The Sentinel=record., 1909-10-23
TAFT WOULD ISSUE BONDS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE INLAND WATERWAYS OF
 AMERICA.
Advocates a Nine-Foot Stage from
 Pittsburg to cario-speaks of .f Waterways as conserva- A. ton of Resources.

Corpus Christi. Texas. Oct. 22.-ln an open address here today before the Interstate Inland Waterways League and the citizens of Corpus Christi President Taft announced himself ass trongly fayoring a perIna. nent and practical system of inland waterways as a means of controlling railroad rates, and said that he rav- ored the policy of issuing bonds for carrying out practical system of im' proyements.
 Up to the present time, Mir. Taft declared, congress has provided for Improvements in piece meal fashion and the work on improvements mas been nothing mere than "a process sion by jerks
 Before any project is entered upon, the president declared, 1t should be thoroughly considered, investigated and reported upon by board of eng1. neers as to it's feasibility and desir. ability Once the improvement is de clared desirable and the communlues which it is to serve can convince con giess that their growth has been such as to justify the expenditure of a large~sum of money to take care of inc.easink tnIde, bonds should be is. sued in order that the improvements may be carried into effect at once and the benefits of it can be quickly secured.
 In announcing nis position for is- suing bonds, the president said he could see no difference between i'm proving inland waterways and digging the Panama Canal. Each project should be separately considered to determine whether or not 1t is worth doing
 Mir. Taft referred to the fact that dn the Ohio river Improvements we're under way to secure a nine-foot stage from Pittaburg to Cairo. An inter- coastal nine-foot canal, he declared. would be of great service to the en- tire country.
 The president said he recognized the danger of issuing bonds indiscrim. inately and sa.d the people must not lose sight of the fact that some day the bonds must be paid. But he de- clared his great faith in the conserya. tism of congress and the American people and he did not believe they would go into the improvement of wa teTways by means of a bond issue OH haphazaid basis but would conserv. atively calculate whether or not the time has arrived to do the work
 President Taft treated the subject c. waterways as one of the phases of the general conservation of natural resources. He spoke of the need of new laws for preservation of forests for the control of water power sites and for the control of coal and phos. phonlte lands He said that more than 600,000000 of dollars have been spent in improvement of waterways Tn the past.
 Instead of working toward a great avenue of commerce. however, the money has been spent in piece meal projects provided for by congress in response to clamor from home or as matter of party considerations.
 Criticism of the army engineers for the policy of waterway improvement, the president declared to be unjust. The committees of the senate and the house are responsible for the policy which has been pursued. As long as the limitations of the home clanlor and party considerations continue. the president said. only piece meal worK can be expected
 The matter should be looked upon, be said, from business point of view, which, after all. he clared to be patriotic point of view, and the whole subject of Improvements should be considered with reference to their