The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-06-08
Deep Water JUG

Deep Water Humbug.
1t is easy to understand the Missis-
sippi valley politician who in one breath
paints radiant pictures of the great
river swarming with recreated fleets
and in the next breath demands that
Congress shall appropriate untold mill
ions for deep waterways 80 as to make
those commercial navies possible. He
is in his business for what 1t will pro-
duoe in available cash. He wants
boards everywhere, countless myr-
lads of paid agents and a refreshing
shower Of Government money through
fifteen anxious and receptive States.
Then he can point with pride to his work
as a rainmaker, and whether as a Con-
gresham or a local legislator or in the
still more lucrative position Of a boss
he will grow fat with influence and take
a new lease on his job.
But just why the merchants, the ship
pers, the producers and the traders Of
the valley, if they believe their interests
will be promoted by a restoration Of
the old steamboat lines, do not get to-
gether and revive the ancient condi-
tons is not 80 clear. The Mississippi
is as deep and as navigable as 1t ever
was. We have just had evidence that
the largest vessels can go as high up as
Natchez-about four hundred miles
from the Gulf Of Mexico. All well in
formed persons were aware Of that, as
indeed they are aware OF the further
fact that the river is entirely practi-
cable for hundreds Of miles above
Natchez and throughout the system of
its continents and tributaries-the Ohio,
the Missouri, the Cumberland, the Ten
nessee, the Arkansas, the Red, even
the Yazoo and the innumerable acces
series that drain a domain larger than
France with Spain and Portugal thrown
in for lagnappe. As we say. all Of
these streams are as susceptible as they
we're forty years ago. Business can be
transacted as satisfactorily now as it
was then. 1t would not be necessary
perhaps to rebuild the old finder box,
half crazy craft Of the vanished period,
but vessels with the same draught could
be constructed and their details adapted
to modern needs and expectations.
Travel and traffic seem to have deserted
the steamboat establishment and betaken
themselves to the railways: but Is the
reason Of all this fundamental and in
evitable or is it because the railroads
keep pace with modern emergencies and
the steamboat people fail to read Alright
their destinies?
One thing is certain in our mind, and
that is the entire feasibility Of repro
ducing the former river traffic if there
are practical demands for its reproduce
ton. Possibly there may be no call for
a restoration Of such sumptuous vehi-
cles Of travel as the old ]. NJ. White, the
most palatial and luxurious boat that
ever thridded the devious pathway OF
the Mississippi-from New Orleans to
Greenville, Miss, to be statistical. On
that splendid boat the passengers dwelt
o~pulently and sat down to banquets that
would have made the best Of our hotels
look anxious. 1t may be they were in
no hurry and that the rollicking haste
OF the railroads in these times has dulled
their appetite for deliberate and dainty
progress. or this we pretend to know
nothing. We content ourselves with
the assertion that the Mississippi, the
Ohio, the Missouri and all the rest of
the Southern and Western rivers are
still navigable, that those really con-
cerned can easily throw of the alleged
yoke of the railroads If they 30 desire
and that all this hurrah about deep
water navigation" is born of an organ
lied assault upon the Treasury that
would if successful stagger the mag
ination of the most reckless rainbow
chaser in the world.
The rivers are still there. Politics has
not elevated their beds or contracted
their channels. II commerce needs their
rehabilitation, well and good The fleets
will follow.