The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-22
President Taft Says That Money for Waterways
 Must Come Fairly
SIGNIFICANT SPEECH
 MADE IN CINCINNATI
Taft CritIcfses Congressmen Who Scheme for Money for Water ways without Any Just
 Claim for It

Cincinnati. Ohio. September n-"Ths days of the pork barrel should be num- bered. The country is aroused against the corporate or corrupt control of legis- lative agencies, but 1t is doubtful whether he constituencies as yet are able to per ceive the higher obligation on the part or themselves and their representatives not to use their votes in combination to appropriate to part that which belongs to the whole"
 Thus denouncing the congressional
 pork barrel" President Taft today urged a reconstruction of the method of dealing with waterways improvement in the United States.
 The President spoke before the Ohio Valley Improvement association, which met at the Ohio Valley exposition here to celebrate the completion of new gov ernment dam at Fernbank. Ohio. a few miles below Cincinnati
 This project was designed to conserve navigable stage Of the Ohio river dur ing the dry months of each year.
 President Taft had a thoroughly en- jcyable time today among his home folks of Cincinnati. He visited the Ohio Valley exposition, took an automo- bile ride during the afternoon, dined at the. Business Mems club this evening, and later attended performance of the opera, Paoletta, composed by a local rnu- sician. and rendered largely by local tal- apf uxrrhe ha Nfr ToN< greeted by cheers.
 The immense audience in Music hall this afternoon rose to it's feet and gave the President a remarkable demonstra- ton when he appeared on the platform. The cheering was renewed with. ia- creased vigor when MT. Taft announced thar after his tenure of office had ex- pired In Washington he proposed return- ing to Cincinnati and spending the re- mainder of his days in this city.
 President Taft said:
 President Taft's Speech
 My friends and fellow citizens: Since I left this, my old home more than ten years ago, I have been able to revisit 1t only few times, and then not for mora than day or two at time. I welcome this opportunity to meet old friends and to renew old associations, for here, after my official duties are discharged at Washington. I expect to return and to spend the rest Of my life. In ten years great changes can come over commun- ity. The one that strikes me most is the fact that I have to recognize the most active men and women of the community today, not by recollecting their own faces, but by their resemblance to the fathers and the mothers.
 You are having exposition and are acting as hosts to those from the neigh boring counties and states who contrib ute to your business life, and to those who are attracted here by the oppor- tunities for artistic and social enjoyment that an old, solid, but public-spirited and advanced community can offer. Your music, your art. your educational sys- tenn, and the character of your people give you distinct type, which. in com parison with other communities, does not depend for It's excellence upon the per- centage of an increase In your popula- ton, or those statistics of a material growth which the new and excessively growing city hugs to its bosom.
 There are things In this world besides numbers and besides money, and some of these things can only be obtained by quiet growth that it takes time to give.
 Pioneers In Development
 We were ourselves the pioneers in de- veloping Il direct southern business. and we took upon our shoulders a public mu- nicipal debt aggregate with interest ESQ., o0o,00G that we might with bonds of steel. piercing high mountains and crossing great rivers. unite us to the heart of that section whose progress was long delayed by the results of civil war; but which by leaps and bounds Is now developing its resources and acquiring wealth more rapidly than any other. It was a doubt full experiment. It was one at which political economists and conservative business men shook their heads In con- demnation. and 1t is one which might have proved to be disastrous to our com munity,t but those who projected and carried 1t through have been vindicated in their faith. The railroad has been wisely disposed of by lease to strong railway system, and 1t Is earning for the city a present income that is rapidly making up for the weight of taxation which our people had to bear during the years of it's building, and when 1t was developing the business which Is now 90 important and profitable in Cincinnati.
 Celebrating Big Event
 
 To-day you are celebrating the opening of another great improvement which must iH the future have much to do with tn. business growth of the city. I mean the Improvement of the Ohjo river from Pittsburg to Cairo It is of this improve ment that 1 shall direct my remarks this afternoon. The distance from Pittsburg to Cairo. by way of the Ohio river. Is 967 miles. During the months of February. March and April the river Is full and has depth of certainly nine feet from one end to the other for the purposes of navigation. During the months of Au- gust, September and october the river is low and in many places at low water the depth is considerably less than six feet Notwithstanding the difficulties of navigation these three months. and in- desl during tbe other months of the year. the variations are not confined to the months stated; there Is today trans- portation of freight on this river amount ing to over 100000 tons. and In the car. riage of coal the cost per ton mlle-that is, the cost for carrying a ton of coal one mile-is four-tenths of mill, lower