The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-01-27
INLAND WATERWAY PROJECT
IMPORTANT TO ocALA

That Ocala will take good, live
hold of the inland waterway work,
which involves a canal for barge pur-
poses across the peninsula of Florida,
between the Atlantic and Mississippi,
was decided by preliminary Skin
mish with leading business men here
yesterday.
AS was announced in the Banner,
| the field secretary of the Mississippi
to Atlantic Inland Waterway Associa-
tion, Mrs. Maude Wood Henry, is in
the city to organize a Marion county
branch of this association, and ar
rangements are now being made by
wire for an address here in the near
future by the secretary, Mr.. Leland
J. Henderson. An announcement of
the exact date of this meeting will be
made later, in case Mr. Henderson is
able to come.
United States Senator Duncan u.
Fletcher, president of this association,
is enlisted heart and soul in the pro-
ject, and says that canal across the
peninsula and along the gulf to the
Mississippi is not a dream, but prac-
tical business proposition, in which
thousands of hard-headed. wide-awake
business men of the gulf states are in
terested, and backing their interest
with time, labor and money, looking
toward it's early consummation.
1t is merely a matter of getting suf-
ficiently strong, organized forces and
collecting sufficiently strong data to
show the practicability of the canal to
congress. As Senator Fletcher says:
mo one can doubt the favorable
tendency of legislation and no
thoughtful man can fail to realize the
Importance of awakened public senti-
ment, a healthy public spirit, because
the sympathy is here, the time is at
hand and the response will be forth
coming where the public demand is
sufficiently definite, general and
strong"
Through the efforts of this associa-
ton congress ordered surveys of the
entire route and within a few months
the reports of the engineers will be
sent on to Washington. A favorable
report was recently secured for the
west end of the canal between Pensa-
cola and Mobile, and an appropriation
o. 100000 for the construction of
that section between ST. Georges
sound and st. Andrews bay, the first
and only section reported on by gov
eminent engineers, was part of the
rivers and harbors bill passed in June.
In view of what has been accom-
plished in the brief life of this organ
ization, it is idle for anyone to pre-
dict that it will be years before the
project is realized. 1t is within grasp
now, not as an isolated project, but
as part of national system of in
land waterways. endorsed by the ma
tional rivers and harbors congress,
President Taft, all the other great wa
terway associations engaged in the
same work for their respective Sec
tions, and by the leading railroad ex-
perts and transportation men of the
country.
The railroads can no longer take
care of the immense and growing traf-
fic of the United States, and it is now
time to follow the example of all Eu-
rope in constructing inland water
ways to supplement the railroads In
draining lands, in affording cheap
means of transportation (1-6 to lie
of rail rates., in regulating rail rates,
/ in developing the country, waterways
are of incalculable benefit every
where, and Marion county should get
behind the work of the Mississippi to
Atlantic Inland Waterway Association
with all the energy in its power, and
laid financially and morally in the pro-
paganda of education and organiza-
ton being waged in the gulf states.
| The favored route of the canal lies
through Marion county, the Oklawaha
river and Silver Springs being pro-
posed part. When the committees
call on the business men here they
will respond quickly and freely if they
have the farsightedness, the public
Esprit, the enterprise, that have built
towns and cities all over the north
and west. All the counties of the
state that have organized branches OF
the waterway association have enter
ed into the campaign with vigor and
determination to help land this canal
| for Florida.
The Times-Union says: I'VE lay it
down as one rule that has no excep-
tons that the man who is too good to