The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-12-20

or THIS great waterway ndS uCp1ii COo'
never to return. Traffic is already
growing on the upper river, and ar
rangements have been perfected TO:
the utilization of it's lower part, bas-
ed upon congressional assurance that
the work will be done within the
time named. With the completion OF
existing projects and the growth and
development of the country tributary
to this great river, there is every rea-
son to hope that a large and impor-
tant commerce will again seek its
waters.
A great deal of money, it is true,
has been expended on the Mississippi
river, more than on any other stream
or waterway in the country, while its
commerce has fallen off from that OF
few years ago. But that river has
been placed, and properly so, too, in a
class by itself. 1t is navigable for
two thousand, four hundred and thir-
ty miles and, with its tributaries,
drains forty-one per cent. of our con-
tinental domain, while the waters
from thirty states are poured into its
lower reaches.
The Panama canal will soon be
completed and open to traffic, which
should have a stimulating influence
upon all the gulf ports and rivers,
and especially upon that great water
way and it's magnificent system of
tributary streams. These considera-
tions have kept alive sentiment in
favor of its continued Improvement
by the federal government, and that,
too, in face of a constantly dwindling
commerce. This feeling has recently
found expression in the platforms of
the great political parties of the coun-
try, in which they substantially pledge
themselves to continue to final COM
pletion the improvements already be-
gun. The government is even doing
there what it is not doing elsewhere
assisting the states and localities
in the building of levees-but this
work is being done on the theory that
it improves the navigable features of
the stream, which is doubtless true to
a certain extent
While the work of improvement
had been going on for many years
without any definite plan for finish
ing the work, congress, in the river
and harbor bill of 1910, embarked up
on a plan for the completion of the
project for the lower river within a
period of eighteen years. Meanwhile,
projects for the improvement of the
middle and upper sections of the riv
er have been adopted, work upon
which is being prosecuted with rea-
sonable speed Hence, it is safe TO
say that within fifteen or sixteen
years all these projects will have
been completed and the work closed.
except in so far as the care of the
government may be required for
maintenance
The adoption of a comprehensive
plan for development and the stand
ardiZation of waterways, so far as
that is practicable, has been urged as
a necessity by some earnest advo-
Gates of waterway Improvement The
| Importance of this cannot easily be
! TOD hui 1nf h.a
forgotten that we are already moving
quite rapidly along those lines. True,
we have no commission or other ap-
pointed body to inaugurate plans for
| improvement and carry them to com
pletion, as has been suggested should
| be done, but we have a system per
haps, just as effective, possibly even
more efficient.
More than half a century ago this
work was placed under the control of
the war department and it's corps of
engineers, who are equal in ability
and efficiency to those of any other
country. Under laws enacted by con-
gress from time to time an organiza-
ton of this force has been perfected
as capable of dealing with the i'm
provement of our waterways, whether
singly, as heretofore, or together I'M
der general plan, as any commission
appointed for that purpose, no mat
ter from what field of activity the
membership might be taken. The or
dering of surveys, of course, has been
left to congress, as is the adoption of
projects and the appropriation of
money to prosecute the work there
on. But the making of surveys, the
working out and submission of plans
with estimates of cost, are given to
the engineers.
This corps is composed of a chief
and a board of five members, known
as the board of engineers for rivers