Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-08

steadily declining.
This condition IL the direct result OF
far-seefng plan of waterway improve
ment. Obviously We cannot continue
thus to expend the revenues OF the gov
eminent without return. 1t Is poor
business to spend money for inland nasi-
cation unless we get 1t.
Inquiry into the condition of the Mis-
sissippi and its principal tributaries re-
veals very many instances OF the utter
waste caused by the methods which nave
hitherto obtained for the so-called i'm
provement" of navigation. striking
instance is supplied by the improve
ment" OF the Ohio. which. begun In 1874.
was continued under a single plan for
half century.
I'm 1875 a new plan was adopted and
followed for quarter of a century. In
1902 still different plan was adopted
and has since been pursued at rate
which only promises navlgabie river
in from twenty to one hundred years
longer.
Such short-sighted. yacillating and futile
methods are accompanied by decreasing
water-borne commerce and increasing
traf1c congestion on land. by increasing
foods, 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
Defects in Methods.
I'm report on a measure introduced at
the first session of the present Congress
the Secretary Of War said:
THE chief defect in the methods hith-
erto pursued lies in the absence OF exec
utiye authority for originating compre-
hensive plans covering the country or
natural divisions thereof" In this opinion
] heartily concur.
The present methods not only fail TO
give us inland navigation. but they are
injurious 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 es-
tablishment.
The military engineers have undoubt-
edly done efficient work In actual con-
struction, but they are necessarily I'M
suited by their training and traditions 10
take the broad view and to gather ana
transmit to the Congress the commercial
and Industrial information and forecasts
upon which waterway Improvement must
always SO largely rest. Furthermore.
they have failed to grasp the great and
underlying fact that every stream is a
unit from it's source to its mouth, ana
that all its uses are irterdependent.
Prominent officers of the Engineer
Corps have recently even gone so far as
to assert in print that waterways are not
dependent upon the conservation Of the
forests about their headwaters This po-
sition is opposed to all the recent work
of the scientific bureaus of the govern
ment and to the general experience OF
mankind.
physician who disbelieved In vaccina-
ton would not be the right man to handle
an epidemic of smallpox; nor should we
leave a doctor skeptical about the trans
mission of yellow fever by the Stegomyia
mosquito in charge of sanitation at Ha-
vana or Panama. So with the improve
ment of our rivers; 1t is no longer wise
or safe to leave this great work in the
hands of men who fail to grasp the es-
sential relations between navigation and
general development and to aSsimllate
and use the central facts about our
streams.
Until the work of river improvement is
undertaken in modern way 1t cannot
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 q permanent
commission authorized to coordinate the
work of all the government departments
relating to waterways, and to frame and
supervise the execution of a comprehen-
sive plan. Under such a commission the
actual work of construction might be IN
trusted to the reclamation service; or to
the military engineers acting with a suf-
ticient number Of civilians to continue the
work in time of war: or 1t might be d.
vided between the reclamation service
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 have
q new type Of work and a new organiza-
ton for planning and directing it. The
time for playing with our waterways is
past. The country demands results.