The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1909-10-23

Gulf ports alone is from S1S4,OOO,-
eco in 1889 to $41O.OOO,OOO in
l9O9-an increase of 112 per cent.
The L. S. Engineering Department
(and no more efficient department
exists in America) says that through
the ports OF Galveston and Houston
twenty millions yearly is saved TO
the people of the United States in
freight charges. Why not make it
forty by improving more ports. more
rivers and more channels?
Five hundred millions invested in
waterways viii save TO the people OF
the United States SSOO.OOG.OOO per
year in freight Every State in the
Union is interested.
We Americans have to sell to the
population OF the earth $2.OOO,OOO.- /
0OO per year. We buy from them |
Sl,5OO,OOO,00O. thus $5O0,OOO,OOO is .
paid to us for our surplus The in
ternauonal commerce of the world /
has increased from S1,50O,OOO.0OO /
in 1880 to more than twenty-five (
billions in 1908. The commerce Of I
the Atlantic increased from one to
twelve billions.
The Panama Canal demands /
great preparation on our part TO be /
ready with our Gulf Ports for the /
great commerce that naturally must I
come this way.
IL is clear TO my mind that the /
commercial emancipation of the I
country can be secured, not so ma,
by law. etuuer through Congress or (
Railroad Commission directly appli- I
cable to the railway rate, as by es-
tabnshing a natural method of com
petition and consequent subsection /
of them to the free and natural laws /
of trade where water transportation /
now is possible. This emancipation
will be found in the Improvement of /
our Waterways. Open rivers and (
channels can never be mouoTolized. /
The competition in the commerce /
of the world is Increasingly keen,
and the example of other nations
in the creation OF greater faciiueS /
for the accommodation and extern
sion of foreign commerce imposes
upon us the obligation not to relax
in our effort to leave nothing UNI
states, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina,
tuYe development OF our toreig0
The most remarkable ana per
hapS the most SUrprtSing statement
that can make. yet one that I can
prove and will not speak of Ion
don, liverpool. Manchester, GLASGOW,
Belfast, U9O, BRISTOL Newcastle,
Cardjfl, Rotterdam, uamburg, Cop 4
enAaxen. tlavre, Trieste, Geneva,
l.eipSic, KebU, and a thousand other
ports is that our sister republics +
of Latin America are SpeNdmS moro
money and following a moro dUra-
bile and systematic plan tor the per-
maNeNt Improvement OF their rivers
and RarOOrS than is the United /
States Bras0, Uruguay, ArgeNUUa,
chile and Mexico have at present
under construction tm2v>>.
means OF direct appropriations OF
$l5N,ONO,00O, Il you want the
proof SO and ask Hon, John Bar
rett, director OF the International
Bureau Ot American Republics,
It you want your transportation
Improved and cAeapeUed. ask Con-
greSS for one hundred million every |
year for the next five years aud /
elect your railroad commission tor
life,
In conclusion viii Say-aNd |
10 not think it viii be disputed
that 1t is 70 the interest of the gem |
eral public that it should have the /
most efficient facilities for trans
portation, both by water and by
rail, that can be provided, Water
ways are feeders Of the railways
and the railways in turn, are feed
erS of the waterways, We only have
to study the results that have been
attained where facilities for water
transportation have been fully de
velOped
As the prosperity OF every COM
munity must depend on the effici-
ency OF its carriers and the capac-
ity of its highways to market, every
individual is interested in the proper
solution of the transportation prob
lem,
This problem is so comprehensive
that it involves not only a wise and
liberal policy on the part of the