Arizona sentinel and Yuma weekly examiner., 1914-02-05
RIVERS |S A POPULAR
 DEMAND BILLS INTRODUCED ASKING FOR OVER SEVEN HUNDRED
 MILLION DOLLARS
WILSON FAVORS PLAN
VAST PROJECTS WILL BRING RE- LIEF AND AID TO MILLIONS
 OF OUR PEOPLE

Much that is misleading has been
 published recently in the press of the
 country with reference to the position
 of the administration on the related
 questions of flood control in navi,
 gable rivers, water storage, the pro- lection of watersheds from denuda-
 tion and erosion, the regulation of the
 flow of navigable rivers in aid of inter
 state commerce, and the improvem' I of water courses for purposes of navi- gation.
 In some sections of the country it
 has been asserted in the press that
 President Wilson has reached cer- tain conclusions as to the needs Of
 legislation looking to broad and comprehensive handling of these prob lens that are so intimately associated with the every day life of the people. To those who enjoy the confidence of the president, the assertion that the administration policy is determined is known to be wholly without founda- tion On the contrary, it is said that the Presidents mind is an open one, and that no particular waterway bill has met with the approval or disap- proval of the chief executive.
 It is true that a systematic study of a number of important bills dealing with this subject has been going on for some weeks, not only by Secreta- ries Lane, Garrison, Houston and Red field, but on the part of the officials connected with the departments of the Interior, War, Agriculture and Com merce; and it can be said as a posi- tive fact, that neither the secretaries above mentioned, nor those charged with the practical analysis of various bills, have reached any definite con- clusions thereon.
 Secretaries Lane, Garrison, Houston and Redfield have had repeated con- ferences with Senators Newlands and Ransdall and Representative Hum phreys on the flood control bills which they have introduced with a view of harmonizing differences; but nothing concrete has as yet resulted from these confidential talks, except that something practical, something work able, must be adopted not only for the Mississippi, but for other great rivers which at times overflow their banks leaving death and desolation in their train.
 The fact that these representatives
 of the administration are closely ex- amining into the merits not only of the Newlands bill, which approximate ly amounts to $6O0,OO0,00O to be spent at the rate of $60,OOO,00O per year for ten years to regulate and control the flow of navigable rivers and their tributaries and source streams, and many other purposes, but of the Rams Humphreys bill which appropri- ates $60,000,O00 to be spent at the rate of $12,000,00O per year for five years for the flood control of the Mississippi, shows the interest that is being manifested not only by the administration but by all classes of people in water problems, now that the Panama canal is soon to bel opened.
 Those interested in navigation find very little consolation in either of these bills, for neither of them relates especially to navigation, or makes any direct appropriation for the improve ment of waterways, except that some of the rivers might receive slight additional low water flow because Of reservoirs and impounding basins at their sources.
 Indeed, both of these measures may be called reclamation or conservation, rather than navigation bills. While projects of flood protection are of the greatest interest to many sections of the country, and the sentiment in their favor is quite strong, it is be- lieved that the administration will in sist primarily upon navigation as the first and most important matter con- nected with any general waterways plan.
 The Democratic party is fully com mitted to the liberal and comprehen- sive policy of waterway improvement which has been so consistently ad- vocated by the National Rivers and Harbors Congress, and President Will son has gilven the most positive as surance that he is in full sympathy and accord with such policy, and will do his utmost to see it carried out along wise and advanced lines.