The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1908-12-10

lions of dollars upon these waterways.
yet the traffic ON nearly all of them Is
steadily declining. This condition Is the
,,girect result OF the absence of any COM
yIrehensive and far-seeing plan OF water
9ay Improvement Obviously we cannot
Continue TO thus expend the revenues OF
gShe government without return, IL is
moor business to spend money for inland
Navigation unless we get It.
INQUIRY into the condition of the Missis-
sippf and its principal tributaries reveals
sery many instances Of the utter waste
yatised by the methods which have hither-
ID obtained for the sO-called Improve
ment" q navigation: a striking INSTANCE
ohio. which begun. in l24, was continued
Under 81 single plan for half a century. In
1875 a new plan was adopted and followed
q different plan was adopted and has
since been pursued at a rate which only
promises a ~navigable river in from twen-
~ to one hundred years longer. v
Such shortsighted. vacillating, and fu-
tile methods are accompanied by decreas-
ing water-borne and increasing
traffic congestion on land, by increasing
floods, and by the waste OF public money.
*The remedy lies in abandoning the meth
DDS which have so signally failed and
adopting new ones in keeping with the
needs and demands OF our people.
- Until the work OF river Improvement Is
undertaken in a modern way II can not
have results that will meet the needs OF
he met without further ~diIIy-daiiying or
delay. Thu plan which promises the best
and quickest results is that of a perma-
nent commission authorized to coordinate
r1he work OF all government departments
relating to the waterways, and to frame
and supervise the execution of a compre-
hensive plan. Under such a commission
the actual work of construction might be
entrusted to the reclamation service; or
to the military engineers acting with a suf-
ffcient number Of civilians to continue the
work In time of war: or il might he d.
.,,{dad hntyyppn the rnplanafinY1 Garxyira
and the corps OF engineers. Funds should
be provided from current revenues IL it
is deemed wise~-otherwise from the sale
of bonds, The essential thing is that the
work should go forward under the best
possible plan. and with the least possible
delay. We should ave a new type OF
work and a new organization for planning
and directing 1t. The time for playing with
our waterways is past. The country de-
lnands results.
. National Parks.
l. urge that all our national parks adj
ifacent to national forests be placed COM
pIetely under the control Of the forest SER
Vice OF the agricultural department. in
stead Of leaving them as they now are,
under the interior department and policed
10y the army, The congress should provide
,for superintendent with adequate corps
of first class civilian scouts, or rangers.
and further, place the road construction
alnder the superintendent instead of leaV-
ing II with the war department. Such a
change in park management would result
in economy and avoid the difficulties of
administration which now arise from hav-
ing the responsibility of care and protec-
don divided between different DEPART
rnents. The need of this purpose is pecul-
.iarIy great in Yellowstone park. This,
like the Yosemite, is a great wonderland,
and should be kept as a national play
o. ground. In both all wild things should be
protected, and the. scenery kept wholly
unmarried.
| am happy to say that I have been able
10 set aside in various parts OF the roun-
try, small, well chosen tracts OF ground
wild creatures.