Panama City pilot., 1908-11-19
Waterways Convention.

WdtCl why's CUuVClltlUli.
From the Columbus Enquirer-Sun
we CLEAN the following relative to the
proceedings of this convention. 1t
states that the credential committee
reported that 1S2 delegates were in
attendance, 104 from Columbus and
7S from other points. Also when
occasion seemed to demand it Treas
urer Waterman stated he carried in
his pocket proxies for 6S Pensaco-
lians, and Secretary Hende son stated
he had proxies for $50 delegates in
his pocket. Our delegate not antici-
pating any stacking of cards. did
not carry with him the proxies of the
members from the st Andrews Bay
country.
The meeting was an interesting one.
Columbus was generous and hOspi.
table to a superlative degree, and
there was enough ginger injected into
the proceedings to make them inter
esting. Among those who helped
along in this line was an unexpected
friend of st Andrews Bay, in the per-
son of the Hon John 4. Betieman,
Secretary of the Business Mems
League of Albany, Ga, who spoke
upon "What a Certain Short Canal
Means to the Western Half of Georgia
and the Eastern Part of Alabama" "
In speaking of this address the Col
umbus paper says;
"In opening his address Mr. Bette
man, who is a fluent, interesting
speaker, told of the wonderful devel-
Opment of the SOuth's resources in
the past % years, and his figures,
which were founded on fact, were not
only encouraging but inspiring.
That part OF Mr. Betjeman's address
that was directly pertinent to his sub
ject, and which, by the way, caused
more dicussion than anything else
during the entire convention, was his
advocacy of a nine-mile canal con-
Meeting the ApalachicOla river with
st Andrews Bay, by the way of the
Dead Lakes or the ChipOIa river. He
declared that such a canal could be
built for a nominal sum as such pro
jects 90, the cost not exceeding $780,
900, and that its effect upon the COM
merce of the ApalachlcOla-Cha
hoOchee-Flint river system would be
magical, as by this means deep
water pOrt-a port made by nature,
and which would not require perpet-
ual government appropriations to
keep it in Order-could be secured for
the river steamers. The canal he
spoke of would be a 15-fOOt cut, Civ
ing five feet of water.
The speaker declared earnestly that
the one thing that this river system
needs is port, and he said that he
was afraid that ApalachicOla, being
difficult of access, would not fill the
bill. He quoted figures to sustain
his assertion that it would cost $780,
600 per year to keep the West Pass
open, so that seagoing vessels could
come to ApalachicOla. All this pro-
blem would be solved, he declared,
simply by digging a nine-mile canal
which would turn the commerce of
ShAo AANO obClIl INV q AohN
bay of great depth in which the navies
of the world could float. The speaker
said that he was by no means hostile
to Apalachicola, and would favor
continued appropriations from the
fedora! government for the improve
ment of the port facilities there, to
take care of the city's natural and
legitimate commerce"
AS usual the mention of st Andrews
Bay proved to a certain section of
the Convention like unto displaying
a red flag before a mad bull. The
Apalachicola and Pensacola officials
stOrmed over it in private, and at last
accounts were denouncing its being
printed in the published reports.
Of the aftermath of this addl ess
the Enquirer-Sun says:
"Mr. Betjeman offered a aresolutior,
in line with the idea in MS address,
to the effect that the association ask
congress to make an appropriation to
establish a route giving the Apa-
lachicola river connection with deep
water. No specific route was men,