The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1909-11-01
Believes the Plan Should B,
Well Studied Out Before
Undertaken
REPORT OF army ENGINEERS
AGAINST Il FOOT CHANNEL
Resolutions and Speeches Do Not De.
termine the Prblems to be Solved
Nor the Methods Of Solving Them
Cheaper Transportation by Water.

AScW OIAedus, NOV. l.-JaCOD M.
Dickinson, secretary of war, was a
speaker at the convention of the lakes
to-the-gulf deep waterway association
today. Mr.. Dickinson urged that eau
tion be exercised in the plan for the
proposed lakes-to-the-gulf waterway,
saying the work was too vast and
costly to be improvidentially UNDER
taken. ut so vitality affects the for
tunes of SO large territory that no
immature plan, nor one that will not
be acquiesced in by the country
should have your advocacy" the
speaker declared.
He added: Our people will under
take any expenditure that they are
convinced is we'll justified.
There is conclusive evidence that
something should be done as early as
practicable on a large scale, for util-
izing the transportation facilities with
which nature has provided us"
In beginning his address, Secretary
Dickinson said:
THE proposed improvements to
navigation that now absorb our inter-
est are Of stupendous magnitude, and
present questions involved in much
controversy. Heretofore, the work has
been detached, spasmodic, intermit-
tent. 1t has largely dependened upon
the activity of merely local influences.
Now all the forces of the public senti-
ment In the states bordering on the
Mississippi and its tributaries have
converged, and there is a conclama-
tory cry for inaugurating and carry
Ing tn a nrnnont oyon,,tfNn -
hensfve and permanent plan that will
give to that region the highest ~deyel-
opment that it's natural transporta-
Ion facilities, aided by the best engi-
neering skill, can afford.
Taft Quoted
"As was said by the president, who
was then secretary of war, in his ad-
dress before this association in Chi
cago:
A plan should not be adopted un-
til fully confirmed by expert opinion
and careful investigation, but when it
is adopted. when its utility is made
certain, then 1t is neither economy to
the government in the matter of ex-
pendtture nor is 1t a benefit to the
people to delay furnishing as rapidly
as 1t can be economically expended, of
the full amount of money needed to
make the improvement useful and
completed thing.
Hasty and unsOund conclusions
will be discredited by sober second
thought. 1t would be a calamity II
the magnificent enthusiasm behind
this movement, which 1t has taken so
many years to evolve and concentrate,
should be mere brutum fulmen, as
1t will be, unless the plans in which
1t finds expression carry the convic-
tion that they are sound, and promise
results commensurate with the propos-
ed expenditure.
THE government has already de-
voted approximately six hundred mill
lions for the improvement of the wa
terways. of which two hundred and
eight millions were expended in the
Mississippi valley. The advocates of
the proposed intra-coastal waterway
from Boston to Florida; and thence
to the Rio Grande, covering a dis
tance of about twenty-six hundred
miles. connecting up navigable
streams In esse and in posse of ap-
proximately 27,600r miles, are not SOM
nolent. but in state of the highest
activity. They will be insistent for
appropriations. The aggregate cost
of internal improvements now advo-
Gated is estimated at about five hun
dred millions of dollars. Those that
assure the best and surest results for
the outlay will come to the front.
There may be cooperation, but there
will probably be rivalry for appropria-
tions.
Counter Claims
"The resolutions of the Atlantic
deeper waterways association, while
expressing sympathy with all meritor-
ious movements for the Improvement
of the waterways, specifically refer
ring to that proposed from the lakes
to the gulf, pledges cooperation only
upon plan within reasonable limits
Of cost. We can carry ourselves of
our own feet by enthusiasm, but can
not stampede the Judgment Of the
country. We must meet the test Of
cool critical analysis. Resolutions
and assertions will not carry the day.
The opinions Of the unscientiflc, how
ever loudly and positively proclaimed,
are not going to settle matter OF
such complication and gravity. We
may put as much vim. snap and spirit
ual dynamics into onr proceedings as
the most vehement language can ex-
press. but these will be useful only
II they stimulate to careful bedrock
investigation and the formulation of
something that will appeal to the
sound Judgment Of the country"
In this connection, Mr.. Dickinson