The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1909-10-29

W IA othNOs oh0 otAhA ~ Wv
by the Government. under. the char
may rest assured that unders that ,ari
r%angement monopoly cannot possess
itself. Of all the power sites in the
country. (Arpiause.l I
And now / come TO the subject OF
waterways. We have done a great.
deal in this country In the improve
'ment o1f waterways, and We have spent
a great deal Of money. Z | am net crit'
icising the method then pursnedI We,
were engaged. in growing: we had a.
great many things.to do, and the first
money that was expended ought TO
have been. expended in the develop
ment OF u harbors on the sea. coast,
sg'sfsTheory' Was Weongy4 ,
IL 1--WE have spent arogreat deal of
money ION the~waterways Inland. i 40
not think 1T has been spent as much
to a good purpose as, it would have
been had we adopted some other theo-
ry, and some otner method; but J.
am not here to criticise that, and L
think that d great deal could probably
be said in defense of the economy that
has been pursued in that matter; but
| do think that we have now reached
a time in the history Of the develop
ment of our waterways when a new
method ought to be adopted. Gap
plause.)
NOW / would like to clear away a
good many suppositions that l am
afraid have lodged in your minds, This
matter of waterways, Improvement by
irrigation of the arid and subarid
lands and of this conservation of its
resources Is, not for the purpose Of
distributing pork to every part of the
country. f's- nhev
Every measure that Is to be taken
and adopted must be on the ground
that II is useful to the country at large
and not on the ground that it is going
to send certain Congressman back to
Congress or on the ground that it Is
going to give a certain part of the
money prosperity. If that is the prin.
ciple, and the one which l ~deprecate,
is to obtain, l am in favor of going
/ along the same old way we have gone
|. on before. egtM -,
Tafts, Method.
1.-THE method of which I am in favor
of Is this, that we should, take up
every comprehensive project on. its
merits, and we should determine by
all of the means at our command
where the country in which that logic
is to be carried out has SO far de-
veloped as to Justify the expenditure
of a large sum in carrying out the
project, and where the project will be
useful when done. "N.." et,
when you have determined that
on the general principle of good to
the entire country, then l am in favor
of doing that work as rapidly as it
can be done and | am in favor of Is
shall turn out that some part of the
country is linked to a particular pro-
ject by reason of the eloquent and
large words and a general lively mag
ination, that is not sustained BY the
facts of IN investigation then that part
of the country has got to wait until
1t can grow up to that project and
that project come to It.
81 am not minimizing the Difficult.
ties that are going to arise in select.
ing what has to be done or in determ.
lining the order in which those pro.
jects are to be carried out.
81 know | value more intensely than
I ever did in my life the intelligence,
the interest and local patriotism that
we find all over the United States.
But we cannot trust that under a plan
j., of Importance that II carried on and
without sanity and without a knowl.
edge of the good that is to come
from it will bankrupt the Government
Nov there is a proposition that we
issue 500 million or a billion dollars
of bonds for a waterway and then
that we just give that up an apportion'
ate part to the Mississippi and part to
the Atlantic, a part to the Missouri
and a part to the Ohio. l am opposed
to it.
Opposes Spiit-Up Policy.
9" am opposed to 1t because it moi
only smells of the pork barrel but II
will be the pork barrel. Let every
project stand on it's own bottom, lei
it prove itself by means of it's friends
and by means of those who know
whether it Is to be profitable or not
and then enter upon it; but do not lei
us in the investigation by a big dec
laration and eloquence embark on g
plan that will reflect no credit on oul
business and common sense and will
only display the use of that local pa
triotism, which, when united together
makes up u grand Americanism.
"And now, my friends, | am going
to ask you to excuse me from speak
ing further, other than to say to you
that l have had great pleasure IL
standing before this magnificent audi
nee of st. Louis; of Missourians, o.
Congressman and of Governors, and II
makes my heart swell up with pa
triotism to look up in your faces and
to find here In the center OF the coun
try the same spirit of that determine
ton to overcome any obstacles thaI
are between us and higher living ant
greater prosperity that / have fount
from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocear
and from Canada to the Gulf"
49, - -