The Sisseton weekly standard. (Sisseton, Roberts County, S.D.) 1892-1929, 1909-10-29

No. 19
! numlpr of undelivered speeches In
! their heads. and these would be so
1 heavy they would cause the river TO
bulge still more.
One of the deep waterway conven-
tons was held at Memphis, and this
was attended by Mr.. Roosevelt. who
also went to it in boat. Nothing
more disastrous happened than that
the president ripped a steamboat cap
| tain up the back. Nobody remembers
| what the captain did. but everybody
recalls what Roosevelt said How
could they forget: Thus words some
! times live lul%er than deeds. At that
| time the president expressed himself
in an enthusiastic way for the ship
canal as general proposition. but re-
| fused to go into details. Perhaps
thoughts of the shifting bed of the
Mississippi made him sidestep being
too specific. Ii that river can be made
to settle down aud stay at home 1t will
save trouble
Fourteen Feet Through the VAL
ley"
That the supporters of the deep wa
terwny are in earnest is shown by the
fact that they have written poetry
about it. This poetry evidently came
hard and resulted from stern sense
of duty. We forbear quoting more
than one StnnZa. but the rest show the
same grim resolve to write song or
die:
We represent the people who want the
waterway
-. Fourteen feet through the valley.
We represent the shippers. who have the
| biggest say
Fourteen feet through the valley.
We want the ships a-running and lower
ing the rate
| Fourteen feet through the valley.
And If we get the water we'll guarantee
the freight
Fourteen feet through the valley.
| The proposed ship canal connects
| with Lake Michigan at Chicago. fol-
lows the Chicago drainage canal to
Joliet, thence down the Illinois river
to the Mississippi aud by the Missis-
sipp to the gulf. "Fourteen feet
through the valley" represents depth
at low water. The project includes
more than the ship cunal. 1t also en-
braces nine feet up the Ohio to Pitts
burg. six feet up the Mississippi to
Minneapolis and six feet up the Mis-
souri, TO Sioux City.
Tom Reed once said that "the Mis-
! souri, river is not navigablc and the
| Mississippi river ought not to be-" but
1t was on one of his grouchy days
when most of the congressman were
yelling for river and harbor appropria-
tions. The witticism should now be
revised and made to read, "The Missis-
s1ppi river is navigable, and the Mis-
souri, river ought to be-" When it is
! reflected that the great river and its
i tributaries can freight from vast
territory extending from Pittsburg to
Omaha and from Minneapolis to New
Orleans and that by means Of the
ship canal and the proposed connec-
ton with the Red River of the North
1t could also reach the great lakes re.
| gion and the Canadian northwest the
! Importance of the giant scheme can
! finly realized. 1t would extend
st line of the nation by multi
| ! thousands Of miles, would relieve
crop coneesions throughout the vast
| wheat corn and cattle belt, would
lower freight rates. would make d con-
tinuous ship canal from New York via
| the enlarged Erie canal to Buffalo,
thence through the great lakes to Chi
cago and from there down the Missis-
sfppi to the gulf. would furnish q new
| outlet to such important trade centers
as Chicago. st. Louis. Pirtsburg. Gin
cinnati. Louisville. Sioux City, Omaha,
Kansas City. Minneapolis, st. Paul and
Memphis and would be boon TO the
farmers and merchants of the entire
interior of the United States and Can
| ada.
Will Reduce Freight Rates.
Take the question of freight tariffs
alone. Not only the boomers of the
deep waterway project but commercial
bodies in many cities and towns of the
country. have adopted the motto, 'Riv-
er regulation is rate regulation" The
proof OF the statement as it relates to
the Mississippi valley is furnished by
the report Of the chief of engineers a
few years ago:
Comparative rates between Pitts
burg and Memphis by rail and river
on soft coal: BY rail, 8O7 miles, 1913
per ton; by river. 1918 miles. AZ cents
per ton" Figures from this same re-
port show another interesting compari-
son between the rail and river rates:
"St. Louis to st. Paul, by rail, 573
miles, first class, 63 cents per hundred:
sixth, 21 cents; by river. 729 miles, first
class, 40 cents; sixth. II cents" 1t is
the prediction Of an army engineer for
! merly in charge Of river improvements
at Pittsburg that the cost Of coal trans
portation to New Orleans, 1900 miles
away, at present about 75 cents per
ton inclndincr 4ha aas4 -