The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-11-22
Congressman at
Waterways Convention
CONTINUED from Page Two.)

the United States is greater. the south
is developing and her resources daily
becoming more valuable. The Panama
canal was never so near completion
Railroads are threading the southland
adding countless value to tract1ess
waste. Southern ports are being de-
Veloped.
The economy of freight is the
shortest haul to salt water. More of
ports of the Gulf seaboard than to any
other.
The 2s7 navigable streams of the
United States have total mileage of
1925 miles. Of these, 81 in number,
there are 1880 miles (navigable)
tributary to the Gulf.
Hence, more than ST of the naviga-
BILE rivers of the United States enter
the Gulf, Enthusiastically indicating the
trend of national commerce.
In twenty years the commerce of
our nation has increased $50 per cent.
During the same period, rail trans
portation facilities have increased ~
per cent. Water transportation facili-
ties have increased so per cent. In
other words, commerce has increased
four times as fast as transportation
facilities.
In 1907, freight was carried by rail-
roads an average distance of 155 miles
at a cost of z IL mills per ton each
mile. And by. water. an average of
five hundred miles at a cost of 39-100
mills per ton each mile.
Nature has provided every means of
good soil, good climate, good water 70
sustain the most dense population on
the Gulf coast. Add to this the closer
proximity, than either the Atlantic or
the Pacific, of the Gulf seaboard to the
producing states of the, Union, it's To-
cation with relation to the Panama
0or in lott,
| ulation. fast growing commerce, and
the present need and ultimate GER
| tainty of the construction of the Mis-
sissippi to Atlantic inland waterway
are apparent.
= Sports and Recreation.
The southland is the Mecca of the
American tourist.
The south has wonderful natural
system of waterways, lazy rivers,
silent bayous, limpid lakes, a wide
stretching inland sea, many sheltered
bays and fifteen hundred miles of sea
coast.
The yacht, the small power boat, and
the houseboat are already frequenters
of southern waters. But loosen your
| imagination for moment, and see a
connecting system of inland waterways
from Boston to Key West, from the
Great Lakes to the Gulf, and from the
| Rio Grande to the Atlantic, all safe
for the passage Of the houseboat and
small pleasure craft. Then, when
winters icy fingers blight the green
sward and send the song bird hurry
! ing southwark, from the Penobscot to
| the Alabama, from Sault Ste Marie to
| the Eads jetties will stretch out
pageant of households, containing the
| family, the kitchen, the COW and the
| piano. with myriads of power craft
| and. canoes, such as the world has
never before seen.
| - to-
| depart again for the green fields and
raountain peaks at the sound of the
| locust and CLINT of the freely, we of
| the south, by the same means, may
| travel along the Atlantic coast, at
| sea level, pass into the Great Lakes,
forests of Canada, returning at the ap-
proach of winter, with the down cur
rent of the Mississippi.
Then we will have the migratory
householder, the travelling merchant,
longer lives and a more intimate
knowledge of our country.
| The Local Application.
We say, water always runs down
| hill. There never was greater mis-
| take. No water ever went down hill
| until it first went up in the clouds
and fell on the hills so it could run
| down.
Nature, justly called feminine,
spends O good deal Of her time vapor-
| iZing.
| She is apt to let her tears flow at
any time, But gives US to distinctly
| understand that the only way to in
| duce her to do this with any certainty
| is to blow her up. The cost Of all
known methods of blowing up. are
rather out of proportion to the recon-
pense. And the rainfall continues ir-
| regular.
Hence the Montgomery barge line.
| finds when there is no freight, the
| Coost, Tallapoosa and Alabama rivers
| have plenty of water for navigating,
but when the freight flows, the water
| inconsiderately ceases.
| We have the cause and the effect.
| and the effect does not please US.