Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-12-25
PLAN To HAVE
BILL FOR RIVERS
CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEE SAYS
MEASURE WILL BE UP IN
PRESENT SESSION
TO ENDORSE PROJECTS
Chief OF Engineers Will Look Ove'
All of the Proposed Changes
With Great
Care.

A)SS'
and harpor bill, generous in it's pro.
portions, will be reported and passed
during the present session of the
sixtv.third congress Notwithstanding
that the order has gone forth to cut
appropriations to the bone
At a recent meeting of chairmen of
house committees charged with pre-.
pairing appropriation bills and called
st the instance of Speaker Clark, 1t
was most generally agreed that appro'
priation bills should be held down to
the actual necessities of the govern
ment and the demands of public works
now in process of completion. These
conclusions, however, did not go as
far as the public press indicates, that
new projects in the forthcoming river
and harbor bill will be noticeable by
their absence, the bill carrying appro-
priations for projects already under
way and studiously ignoring new pro
iects, which have the endorsement OF
the chief of engineers.
AS a matter of fact the members OF
the rivers and harbors committee eX-
pect to see bill passed that will pro-
vide for several meritcrious projects.
I'VE will have to have river and
harbor bill at this session to take care
of projects for which estimates have
been made up to March 4, 1875 said
Chairman S. Nj. Sparkman Of the rivers
and harbors committee of the house.
ITS difficult to tell at this time what
estimates, or if any of them, will cut,
notwithstanding I see in the public
prints. that the order has gone forth to
mare appropriate to fit existing con-
ditions. Our purpose is to keep work
moving on harbors and rivers up to
the close Of the short session of the
present congress which will be March
4. 1915, when another river and harbor
bill will likely become law.
ut may and doubtless will be found
that estimates can be cut in some in
stances. If so, the committee, of which
| have the honor to be chairman, will
not hesitate to put in the pruning
knife. So far as new projects are con-
cerned, the committee has not deter
mined whether, if any, and If any how
many, projects will be taken on in the
bill which is now in the process of
making.
= There. are about sSO,00O,OOO of new
projects not yet adopted. That is, pro-
chief of engineers. Some of these pro-
iects are very large and number about
scventy-fve in all. Our aim will be to
take care Of every deserving project
in due season, mindful of the condition
OF the treasury and the demands OF the
public We want to improve our rivers
and harbors in most efficient manner
but at the same time along economic
lines and the committee is moving
along those lines.
Hearings have already been had
OH improvements needed on the lower
Mississippi, on the Sacramento river,
on a deeper harbor at Beverly, Mass,
while the people of Memphis, Tenn,
are anxious that considerable work
should be done at that port. Other
hearings have included improvements
on the Sabine and Shawnee and wa
terway from the Apalachicola to the
Gulf of Mexico.
while the new river and harbor
bill, which will probably be reported
the last of January, may not be as
large as that of the siXty-second con-
gress, L believe it will be generous in
its proportions and keep the work of
improvements on our waterways con-
slderably going on
It is interesting in this connection to
know that the chief Of engineers Of the
army estimates that his department
can spend in river and harbor work
during the coming year $34,20O,OOO.
This amount has been cut ito the
bone" so to speak, and has been pared
to meet the demands Of Speaker Clark
and those charged with the RESPONSE
bility of furnishing the sinews to run
the government and keep up the public
work. These estimates are, by no
means, as large as those of 1912 and
it seems, therefore. fair to assume that
the river and harbor bill of the pres
ent session of congress will amount to
about thirty millions in round num-
bers