Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-11-18
WATERWAY MEET
SESSIONS BEGUN
Pleas for Congressional Appro-
priations for Inland Canal
Route Feature Opening.

JACKSONVILLE. Fla. Nov. 49,
Pleas for sufficient appropriations ny
Congress to complete the proposed
inland waterway route along the At
lantic coast featured the opening of
the convention of the Atlantic
Deeper Waterways Association here
today.
The urgent need for the improve
ment of an inner trade route along
the coast was emphasized and recent
destructive coastal storms were
pointed out as an argument.
The convention is the sixth that
the association has held. Delegates
are in attendance from all the States
along the Eastern coast of the
United States. all of them pointing
OUT the economic need for the inlald
water route
Immediately after the invocation / y
Rev. William A. Hobson the dele
gates were welcomed to the city by
Mayor Van c. Swearingen. and to the
State by Governor Park Trammel.
Responses by Governor Charles Y.
Miller, of Delaware, and Lieutenant
Governor Frank e. Howe, of YER
mont. were on the program.
Sessions covering four days are ex-
pected to bring many speakers to
show the urgent need for al tmme-
date appropriation to compete the
work already undertaken, both by
the federal government and the sew
eral States. AS a revenue producing
and trade carrying project tie At
lantic inland waterway was contrast
ed with many of the Western river
projects to the disadvantage of the
latter.
Representative ]. Hampton Moore,
OF pennsylvania, presiden. of the as-
ISOLATION. presided and read his an
nual report. He declared the area to
be aided by the improved water
transportation facilities contained 40
per cent. of the entire popula ton of
the United States and so per cent.
of all the wages arners.
PRESIDENT Moore pointed to the fact
that the four ports to be touched by
the proposed waterway collected
four-fifths of the customs revenue
and that through them passed most
of the import and export business of
the country. The small territory COM
prising the original thirteen States,
and which, he said, was barely more
than thumbmark on the map of the
of all the manufactures and go per
cent. of all the coal in the country.
As tending to show how the lack of
adequate transportation increased the
cost of living in the Eastern States.
President Moore said:
The problem confronting the
owners of neglected Eastern lands Is
chiefly the problem of transportation.
1t is the problem of the producer to
get market, problem resulting
from the concentration of population
and business activity along the lines
of the railroads, while vast stretches
of country have suffered abandon
ment because the waterways that
have formerly served them we'll were
not kept up to modern standard"
President Moore declared railways
in the Eastern States needed relief
from the congested conditions that
made the rapid delivery of freight an
impossibility. Conditions are such, he
said, that 1t was common occur
renee for car of freight to require
more than week to travel less than
fifty miles.
IF it takes five days to ship freight
from Philadelphia to Chester, a dis
lance of twelve miles, or six days to
Trenton, thirty-four miles, pr thirteen
days to New York, ninety miles, as
was recently demonstrated, 1T Is evil
dent that the railroads need relief 1t
takes an hour and a half only to ship
from Philadelphia to Chester by
water, four hours to Trentonn and
overnight to New York.
The early completion of the Panama
Canal and the consequent shorter dis
tance between the Atlantic and Pa
cific coasts also was used effectively
today as an argument for the i'm
provement of the Atlantic coast
waterway, together with the project
of a similar nature from Florida ia
Galveston along the Gulf of Mexico
Pleading for a concerted effort by
all the Atlantic Coast States for the
advancement of an inland waterway
from Maine to Florida, Lieutenant
Governor Frank e. Howe, of Yer
mont, replied to the welcome extend
ed the delegates to the convention.
Your problem here in Florida and
our problem in Vermont Is the same"
declared Mr.. Howe. "It is to make
our cultivated land yield more and
to compel the land, so far neglected,
to give its increase. Here in the East
we are only now learning the lesson,
but we shall stay by until the
triumph is complete. The same thing
applies to all the rural sections Of the
Eastern States. There are more de-
serted farms in New York, by their
own statistics, than in all New Eng
land. Much of the land in Pennsyl-
vania is in backward hands You can
ride for miles in Virginia, the Caro-
linas and in Georgia and see land
neglected that ought to be adding
yearly to the wealth and prosperity
of the nation.
Every State is partner of every