Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-09-21

pirate to part that which ne
| longs to the whole
| CINCINNATI, Ohio. September Ii
President Taft, in an address in this city
today on the occasion of the opening of
the Ohio river dam, denounced the pres
ent unsystematic and unbusinesslike
method Of appropriating for river and
harbor mprovements-the ''piecemeal'
method. The days of the pork barrel
should be numbered" he declared. ANY
enactments that look to the selfish ex-
ploitat ton of less than the whole at the
expense of the whole and without benefit
to the whole he went on, lis species
of legislative abuse that comes very near
corruption in it's effect
After referring to the Importance of
the proposed improvement of the Ohio
river at a cost of 1868. 100000, to be ex-
pended in twelve years, the President
continued:
Delay in Improvements.
II earnestly hope that the time may
come in the rot distant future when the
plan for completing this Ohio river I'M
provement shall be changed so as TO
make the time six years for completion
instead of twelve One of the great him
ORANGES to the success of the improve
ment of our waterways has been the de-
lay incident to the completion OF eaeh
project. That has grown out OF the meth
cd pursued in framing the river ana
harbor Appropriation bills. Under the
present law it is necessary Tor tonsress
TO order the. survey Of projected i'm
provement before the army engineers are
authorized to make such survey. When
the survey is completed board of en-
gineer officers reports upon the cost,
fea sfbility and usefulness of the improve
ment, and after this report has been
made. a board of review of other army
engineers passes upon the report ana
approves or disapproves it's recommends
ton. The report is then transmitted to
Congress Neither board of the army
engineers. nor the chief of engineers. nor
the Secretary of War, is authorized to
pass upon the comparative merits of all
the projects under survey and report
Each project comes before Congress
either rejected or approved, and 1t is left
| to the committee to determine which of
| those approved shall be taken and which
shall be passed by or delayed. 1t is a
| rule fairly well observed by the commit
| tee on rivers and harbors that no project
| which has not received the approval of
| both of the boards shall be appropriated
| for and adopted.
The "PiecemeaP' Policy.
CAS- these waterway improvements are
| to be carried on in upward of two-thirds
of the congressional districts it can be
readily understood what the pressure is
| from their representatives i'm Congress
to have every project that is approved
appropriated for. The total costs of the
projects surveyed and estimated for is
far in excess of anything that Congress
could appropriate for the general purpose
from the revenues of the government
for one year or dozen years. The
consequence is that in the desire to sat
isfy the claims OF all the amount which
is available from the current revenues
is divided up and apportiOned between all
the various enterprises that have thus
received the approval of the engineers.
This is done with very. little regard to
the comparative merits of the different
improvements, and it has tendency to
delay every improvement number Of
years beyond the time when it might be
made profitable by early completion. This
is what has been called the 'piecemear
policy, and Is very unsatisfactory. A
supervising board Of engineers should
| recommend to Congress the improvements
in the order of their Importance, and
sohuld have the power to advise that
body that the beginning of certain i'm
provemehts should be postponed until
the other improvements are completely
finished.
Difficulty Inherent in Our System.
"Of course, ] understand that the diff
ficulty is inherent in our system of gov
eminent Every district that has a pro-
| jected improvement feels that it ought
| to secure some share in the benefit that
is to be derived from the annual expendi-
| ture of money for all improvements in
| the labor employed, in the materials pur-
chased and in the business created, as
well as in some progress, however small,
| made in its Improvement toward compile
ffrv1 4 hxyr RoI>
parture from the present system swould
postpone the completion of many of
these improvements any more than they
are likely to be delayed under the pres
ent system. On the contrary, if the new
plan to be adopted. involves the prompt
completion of those projects which ece
| entered upon, the others which are post
poned when they are begun may count
| upon much shorter period for the
whole work.
Will Ask Congress for More Power.
1T is doubtful how far. by executive or
der. l can go in directing the engineers
| to make recommendations informing Con-
grsss as to the relative Importance of the
projects adopted and entered upon II
| think l have gone as far as l can in this
matter, and shall ask Congress for
more power at its next session This
should be given in the form of authority
to organize board of engineers to 20
over many partially completed enter
prises that were begun before the present
plan of approval by two boards was
adopted or which by change in conditions
need REORGANIZATION in order to determine
whether they should not be abandoned
Until this is done these projects, whether
worthy or unworthy, will be promptly on
hand at each session for an appropria-
ton.
1--WE have reached new epoch in the
matter of the improvement of our water
ways. The public is greatly aroused by
the confident and just belief that by a
more symmetrical. reasonable and prompt
Expenditure of money upon approved
|projects, rates Of transportation may be
lowered and the business of the country
greatly benefited
Prophecies and the Facts.
"You could collect, if you desired, IL
braries of record of meetings Of water
ways conventions, full of statistics. full
Of generalizations. full of eloquence and
full of prophecies as to the marvellous i'm
provement of waterways near at hand.
Then you change the scene and go into
the rivers and harbors committee OF the