Arizona republican., 1912-09-02
Believes Free Passage of American CoastWise Yes sells Will Have Wide Elf feet on Transportation Problem Generally.
INTERNAL WATER
 WAYS DISCUSSED
Recent Legislation Will Re suit in Greater Attention Being Paid River, Lake and Harbor Improve ments Due to Canal.

NAci114N1 1OAN, sept Z--SeDdtOr Simmons of North Carolina, the ranking democrat on the committee on interoceanic canals, who was one of the three conferees on the part of the senate on the Panama canal bill, and who is an enthusiast in the de- vclopment of the rivers and harbOrs as d means of transportation, said today:
 Our coast line is the greatest of any country in the world, while our inland system of rivers, lakes and sounds is incomparably superior to that of any other nation. While we have developed to e high degree of efficiency many of our seapOrts, and our lake system, and have done som thing toward the improvement of our rivers, little has been done, com pared with what should have been done and what is necessary to be done, to develop these waterways to the highest point of potentiality. This neglect has not been because the people do not realize the impor- tance and value of waterway trans portatiOn both as a means of cheap ulSliIDuliDH anu Ol ItS dilh reducing rail rates, but because 1t was early demonstrated that in the absence of effective legislation to pre- vent railroad control of water car riers, the full benefit of the improve ment and development of our water ways could not be realized.
 Notwithstanding this handicap in the beneficial use of our waterways, the people have been so thoroughly convinced of their importance, both as a medium of transportation and of water power that instead of abat- l ing their interests in the face of | these adverse conditions, relying upon ! the future action of congress to abate | these difficulties, the movement for 1 their greater development has year l by year grown and strengthened l Real impetus was given to this move 1 ment by the determination of the l government to etend the coastline | of the nation by linking together the | two oceans by a canal capable of | floating the largest modern vessels, | through the isthmus of Panama That | greatest of world undertakings is | rapidly approaching completion, and it | is not too much to say that it's com l pletion will usher in a new era in 1 the commercial intercourse between | our eastern and western seaboards l and with the nations of the earth. | The new conditions thus created, add | ed to the old conditions with refer | ence to our water resources, admonish | us that the government cannot, with | out ignoring it's manifest duty, longer | neglect to do what may be necessary l to develop to their fullest extent our | waterways, to the end that this great | natural asset may subserVe it's want
 ed purpose in our national system of | transportation.
 | After providing in the canal bill for the government of the zone and
 the operation of the canal, two qucs-
 noiofsm rtyawy wwae ovtm (
 questions of importance arose, ono
 with reference to tolls on American
 ships, the other with reference to the
 railroad use railroad ownership ol
 vessels using the canal The two
 houses had disagreed upon these
 questions and a conference was held
 The conferrees undertook to deal in {
 broad way with these two problems
 with the result that after a long dis I in report which was adopted by al
 overwhelming majority in bOtl , houses, permitting the free passag, through the canal of American yes sels engaged in coastwise trade, al lowing American registry to foreign
 built ships owned by Americans en gageu in the foreign trade, admittin; all ship materials free of duty. ant providing that no railroad should owI or control any water carrier operat ing with a rail line either througl
 the canal or elsewhere, and investin, the interstate commerce commissio, with plenary powers of regulation ! of water carriers.
 When this act becomes effective
 which it will as soon as the canal i
 completed and opened and as to tn inland carriers in 1914, it is conf
 dently believed that private capita
 which has heretofore been warned of
 i by railroad monopolization. will b | liberally invested in furnishing ade II. quate water transportation whereye the conditions will permit of it's use , aond that the result will be not onl
 a great increase in the transportatio . facilities of the country, but a larg
 reduction in the rates of transporta ? ton both by water and by raj . When the people have become con . vinced that this is to follow an '' they will get the full benefit of tn
 money epended in the developmer
 of our waterways, there will be