East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1913-03-18
VETO MESSAGE
WAS DESTROYED
RIVER AND HARBOR BILL
WAS LIKED BY TAFT
Declared That Former President De-
stroyed His Veto When he Saw OBJ
jectiOns to Measure Had Been De-
strOyed-Many improvements Con-
templated by Government.

tcHlpiduSI ny OONCihhSh'
Washington, March 18.-(SpeciaD-
The rumor that President Taft had
prepared a veto message on the river
and harbor bill or at least had direct
ed Sec. Stimson to prepare such
veto because of certain Objectionable
features of special legislation the bill
contained, is now authenticated by an
unimpeachable authority. But when
President Taft came to examine the
measure closely, with the aid of Cen
eral Bixby. chief OF the corps of en-
gineers, and say that the legislation to
which exception was taken had been
eliminated in conference, the veto was
destroyed and the presidential sigma
ture Of approval attached.
Senator Knute Nelson, late chair
man of the committee on commerce,
who has been a member of the COM
mittee for eighteen years, and during
that period has been of invaluable as
sstance in the preparation of river
and harbor bills, does not hesitate to
say that, in his judgment, the bill
making appropriations for river and
harbor work, which became law in
the early hours of March 4, Is freer
from objections than any bill he has
had to do with since he became
member of the commerce committee.
up to three years ago." said Sena-
tor Nelson in a review of the river
and harbor bill of 1918, 1--WE had spas
modic bills for river and harbor i'm
provement. Very frequently two years
would go by and often three years
elapse before river and harbor bills
were passed.
"Those bills, under that system,
were subject to criticism in that they
piled up appropriations for few large
projects to the exclusion of lot of
small but deserving projects that had
a great deal of commerce. Then there
was another objection to this inter-
mttent bills in those days-if 1t was
desirable to initiate new improvements.
the first step would be to order "A pre-
Iiminary examination and survey, with
the result that such a long delay en-
sued. between bills. that it took from
three to four years to get real start
on a meritorious project
Three years ago, under the house
chairmanship of Mr.. Alexander of
New York. congress inaugurated the
plan of having moderate annual bills
for river and harbor work and of re-
cognizng not only the larger projects
but also the smaller meritorious ones,
those in which small expenditure of
money would lead to immediate and
direct results. And where 1t was the
purpose to inaugurate new projects
survey could be ordered one year,
and IL the report was favorable, ap-
propriations could be made and work
started the next year.
"a number of the appropriations in
the river and harbor bill which be-
came a law, in the closing hours of
congress, are for the improvement of
so-called creeks, which, on their face,
might indicate that 1t was money vast
ed to make the improvement author
lied, but, as a matter of fact, these
creeks are tidal streams and carry, in
many cases, vast commerce needing
only little dredging, the straighten-
ing of a channel or the removal of
sand bar, at limited expense, to make
them still greater arteries for the
handling of the traffic originating up
on them.
"In these annual bills, too, there has
been a strict adherence to the recon-
mendations of the Engineer force of
a.. 4 a,,t,, r,,1A
preparation has been made for any
project not favorably recommended or
estimated for by the war department
through the chief of engineers.
owing to the great floods on the
Mississippi the past year and the great
damage done the levees and revet-
ment work larger appropriations than
usual had to be made for the improve
ment of the Father of Waters" from
Cape Girardeau to the Head of the
Passes. Next to the Mississippi the
Ohio river absorbs large share of the
appropriations. AS a matter of fact
the Ohio is being canalized by the con-
struction of fifty-four locks and dams,
and when completed will be most
perfect example of what a river can
do in the way of transporting bulky
and heavy freight at small cost.
'Then there are the great harbors
| like New York, Boston and other
places which need liberal appropri-
ations as we'll as the entire Atlantic
seaboard and the Gulf coast.
"Outside of the Mississippi and
Ohio rivers and the waters of New
York harbor, the rivers and harbors
of Texas absorb the greatest amount
of the appropriations carried in the
river and harbor bill.
"While 1t is possible that in some