The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-11
|B|G MOVEMENTS
 FOR WATERWAYS
Numerous Meetings and Conventions to Be Held
 This Fall

Washington, october -(special.)-The army engineers charged with the eX- penditure of money for waterways prof ects are rapidly sending in their esti- mates for appropriations needed to carry on the work now under way throughout the United States looking to the increased use of the water courses, in so far as their navigability is concerned. These estimates will be gone over by board of army officers, of which Gen. w. H. Bxby is the head. and in due season forwarded to Congress by the Secretary of War These estimates will be neces- sarily pruned in order that the river and harbor appropriation bill, which will un- doubtedly be enacted at the coming ses- sion of Congress, may be kept within the thirty million mark, as word has gone forth to the chairmen of the commit tees having appropriation bills in charge to cut appropriations to the bone.
 In anticipation of a river and harbor bill at the coming session of Congress, number of very important waterway conventions, interested in distinctive prof ects, will be held during the month of october, commencing with the Lakes-to- the-Gulf Deep Waterway association, which will meet in Chicago October 12-1i The Atlantic Deep Waterways associa- tion, which contemplates the building of an inland passage from Maine to Florida, meets in the city of Richmond. Va, on the 18th, 18th and 20th of October and which, according to it's president, Hon. J. Hampton Moore, member of Congress from Pennsylvania, will bring together d larger number of delegates than have attended any of the former sessions of this organization. Following closely on the heels of the Richmond convention comes the Upper Mississippi River Im- provement association, which holds it's thirteenth convention at Alton H., De- tober 25 and 26.
 Hon. Thomas Wilkinson, president of the Upper Mississippi association, recent
 y said that the economic value of ade- quate and dependable waterways was un- questioned. "The great commercial cities of the world in all ages have been located upon or had free access to the water routes of commerce. said MT. Wilkin- son. 'The cities of this country, as the census will show, that are situated upon improved waterways have far outgrown those cities not on waterways or those cities on unimproved waterways.
 .'EYery important railroad has us ter minals, for obvious reasons, on navigabe waterways or deep harbors. The large and commercially important cities have grown and prospered because of cheap transportation secured by water compe- tition. Water transportation is much cheaper than rail transportation and rail transportation is less where it comes in competition with water transportation. Yet notwithstanding the difference in his favor the shipper has not seemed to consider water transportation on the river seri- ously because of lack of thought and proper attention. Nevertheless, through the educational influence of waterway as- sociations, and especially the National Rivers and Harbors congress, ably pre- sided over by that eminent student of waterways, Hon. Joseph F.. Ransdell of Louisiana, an awakening is at hand all over the country; activity in waterway projects is remarked and a waterway era is upon us such as was begun by Germany a generation ago."
 November will also be marked by a number of waterway conventions, chief of which in importance probably will be the Mississippi-to-Atlantic Inland Water- way association, which meets at Mont gomery, Ala, on the 20th. Fist and 22d of next month and very fittingly will pave the way for the biggest waterway convention of them all the National Rivers and Harbors congress, which meets in Washington December 6, and 8.