The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1908-02-28

! done the railways and waterways will
assist instead of iniure each other
Both will benefit. but the chief benefit
will accrue to the people in general
through quicker and cheaper trans
| portation.
| The report rests throughout on the
fundamental conception that every
waterway should be made to serve the
! people as largely and in as many diff
ferent ways as possible. 1t is poor
business to develop a river for naviga-
ton in such way as to prevent its
use for power, when by n little fore
sight it could be made to serve both
purposes. We can not afford need
lessly to sacrifice power to irrigation,
or irrigation to domestic water supply,
when by taking thought we may have
all three. Every stream should be used
TO the utmost. No stream can he so
used unless such use is planned for
IN advance. When such plans are
made we shall find that, instead Of
Interfering. one use can often be made
TO assist another. Each river system,
Its mouth on the coast is a single
unit and should be treated as such.
Navigation Of the lower reaches of n
stream can not be fully developed
without the control of floods and low
waters by storage and drainage. Navi-
gable channels are directly concerned
with the protection of source waters,
and With soil erosion which takes the
materials for bars and shoals from the
richest positions of our farms. The
use of stream for domestic and mu-
nicipal water supply. for power, and
In many cases for irrigation must also
be taken into full account.
For National Defense.
The development of our inland
waterways will have results far be-
yond the immediate gain to commerce.
Deep channels along the Atlantic and
Gulf coasts and from the Gulf to the
Great Lakes will have high value for
the national defense. The use of water
power will measurably relieve the
drain upon our diminishing supplies of
coal, and transportation by water in
stead of rail only will tend to conserve
our iron. Forest protection, without
which river Improvement cannot be
permanent, will at the same time help
to postpone the threatened timber
famine, and will secure us against a
total dearth of timber by providing
for the perpetuat!on of the remaining
woodlands. Irrigation will create the
means Of livelihood for millions Of
people, and supplies of pure water will
powerfully promote the public health.
II the policy Of waterways improve
ment here recommended is carried out,
it will affect for good every citizen
of the Republic. The National Gov
Crnment must play the leading part in
securing the largest possible use of
our waterways; other agencies can
assist, and should assist, but the work
is essentially national in its scope.
What Congress Should Do.
The various uses of waterways are
now dealt with by Bureaus scattered
through four federal Departments. At
present, therefore, it is not possible to
deal with a river system as a single
problem. But the Commission here
recommends a policy under which all
the commercial and Industrial uses of
the waterways may be developed at
the same time. To that end, Congress
should provide some administrative
machinery for coordinating the work
Of the various Departments so far as
1t relates to waterways. Otherwise
there will not only be delay, but the
people as whole will fail to get from
our streams the benefits to which they
are justly entitled.
The Commission recognizes that the
cost of improving our inland water
ways will be large, but far less than
would be required to relieve the con-
gestiOn of traffic by railway extension.
The benefits of such Improvement will
be large also, and they will touch the
daily life of our people at every point,
uniting the interests Of all the States
and sections Of our country. The cost
and the benefits should be equitably
by cooperation with
the States and the communities, cor
and individuals benefically
affected. 1 heartily concur in the Com
missions recommendation to this end.
Such cooperation should result in
united effort in carrying out the great
duty Of improving our inland water
ways. While we delay, our rivers re-
main unused, our traffic is periodically
and the material wealth
and natural resources Of the country
related to waterways are being stead
lily absorbed by great monopolies.
Schemes of Corporations.
Among these monopolies, as the re-
port of the Commission points out,
there is no other which threatens. or
has ever threatened, such intolerable
with the daily life of the
people as the consolidation Of COM
panies controlling water power. call
your special attention to the attempt
of the power corporations, through
bills introduced at the present session,
to escape from the possibility of Gov
eminent regulation in the interest of
the people. These bills are intended
to enable the corporations to take pos
session in perpetuity Of national forest
lands for the Dul noses of their h,,ci