about their headwaters. This
position Is opposed to all the recent
work Of the scientific bureaus of the
Government and to the general ex
perience OF mankind. A physician
who disbelieved In vaccination would
not be the right man to handle an
epidemic OF smallpox. nor should we
leave a doctor skeptical about the
transmission of yellow fever by the
Stegomyia mosquito In charge of SAM
tation at Havana or Panama. So with
the Improvement of our rivers: Il Is
no longer wise or safe to leave this
great work In the hands of men who
TAIL to grasp the essential relations
between navigation and general devel.
opment and to assinilate and use the
central facts about our streams.
Until the work of river improve.
ment Is undertaken in modern way
1t can not have results that will meet
the needs of this modern nation
These needs should be met without
further dilly-dallying or delay. The
plan which promises the best and
quickest results Is that of a permanent
commission authorized to coordinate
the work of all the Government de-
partmcnts relating to waterways, am
TO frame and supervise the execution
OF comprehensive plan. Under such
commission the actual work of con
strnction might be entrusted to the
reclamation service: or to the military
engineers acting with n sufficient mum
Der Of civilians to continue the worl
in time OF war; or 1t might be divided
between the reclamation service ant
the corps of engineers. Funds SHOULD
he provided from current revenues i
II Is deemed wiso-otherwise from tn,
sale of bonds. The essential things
is that the work should go forward
under the best possible plan. and with
the least possible delay. We SHOULD
have new type of work and new
organization for planning and direct