The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-01-25
THAT INLAND
 WATERWAY
Extracts from Address by Hon. J. Hampton Moore Before Rivers and EIar- bors Congress.

able car shortage struck this country that caused an agitation throughout the Middle West, and along the Pacific slope; an agitation that was heard in all the offices of the great railroad magnates of this country, and which came surging down over the roads and waterways to the halls of Congress in the Capital City at Washington, there was an awakening along the Atlantic seaboard to the fact that the West was moving, was hustling, was push ing. both in the matter Of railroads and waterways, and was demanding in creased facilities for the tranSpOrta- t1on of it's tremendous output from the fields, from forests and from factor ies, which latter were then rapidly rearing their heads the country over It was then that many of us learned that whereas in New England we were largely bottled up and depending upon one or two railroads (similar conditions prevailing along the Atlantic coast and in the Southern States), that on the other hand our Western booming friends were not only securing the cap ital to build one, two and three rail- roads, but that they were demanding increased facilities by rail and by wa ter as we'll. and insisting that their grain should not rot in the fields and their apples should not fall to waste in the orchards, but that they should have the right to get to market.
 Then we began to think along this seaboard that perhaps we ought to move in a similar direction. So in 1907 we organized an association, not for the purpose of obtaining an appropria- tion from Congress for one stream that ended nowhere; not for the purpose of %I i1osv, stream in one State, but for the pur- pose of adopting a policy that should be- iE line with the policy of the Ma tiona1 Rivers and Harbors Congress, to go forward with that policy represent ing project which would be contin- uous and would connect up the water ways of the South with those of the North. and in a commercial as we'll as a fraternal sense wipe out State lines. That association was formed It de- clared itself in the city of Philadelphia two years ago. and it's purposes were pushed as vigorously as it's officers and members knew how to push them, convention in Baltimore last year. and resolutions that were there adopted being presented to Congress, were en- acted into law, so that authorization for a survey was obtained to ascertain the cost of project which would con- meet the thirteen or fourteen States along the Atlantic seacoast in one link, which would be protected from the storms and perils of the sea.
 In the city of Norfolk one month ago, following as swiftly as possible upon that remarkable campaign down the Mississippi River, the President of the United States, in the presence of a vast multitude of people, declared the same policy that he announced yes- terday with regard to the accumula- tion of funds for expenditure before the project was agreed upon. He said substantially this: 'If you want Con- gress to act upon a project, if you want it to make an improvement if you desire it to appropriate money, then show Congress first that you have a case" In this respect we have ask ed for nothing more. for we had been looking along our shores and we knew that we had a lease" in harmony with the Presidents declaration and in har- mony with the policy of the National Rivers and Harbors Congress
 We had observed that the great vol ume of appropriations made by Con gress for the improvement of rivers and harbors, notwithstanding our two hundred years growth. had been go- ing during the last quarter of a cen tury into the Middle West We had no envy for those who were more for tunate than the Atlantic coast in ob- taining the recognition of Congress, but we began to look along the coast to see just where we came in under this general policy of the improvement of the waterways of the country. Our railroads had become incapable of car- rying the products of industrious men, and we had not yet come to recognize that the productive power of the peo- pie should be limited to the carrying capacity of the railroad alone. As We observed how our brothers of the Mid de West and along the Pacific coast were moving forward, how they were making their own claims upon merit how they were obtaining recognition from Congress, and how they were able to make two Presidents of the United States join them in memorable trips down the Mississippi. we looked land that juts out from Massachusetts and is known as Cape Cod; and we said. Around this strip of land for the last two hundred years vessels have been coming and going, lives have been lost and valuable property has been wrecked; and yet for two hun dred years. while money has been go- ing elsewhere, there has been no shorter and safer cut across. which would afford a better passage for the mariner; and as we looked into the facts we ascertained that during the per1OQ or twenty-five years last past there had gone upon the shoals upon that part of the coast no less than thousand vessels. carrying with them vast cargoes of enormous wealth and five hundred precious lives!
 And then we looked into the reason why nothing had been done, and We could form no other conclusion than that the peoples of Massachusetts and New England were satisfied with the conditions of today and were not as wide-awake as their brothers of the Middle West. who were not satisfied with the conditions of today but who insisted upon building for the future
 We observed that if we could secure a cut of about eight miles, at a cost possibly of s10,000, 900, across the neck of Cape Cod, we could save an out side sailing distance from Boston to New York of 148 miles and, avoiding fogs and shoals, reduce the risk and safely deliver lives and property.
 We found, as we looked further down the coast, that there was already a waterway cut between the city of, New York and the city of Philadelphia across the State of New Jersey. a dis tance of thirty-one miles-an existing canal under the present control Of a great railroad-and we saw that New York wanted to build toward PhiladeI- phia and Philadelphia toward New York. Great industries were there with large amounts of capital, ready to make investment. Labor was ready to be employed; and we said, "Why is it, when we are willing. have the ca I>acity, 1he brain, the brawn and the