The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1910-11-25
RIVERS AND HARDORS
CONGRESS TO CONVENE

Washington, D. c., Nov. 2f.-The
seventh convention of the National
Rivers and Harbors Congress which
will be held in this city December Z,
8 and next, it is expected will bring
to the national capital the largest
gathering of waterway enthusiasts
ever assembled in this country. Pres
ident Taft, who viii deliver the open
ing address to the delegates said in
the course Of speech in Chicago that
transportation was the question of the
hour and that the only solution of the
problem was recourse to the water
ways of the United States
Probably next in Importance to the
address Of the president Of the United
States will be the speech of Judson
Harmon of Ohio, who has for years
been a close student of the question of
improved waterways and at the very
meeting held in Cincinnati seven years
ago when it was determined to reor-
ganize the National Rivers and Har-
bors Congress, Governor Harmon com
to the delegates at that time that the
different states through which inter
state waterways run should be called
upon for pro rata sum for their inn
|provements, insisting that the juris-
diction belongs entirely to the federal
government whose duty it is to inn
prove such streams for the benefit of
all the states through which they flow.
In addition to these distinguished
citizens others quite as well known in
their several vocations will deliver ad-
dresses during the days of the conven-
tion including the Hon. Clifton Seton,
chairman of conservation of the Can
addition government; the Mexican am
bassador; General w. H. Bixby, chief
of engineers; Governor Horace White
of New York; Representative Champ
Clark of Missouri Col. William L.
Sibert, member of the Panama canal
commission, who will speak on "The
Panama Canal as Connecting Link
Between Our Coasts" Walter s..
Dickey of Kansas City, the chief pro-
moter of the Missouri River Steamboat
Line; F. w. Crandall, national chair
man railroad committee Travellers
Protective Association of America;
Robert J. MacFarland of Brooklyn,
who is one of the leading spirits in the
New York Waterways association and
Mrs. Hoyle Tomkies, of Louisiana,
president of the Woman's National
Rivers and Harbors Congress.
The appearance of the chief of engi-
neers upon the platform of the Ma
tional Rivers and Harbors Congress
marks precedent as none of the pre-
ceding chief of engineers have ever
addressed this great body of water
way advocates. Their particular OBJ
lection to thus appearing was that as
they were intimately associated with
the recommendations for the improve
ment of the rivers, harbors and canals
of the country and their references to
the same might be regarded as official
in character, therefore greater inn
iportance might attach to their utter
ances than would otherwise be the
case General Bixby, however who
probably has knowledge of the water
ways of continental United States as
wide as that of any officer of the
corps has accepted the invitation of
President Joseph E. Ransdell of the
congress to address the convention
after consultation with the secretary
iof war.
Four thousand delegates attended
the convention held in this city last
year and according to Secretary ]. F.
Ellison of Cincinnati, who opened his
headquarters today at the New Will
ard, this number will be greatly augu-
mented at the forthcoming convention,
his correspondence indicating mcreas-
ed interest in the propaganda of the
National Rivers and Harbors Congress
which stands for Waterway Policy
and Not for. Waterway Project"