The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1908-12-11
BOND ISSUE FOR WATERWAYS.

BOND ISSUE FOR WATERWAYS
Public sentiment will admit of but
one solution of the waterways discus
sion, and that is the steady improve
ment Of the rivers and harbors Of the
country.
The proposition to issue bonds to
the extent Of $780, 600, 1000 for the i'm
mediate Improvement of the rivers, is
doubtless put forward by some ex-
tremist. Great Improvements are not
started in that manner-nor is it pos
sible to Immediately employ such a
vast sum with the greatest economy.
Growth Of the mushroom variety is
not desired, and work performed in
that name is never permanent in
character.
We must creep before we can walk,
and we must inquire before we can be
positive, and the government must in
vestigate before it can act.
Certain waterways should be i'm
proved.
The man living on the banks Of the
Ohio river is Of the opinion that the
work OF controlling that stream should
commence at once, and that other riv-
ers should wait.
The residents OF Chicago are equally
as positive that the country will be
benefited best by deepening the Illi-
nois river, from the point where the
drainage canal empties into it, to it's
confluence with the Mississippi.
On the other hand, residents Of the
Mississippi river valley cannot under.
stand why they have been neglected
so long.
You hear the same story on the
banks of the Sacramento, the Column
bia, the Brazos, the Rio Grande, the
Hudson, the Potomac, the James and
the Missouri, and so on through the
list OF navigable streams.
Residents on the Lower Yellowstone
have the same complaint, and at the
present time inquiries are being made
with this very thought in view-but
1t cannot all be done at once
There is more than one question in
volved in the matter of permanent i'm
proyement to the Waterways, for
there is the conservation Of the sup
ply, and hence the control of the wa
ter. The Ohio river floods are greater
now than they We're in times gone by,
Tor the reason that the mountains have
been denuded, and melting SHOWS give
their waters to the stream faster than
should be the case, and the result is
disastrous floods from the source, to
the delta of the Mississippi.
All these things will come in time,
for the various departments OF the
government are acting in harmony in
the work, to the end that the greatest
good may be accomplished for the
benefit of all. Millions are being ex,
pended annually, and the sum is being
added to constantly. Impatience will
not help matters, for there is always
before the government the question
Of selfpreseryation, and to deepen and
open certain of u streams to the
world would result in ~incalculable in.
Jury in the event OF war.
Before these streams are dredged
to the end that ships Of greater draft
4 may ply them, we must have not only
the warships to protect commerce, but
the land batteries and Notifications to
defend the entrances.
AL Of these improvements move to-
gether, phalanx like. and to rush one
ahead Of the other would mean to I'M
balance the order Of things, without
accomplishing the good it is sought to
attain.
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Having elected Simon president Of
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