Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-09-06
THE INLAND WATERWAYS
Should Be Improved Says Gov. Foss
And Mayor Fitzgerald.

| New London, CT, Sept "a plea for
the development of inland waterways of
| the United States, especially in New
England, was made, tonight, by Gov
Foss of Massachusetts in an address be-
fore the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Con-
vention. Gov. Foss advocated, as a fu-
| ture policy in the development of trans
portation facilities, that for every dollar
spent for the extension of railroads in
America a dollar of public money should
! pc put into the extension and deepening
! of the waterways. Rail and water sys-
TENS" he said, are natural eo-partners
in the development of any country. Each
helps the other and 1t is only by their
mutual service that true progress can
be reached.
Mr.. Foss favored the development of
transportation on the Connecticut and
Merrimac rivers If the port of Ham
inland, there was no valid reason in his
opinion why the Connecticut river could
not be deepened to permit freight vessels
proceeding as far as Springfield. He said
also that he expected to see the Merri-
mae river dredged SO that barges at
least may proceed as far as Nashua.
n II.
The European cities of Antwerp, Ham
burg. Glasgow and Manchester were
cited by the speaker as ports that had
been made famous by the development
of the navigable rivers.
Those interests which are opposed to
the development of water commerce viii
lay emphasis upon the great cost of
such construction and the heavy natural
Il.
said Gov. Foss, but these arguments
can be exploded in a moment when it be-
comes realized that all the great com
mercial eountrys of the world have had
to overcome similar obstacles
An address which had not been set for
today. was made by Mayor John f. Ftz-
gerald of Boston, who said a great saw
ing would be made in transporting raw
material from the South to the indus
tries of the North over an inside canal.
Mr.. Fitzgerald said he was interested in
developing the Connecticut river so that
Holyoke and Springfield may become
ports and wanted the Merrimac improved
in order to bring Manchester, Lowell and
Lawrence in close touch with the sea
The Taunton river should be extended
from Nauagansett bay to Boston har-
Dor, he claimed, in order 10 develop Taun-
ton, Brockton and other towns of south
eastern Massachusetts. He declared the
United States could afford to spend s50-
000,00o on this work.
Rear Admiral Colby NJ Chester, Il. S
n. Gretired), pointed out the value of in
terror waterways as applied to move
ments of the smaller craft of the navy
such as torpedo boats and submarines,
as well as the transportation of supplies
and ammunition between coast batteries,
in time of war. He urged that as long
as the country was content to maintain
only a small army and navy all natural
advantages should be conserved and I'M
proved
1.-The United States must improve the
Atlantic coast If it expects to live COM
mercally," said John Barrett of the
Pan-Ameriean Union, one of the princi-
pal speakers at tonight's session of the
Atlantic Deeper Waterways Convention.
He declared Europe is spending millions
of dollars a year on the improvement of
its waterways, but this country is prac-
tieally doing nothing.
Europe is afraid of the United States
| in commercial competition he said
but the United States is over-confdent. ;"
| The speaker declared with the handicap
of paying tolls at Panama, European
shipping can outstrip the United States.
| Howard ID. Hadley, president of the
| Quebec Mimami International Highway
| Association of Plattsburg. n. Y, in his
speech cutting through to Canada" de-
clared that "up in the Adirondack re-
gions of northern New York scheming
politicians are planning a water power
trust. He predicted that If the Hudson
, river was deepened and the water power
developed properly, the Hudson-Cham-
plain waterways would soon become the
most important of its kind in North
America.
| Gov Mann of Virginia made a short
lspeech in which he declared that 1.-THE
time has come when we will not have
to beg Congress for appropriation for the
Improvement of our waterways; we will
demand appropriations.
| The committee having in charge the
| time and place of the next convention
has agreed on Jacksonville, Fla, and the
following yeah in Troy and Albany,
Jointly.