The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1913-12-04
Washington Whisperings.


WASHINGTON, D. c., December l, 1918.
The tenth annual convention of the
National Rivers and Harbors Congress
to be held in this city December 3rd. 4th
and 5th, is expected to bring to the
National Capital the largest gathering
of waterway enthusiasts ever assembled
in this country. Governors of States,
Mayors of cities, and commercial bodies
have been busy appointing delegates to
the Congress, which is next to the Fed
eral Congress in Importance. At least
a half dozen executives of States will
head their State delegations, the i'm
portance of the meeting being most gen.
orally recognized.
The .presence of President Woodrow
Wilson at the head of the program
nationalizes the Congress and his posi-
ton on some of the problems of river
and harbor development will be watched
with interest. Mr.. Wilson, as Governor
of New Jersey, was looked upon as
friend of improved waterways. Now
that he has been elevated to the highest
Office in the gift of the people, his utter
ances will be listened to with even great
er respect, as it is expected his address
will indicate the policy of his admins
tration toward these highly important
arteries of trade and commerce.
1t is expected by the officers of the
Congress that two thousand will be in
Washington to participate in the deliber
ations of the organization, which stands
for broad and comprehensive policy of
waterway development and which has
been markedly instrumental in bringing
about the passage of an annual river and
harbor bill.
With the early completion of the Pana
ma Canal, the South and West are alive
to the Importance of deepening and
widening the rivers that flow into the
Atlantic, the Gulf and the Pacific, and
they are coming to the convention deter
mined to take hand in building the
platform of the Congress.
The National Conservation Congress,
which has been in session since Monday,
adjourned on Thursday in utter confusion
the friendships of years, in many cases,
being rudely sundered because of the
manner in which Mr.. Clifford Pinchot
''steam-rollered" an amendment of his
to the resolutions through the conven-
ton. The sessions were riotous, being
at times very suggestive of the last Ma
tional Republican Convention at Chicago.
The lie was passed frequently and counter
charges were quite common occurrences.
Western and southern delegates at
tending the Conservation Congress, who
differed in opinion with Mr.. Pinchot over
the water power question, freely ac-
knowledged that the centralized govern
ment people were largely in the majority
over the advocates of estate rights"
and consequently protest was useless and
argument in vain. Some of the dele
gates have gone so far as to withdraw
completely from the Congress, and it is
thought rival association will be form
ed in the near future.
One thing was definite about the Con-
servation Congress, and that was that
Mr.. Pinchot, the former chief of the
Forestry Service, was complete master
of the situation, and he ruled his follow
ers with an iron rod. There was no COM
promise in the Pinchot program. The
Congress had to declare in favor of the
Federal Government regulating hydro
electric power, and, knowing what the
master desired, the convention executed
the mandate, even though it meant the
severing of friendly relations that have
extended over many years.
Another time-honored custom has been
relegated to the limbo of things that
were by President Wilson, when he an
nounced this week that the New Years
reception at the White House would be
abandoned. He proposes to take we'll
earned rest during the holidays. and as
another long session is in front of him,
he proposes getting ready for the winter
activities by going away for little
while.
The New Years reception was inaugu-
rated by President Washington and has
been followed by every President since
the custom was established, with only
one or two exceptions. Even when Civil