Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-07-31

items not recommended and estimat-
ed Tor by the corps of engineers of
the army. Those items were the Ar
cadia project in Michigan, for which
$4,000 is appropriated. and the other.
the Lake Contrary project on the Mis-
souri, river. The Arcadia project is To-
Gated in a rural community entirely
dependent on water communication
for marketing their crops. Some
years ago $4,000 was appropriated
for the Lake Contrary project, condi.
toned upon the raising of a like sum
by local interests. The present bill
eliminates that condition. Scores of
meritorious projects were killed in
committee. while others were. not es-
timated for at all and do not appear
in the bill.
Recent System Scientific.
The system of making appropria-
tions for rivers and harbors may not
have been scientific or wise when the
practice was begun, but in recent year
the most careful and painstaking scru-
tiny had been observed. This is es-
pecially true since the creation of the
intermediate engineer board which is
authorized and empowered to review
the recommendations OF district en-
gineer officers even after such pro-
jects have been approved by the d.
vision engineers.
Il do not recall a single instance
in my own experience where this ap-
pellate board has not exercised full SUI
pervisory authority with conservatism
and impartiality. Members OF congress
have realized for several years that
an adverse report from the army en-
gineers virtually doom the project
And this course has done away. al
most entirely, with the old practice of
.'log-rolling." which was, many years
ago, quite commonly practiced in Sc
curing local benefits in river and har-
Dor bills
There may be. and probably is. i'm
provement in rivers and harbors not
as necessary to communities today as
when undertaken, but that system was
not without its champions: boards
of trade, chambers of commerce. COM
mon councils and citizens generally.
They gave public men no peace until
their local ambitions were initiated.
The situation is entirely different to-
day. And the work of improvement
the rivers and harbors must now have
the approval of the expert engineers
of the army before it can obtain any
standing before the committee of
either house of congress.
Needs Further Attention.
81 wish some better method than
the one now employed could be de-
vised- The national waterways COM
headed by Senator Burton, !
and nf I
OF careful study, laid down |
some definite rules of procedure cal |
culated to remedy many of the defects |
of the old system. But the plan is far 1
from complete now and must have fur
Their attention from congress in the |
partially completed pro-
jects cannot be permitted to Ianguish
without great loss to the government
and the communities affected.
The present bill is constructed en-
tirely upon these lines. and l did not
know until the bill was presented TO
the senate that there was any divi-
sion amons the members of the COM
mittee Of CONNER &c regarding it.
If it is proposed to withdraw gov
eminent support from our national
this subject should be can
eE&'-u III OH rs 'aiiOuS PHASES anu
the future policy of the government
frankly and openly avowed. Until
such a change in the policy has been
adopted the present method, which
requires the approval of the engineer
corps, after careful Investigation, is
the only one which can consistently
be supported
All the news all the time-The
Argus.