The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-05-15
POINTS OUT GRAFT
IN WATERWAY PLAN
chicagoan Attacks the "From-
the-LakeS the Gulf"
Program.

is being urged by those behind the
good roads movement to oppose the
deep waterway from the Great-Lakes-
to-the-Gulf program. Howard H.
Gross of Chicago. representing the
good roads enthusiasts, has filed with
the President documentary proof thar
the deep waterway is a colossal
! blunder and a political crime"
THE propaganda is made up" he
asserts, "of many politicians, SOLDIERS
of fortune and a few high-grade busl-
ness men" Reciting the requests upon
Congress for a vast sum, which, 1T is
said, may run into one billion dollars
to complete the proposed fourteen
foot channel in the Mississippi river,
Mr.. Gross says:
THE only justification for this coios-
sal expenditure is based upon the
supposition that given the improved
channel, commerce will develop upon
the waterway and provide greatly in
creased shipping facilities. the result
of which will be large and general
reduction in freight charges through
out the country. Upon no other the
ory could the expense be justified.
THE deep waterway plan demands
f0urteen-foot channel from the lakes
to the gulf, via the Illinois river;
six-foot channel from st. Louis to st.
Paul, and a similar one from st. Louis
to Omaha. These are the principal
features. of which the lakes-to-the-
gulf stretch is the main stem or ar
terry. That the channel should be
! fourteen feet, no more or less, passes
understanding.
Deeper Than Necessary.
at is at least six feet deeper than
Is necessary for modern barge traffic,
based upon European experience. If
| it is to be an ocean waterway, as the
| people have been led to believe, it
should be from twenty-eight to thirty
| feet If lake steamers are to use it,
the depth should be at least twenty
feet
Reduced to the last analysis, the
channel is nothing more or less than a
| barge proposition, and for this pur-
pose nine feet is all that is necessary
| and all that can be economically used
The cost of a nine-foot waterway, as
against fourteen-foot, will be as
| dimes to dollars"
Mr.. Gross lays emphasis on the fact
that the United States army engineers,
| with years of experience with the Mis-
| sfssippi river behind them and with
no axes to grind, unanimously report
| ed against the so-called deep water
| way on the ground that q fourteen
| foot channel is unnecessary, and that
/ a nine-foot channel will take care of
present and prospective commerce;
that the cheapest way to move COM
modities is the only kind of traffic
that means cheap freight, and a four
teen-foot channel is deeper than Is re-
| CURED for bargeS, while ii would not
| admit lake or ocean vessels He adds
| that lake and ocean steamers could
| not safely navigate the crooked, swift
moving bottom-shifting Mississippi
river, even If the channel had twice
the proposed depth of fourteen feet,
and If it were, in fact, a deep water
way. is evident to engineers.
Admitting that there is glut in
railroad and water facilities for han
ding freight in the grain moving Pc
riods-a condition that presents seri-
Gus questions, Mr.. Gross continues:
When one recalls the fact that very,
very little grain is produced within
wagon hauling distance of any naviga-
bic river, and that the one and only
way to reach the market from the
grain field is first by wagon and then
by rail, 1T is difficult to understand
now the steamboats, would relieve the
glut on the railroads, unless they were
amphibious and able to call at the
farm for the grain, thus eliminating
the necessity for a rail haul.
Good Roads the Remedy.
If remedy is sought for the glut,
then build wagon roads, so that farm
ers will have with a certainty a
smooth, hard road throughout the
winter. Then many of them will hold
their crops for better prices, and in
this way prolong the crop moving
time from sixty days to six months or
more. Good roads will save the farm
ers dollars in transportation, while
waterways will save only pennies.
II the proposed waterway is to
benefit the farmer he must be able to
get to it. How many of them can
haul their grain from the farm TO the
channel? Not one per cent. II the
state or the nation has the money to
spend on internal improvements. L..
them assist the townships to build
good roads; the highways over which
the children must go to school, THE
doctor to reach the suffering and
over which must pass every bushel Of
grain and every bale of cotton raised.
The road reaches every field, every
farm home and every market town:
The people everywhere demand good
roads, while the politicians lead thu
cry for waterways. Roads are uniysr-
sal; waterways are sectional Good
roads mean saving in transporta-
ton far greater than can be claimed
for the waterway by its most ardent
friends. Good roads mean better
schools, more social life, higher
life, higher standard of living-they
mean progress and civilization.
IF the people are to obtain relief
from excessive freight charges it will
come through regulation by law, and
not through the proposed deep water