The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1914-07-30
TALKED TO DEATH"
EP|TTAPH RIVER BILL
HOUSE WATERWAYS BILL is IN
GRAVE DANGER OF BEING DE-
FEATED IN SENATE.

bCih6 oCiSosSo. ehAAS0 W NN0sAA
may be it's epitaph, and by former
chairman of the Rivers and Harbors |
Committee of the House. Yet there are !
those in the Senate who still believe
the bill will pass that body at this
session, substantially as it came from
the Commerce Committee, and one of
these optimists is the distinguished
senior senator from Michigan, Will
liam Alden Smith, whose name has
frequently been heard recently as a
likely candidate for the Presidency.
Senator Smith in reviewing the pres
ent situation in respect to the river
and harbor appropriation bill, said:
1.-THE subcommittee of the Commerce
Committee which reported the river
and harbor bill to the Senate, consist
ing of Senators Simmons of North
Carolina, Chamberlain of Oregon,
Ransdell of Louisiana, Nelson of Min
nesota, Burton of Ohio, and myself,
spent nearly two months going over,
with government engineers and ex-
perts, the House waterways bill carry
ing, in round numbers, forty-three mil
lion dollars.
Hearings were conducted, vorious
communities throughout the country
interested in particular waterway pro-
jects were listened to and all projects
were gone carefully into, and cannot
now recall any difference of opinion
in the subcommittee of any special
moment. We were all in practical &C.
cord when the bill was finally present
ed to the Senate.
Large Projects Closed.
Some OF the larger projects, for
which appropriations had been made
from time to time, like the Columbia
river improvement, were closed by this
bill and it was thought by the sub
committee that this course would
prove more economical than the piece
meal appropriations of former bills.
81 cannot remember but one or two
items not recommended and estimated
for by the Corps of Engineers of the
Army. Those two items were the
Arcadia 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
located 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, conditioned up
on the raising of like sum by local
interests. The present bill eliminates
that condition. Sources of meritori-
Gus projects were killed in committee,
while others were not estimated for
at all and do not appear in the bill
"The system of making appropria-
tons for rivers and harbors may not
have been scientific or wise when the
practice was begun, but in recent
years the most careful and pains
taking scrutiny has been observed
This is especially true since the crea-
ton of the intermediate engineer
board which is authorized and empow-
sred to review the recommendations
Of district engineer officers even after
such projects have been approved by
he division engineers.
No Log Rolling In Bill.
81 do not recall a single instance in
ny own experience where this appel
ate board has not exercised full super
Iisory authority with conservatism and
Members of Congress
ave realized for several years that
n adverse report from the Army En-
,ineefs virtually doons the project.
md this course has done away, almost
ntirely with the old practice of "1og-
olling," which was, many years ago,
ute commonly practiced in securing
peal benefits in river and harbor bills.
There may be, and probably is, i'm
in rivers and harbors not
s necessary to communities today as
yhen undertaken, but that system was
OF without its champions; boards of
rade. chambers of commerce, common |
ouncils and citizens generally. They |
ave public men no peace until their
zeal ambitions were initiated. The
tuation is entirely different today
nd the work of improving the rivers
nd harbors must now have the ap-
oval of the expert engineers of the
rmy before it can obtain any standing
,fore the committee of either house
Congress.
Wants Better Method Devised.
IT wish some better method than the
le now employed could be devised.
he National Waterways Commission,
saded by Senator Burton, and of