Evening star., 1914-04-26

the Mississippi and the Rio Grande via
the proposed gulf route on the south, has
quickened interest in hundreds of coll
lateral projects. 1t has brought them
aid that otherwise would not be granted y
What" Mr.. Moore was asked. ARE
your chief arguments in favor of the in
tercoastal trunk line project?'
ITO answer" said Mr.. Moore. Il shall
have to deal somewhat in figures. The
area we seek Immediately to improve by
better water facilities is the area of the
thirteen original states. with Florida
added. The extent of this area is only
one-twelfth of the total area of the
country. The scene of our activities
therefore. is barely more than thumb
mark upon the map of the United
States.
In that area we have ~ per cent of
the entire population of the United
States and 80 per cent Of all the wage
earners. We produce .ei per cent of all
the manufacturers vi the United States
and CO per cent Of ali the coal We do
most of the import and export business
Of the country. and at. the four ports of
Boston. New York. Philadelphia and
Baltimore we collect ;our-fifths of all
the customs revenues.
We nave assisted III iinaliciiS railroad
enterprises affordiEG competition for
every other section. b.t for our own
vast enterprises and responsibilities we
have only 23 per cent of the total rail
road mileage of the country.
Let me emphasize that. Here, where
industry is most productive, where our
shipments greatest. where We have
one-third of the population in one-twelfth
of the area, We are compelled to do busi-
ness on less than one-fourth of the rail-
-ro.t "a
have suffered this handicap not only in
the matter of the railroads. but it has
been necessary for us to Keep on the
waterways because of the limitations of
harbor depths the destruction of our
canals and the neglect of our rivers
I'm consequence of our limited area,
the density of our population and the
magnitude of our industries, We are obllg-
ed to pay heavily for every com
modify which enters into the cost of
living We have only Is per cent of the
farm area of the United States east of
the Appalachian chain. yet we have SO
much vacant land that if II We're opened
up it would aid materially in solving the
problems of profitable employment and
cheaper food for the people.
THE federal cost of protecting lands
that are subject to overflow in the lower
Mississippi has been quoted at IS per
acre, and it has also been stated that
the difficult work of making western
lands available for cultivation by irriga-
ton costs approximately $40 per acre.
IN certain sections of Virginia, North
and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida
we have lands of natural richness and
fertility that could readily be purchased
at figures ranging between the per acre
cost of food prevention and the cost of
irrigation. For the price of irrigating
lands il is possible to obtain abandoned
or even occupied farms in Pennsylvania.
New York and New England.
The problem of the owners of neg
Iected eastern lands is chiefly the prob
lem of transportation. 1t is the problem
of the ability of the producer to get to
market. a problem resulting from the
of population and busi-
ness activity along the lines of the rail-
roads, while vast stretches of country
have suffered abandonment because the
waterways that formerly served them
well were not kept up TO modern stand
ards
The cruel neglect of waterways and