The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1912-09-27
ROOSEVELT SAYS
nation FACES
RIVERS CONTROL
Declares in Speech at Memphis,
Tenn, that States are Unable
to Cope With Problem
CITES FLOODS AS LESSON
As Long as "Piece Method Sys-
tenn Prevails Nothing Will be
Accomplished
CITES FLOODS AS LESSON

Memphis, Tenn, Sept. 26.--Theo-
dore Roosevelt declared In a speech
here today before the Interstate
Levee Convention that development
of proper control of the waters In
the Mississippi basin was national
and not a state problem.
The former President citing the
disastrous floods last spring as "an
awful lesson" asserted that prospects
of relief were no brighter than they
had been before. This he said, was
true "in spite OF the fact that Con-
gress was in session for five months
after the beginning Of the last flood
disaster, that the House, which
originates appropriation bills, was in
coutro, of Democrats, mainly south
ern men, during all that time, and
yet not one measure of permanent
relief or lasting help was enacted
in your behalf"
"As long as the habit of doing
things piece-meal, sometimeS known
as the states rights doctrine, stands
in the way, nothing effective will be
done," he continued.
Criticises Congress.
Mr. Roosevelt further criticised
Congress for failure to act favorably
on recommendations for inland
waterways commission which he
transmitted to the Congress in Feb
ruary, 1908, urging that adequate
funds be appropriated for waterway
improvement ard forest conserva-
tion.
Congress, however, not only
failed to act favorably on these
recommendations" Mr. Roosevelt de,
Clared, "but 1t passed law which
attempted te make it impossible te
continue the work OF commissions Of
this kind. The Republican and thu
Temocratic parties alike were con-
tent to trife with the vital needs Of
our people. The fundamental in
formation necessary to formulate ar
adequate. we'll considered, and thor
oughly complete plan for dealins
with the Mississippi is not yet fully
at and. We have been spending
large sums of money in the Mississip
pi Valley, but instead of using it, OF
part of it, to get physical fact!
upon which sound general plan OF
development must be based, tha'
money has been spent in the further
ance of small and disconnected
schemes which never could measure
up to a problem 80 large and SO i'm.
portant"
Mr.. Roosevelt further discussing
the "haphazard ard piece-meal
fashion" of treating the waterway
problems of the nation in the past
predicted that such method would
mo longer commend itself to the
national judgment"
More and more we are growing
TO think nationally" he said. more
and more we are growing to realize
that many of our problems are by
their very nature such that they car
be dealt with only as a whole and
only by the exercise of the national
power Half the states in the union
have a vital concern in the treat
ment Of the waters of the Mississippi
and its tributaries, and a portion of
the great basin drained by these wat
ers is outside our own limits, within
those of Canada.
Any One State Helpless.
1t is evident that no one state
can so much as make an efficient be-
ginning in the endeavor to grapple
with this subject. Fortunately the
matter has become one of prime and
pressing Importance at the very time
when this nation has learned by ac-
tual experience that it amply able
to undertake the most colossal en-
gineering job and has, as an Incl
dent thereto, collected the plant
with which it can undertake another
job OF the same size. The Panama
canal Is now nearing completion and
the skill and trained ability and
the machinery used in its construc-
tion are available for use within our
own borders in, developing proper
national control of the waters of the
Mississippi basin in their entirety"
1t was 'contepded by Col Roosevelt
that IT. would be useless to go into
the matter Of waterway develop
ment and improvement unless we
go into 1t on a broad scale and on a
thoroughly sound basis
aA02AG fEnnCI,tdod ~ Do - Cr~ 1