St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1912-11-30
GONGRESsMANELEC LAllR0 DELIVERS
SPEECH AT WATERWAY CNlE ngN
Tntercoastal Meeting Opens With Good Attendance
---Over Two Hundred Delegates
Present.

of the Interstate Inland Water
way League held at Palacios,
Texas, with over two hundred
delegates. present, was very sue
cessful. The convention opened
with a meeting on Thursday
night, Nov. q, and closed on
Saturday with the same spirit
in which it was begun.
When the first meeting was
called to order Thursday night
by President G. S. E.. Holland,
fully a thousand people were
seated in the big auditorium
of the B. Y. P. u. After an IN
vocation by Rev. II. A. Echols,
principal of the Palacios Baptist
Academy, President Holland IN
troduced Mayor D. Ruthven OF
Palacios, who in a few happy
words welcomed the delegates OF
the eighth annual convention OF
the Interstate Waterway League
to Palacios and bade them take
the city, which was theirs for
the asking.
The President next introduced
Vice President Henri Z. Guey-
dan, who delivered a response to
the welcome address. Congress
man-elect L. Lazaro, of this dis
trict, was an enthusiastic dele
gate and made a favorable I'M
preston on the audience when
he was called upon to speak.
Following is the course of his
speech:
I feel much honored by an IN
vitation to be present at this con-
vention to address this important
body.
The great and important ques-
ton of the systematic improve
ment of our inland waterways is
one which our government has
certainly neglected. It seems te
me that until recently the appro-
priations for that purpose have
not been made according to any
fixed system or plan.
It seems to me also that ap.
preparations have not always
been made in such amounts and
with such regularity as to give
us an opportunity to carry on
the work economically and with
a view to its quick completion.
And so it is that after SO many
wears of our existence we find
our many inland waterways with
very few exceptions totally I'M
prepared for the demands OF
transportation.
I am glad to see that the con-
sideraticn of their permanent
and more general improvement
according to some comprehensive
plan so as to arrange them into q
complete system of Transports
ton has now forced itself upon
us.
As Bacon said: There are
three things that make a nation
great and prosperous a fertile
soil. busy workshops and easy
conveyance for men and COM
modities from one place to an
other. !" We are an exporting
nation. We send our agrlcul-
tural products to foreign markets
and when our wheat or cotton
reaches London market its price
is fixed on the other side by the
competition which itmeets there.
IF a bushel of wheat sells for a
dollar and it takes fifty cents te
get it from the farm to the mar
ket, the farmer gets fifty cents
a bushel for his wheat. Now Il
you can so improve transporta-
ton that the farmer can get his
wheat from his farm to the
market for twenty-five cents,
you have added twenty-five cents
to the farmers price for his
wheat.
It is plain that transportation
is a part of production and q
charge: upon it. We have not
actually finished anything until
we have placed it into the hands
of the consumer. The produc.
ton of rubber, for instance. Is
not finished with the coming il
from the forest of the negro
peon with his load. but only
when the tire is fitted to the
wheel of the automobile. Trans
portation, like taxes. mingies
with the cost of goods in every
step of their making. from the
forests and mines to the retail
er's counter and there finally
falls on the producer and con.
sun1er. That is the main reason
why conveyance from one com
munity to another helps to make
q people great, prosperous and
powerful. And that is the rea,
son why the broadminded and
unselfish American citizen nov
begins to pause, think and ask
for legislation more and more
with reference TO transportation.