Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-08-16
|$50,000,000
IMPROVEMENTS
FOR 1912
ESTIMATES FOR RIVER AND HAIR.
Dor IMPROVEMENTS STILL
INCREASING.
CONSERVATION IS URGED
BILL MAY BECOME so LARGE ITS
PASSAGE is OUT OF THE
QUESTION.
Over Enthusiastic Advocates Of the
Measure Are Liable to Spoil All Of
the Plans for Improvements by De-
manding Too Much from the Con-
qressionaI Committee.
Special to The ribunc.

sources regarded as authentic 1t Is
learned that there are on file In thu
Office of the chief Of engineers of the
United States army estimates for river
and harbor improvements for the veal
1912 amounting to upwards Of fifty
millions of dollars, and the end is not
in sight. These estimates are pre-
pared by engineer officers in charge
of particular districts and are made
up for the purpose of giving the board
of engineers in charge of waterway i'm
provements a general knowledge OF
each project upon which work is being
done.
When all the estimates have been
received the board of engineers goes
through them, and from these estimates
revised estimates are made which are
| sent to the committees of congress
dealing with the subject of river and
harbor improvements for their guild
ance in framing the river and harbOr
appropriation bill.
Many of these estimates are out Of
all proportion to the merits of the pro-
jects, and as result they are "cut
to the bone" by the board of engineers
in order to keep down appropriations
and at the same time place the stamp
of their approval only upon meritor-
ious projects.
For number of years there has
been a rule in the office of the chief
of engineers prohibiting the giving out
of information as to the recOmmen.
dations of district engineers on the
projects included within specified ter.
ritory, but usually enterprising news
paper men in interested localities sue
coed in obtaining advance information
as to said recommendations, and then
the newspapers begin agitating for in
of trade and chambers of commerce
join in the movement fOrlarger sums,
and as a result members of congress
are drawn into the controversy and
the fight is transferred to the COM
mittees of congress. This agitation, If
persisted in, will work untold harm to
the cause of waterway improvements,
according to Brigadier General WILL
lam H. Bixby, chief Of engineers.
Newspapers can aid immensely in
the preparation of the next river and
harbOr bill by urging conservative es-
Inmates for projects" said General Blk
by. "A yearly river and harbor bill
is greatly to be desired, but If the
newspapers insist upon their partic-
ular locality getting all that the most
enthusiastic advocate of waterway i'm
provement desires, the bill will be-
come so large that its passage is out
of the question.
Nov that the committee of con-
gress, dealing with waterways, have
gone on record as favoring a yearly
river and harbor bill, it behooves the
people, and particularly the newspa-
pers, for their power in the community
is acknowledged, to counsel conserva-
tive appropriations to the end that the
bill will clearly establish the yearly
principle of river and harbor bud
get. If the bill is loaded down with
provisions for the improvement Of this
river and that canal, and If it fails to
carry out the suggestions made by
President Taft during the closing days
Of the last session of congress. fear
for it's passage.
what we need now, more than any
one thing, in waterway legislation, is
a conservative appropriation bill, judi.
cially prepared, with a view of yearly
appropriations so that the notable pro-
jects may be completed within rea.
sonable time. If legislators will be
modest in their requests for recogni-
ton of their particular projects, and
if the people will make haste slowly
believe yearly river and harbor bill
possible, but if the demands grow too
large and the bill assumes anywhere
near the proportions of the last bill,
then have serious doubts of the year.
ly feature ever being adopted. What
we need most at this time is conser.
vatism in our estimates"