The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-11-08
Circulation Double That Of Any
Other South Mississippi Paper
WATERWAY IMPROVEMENTS.


The idea of digging a fourteen-foot
channel in the Mississippi from the
that; the discussion will take a far
wider range; its scope will include
the snatching and dredging and gen
eral improvement of all the rivers of
any importance in all the states. The
Improvement of international Water
ways Committee will be about the
busiest committee in the years to
come. 1t is no new question. Much
has been done along this line already:
much more would have been done
but for the influence and interference
of the railroad corporations, which.
to protect their exorbitant freight
charges have stood in the way of
much and long needed waterway i'm
provements.
The utter inability of the railroads
to carry the freight of the country,
is forcing this old question upon the
attention of the business world, and
will demand its hearing by Congress.
Secretary of War Dickinson, who
is upon the most intimate confiden-
tial relations with the railroads of
the country, and is somewhat of au-
thority upon railroads, their interests,
wishes, etc, in his New Orleans adj
dress, said: THE railroads say they
will favor this movement, because it
will relieve them largely of heavy
freight, cumbersome and not alto
gether profitable for them to handle,
and leave them the lighter and more
profitable business" If" said he,
"the railroads are sincere in what
they say, it furnishes a strong argu-
ment for the proposition" Why Mr..
Secretary Dickinson should insert the
Interrogation mark after the sincerity
of the railroads. is a matter more or
less pertinent to the discussion. "If'
they will interpose no objection, the
Rivers and Harbors Committee will
have easy sailing in obtaining the ap-
preparation they will ask from Con-
gress. "If' the railroads will not in
terfere, these appropriations may be
distributed with some degree of fair
ness and in the interest of the peo-
pie; otherwise the railroads may use
these appropriations in ways more
helpful to themselves than to the
general shipping public. In other
words, as the Interrogation mark of
this a3tute railroad attorney, now Sec
rotary of War, and candidate for the
Senate, suggests, the question should
always be considered from railroad
standpoint. If they object, they are
a power and influence hard to over
come; if they consent, the very quail
ty of their amiability bears suspicion
upon their motives.
In the beginning of this great COM
mercial movement, the government
should take firm hold of the crafts
that ply their streams. Early, before
anything else is done, absolute gov
eminent control of these streams and
the crafts plying these streams, should
be declared so plainly and unequivo-
cally that even so astute a railroad
and corporation lawyer as Mr.. Dick
inson cannot make it read backward
1t would be criminal thoughtlessness
or negligence for Congress not to pro-
vide against corporate greed, once
this great movement for the improve
ment and development of the inter-
national waterways gets well under
way. If not prevented by the strict
est sort of legislation, combinations
of corporal capital will stake off GER
tain territory for themselves, as the
railroads now do, and by courtesy
other capitalists will stay out of their