Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1914-12-12


/ still locked up. The key is stlll
| turned upon them, the door shut fast
| at which thousands OF vigorous men,
/ full of initiative, knock DANGEROUSLY
| for adm!ttance. The water power of
our nayigable streams outside the ma
! tional domain, also. even in the east
ern states where we have worked and
planned for generations, is still not
! used as it might be, because We will
and we won't; because the laws We
have made do not intelligently balance
, encouragement against restraint. We
withhold by regulation.
l have come to ask you to remedy
and correct these mistakes and omis-
sions. even at this short session Of a
congress which would certainly seem
to have done all the work that could
reasonably be expected Of il. The time
and the circumstances are extraor-
binary, and so must our efforts be
also.
Use and Conservation.
Fortunately two great measures.
finely conceived, the one to unlock,
with proper safeguards, the resources
Of the national domain, the other to
encourage the use OF the navigable
waters outside that domain for the
generation of power, have already
passed the house Of representatives
and are ready for immediate consider
alton and action by the senate. With
the deepest earnestness urge their
prompt Passage. In them both
we turn our backs upon hesita-
ton and makeshift and formulate
a genuine policy of use and con-
o. those words. We owe the one
measure not only to the people of that
great western country for whose free
and systematic development, as it
seems to me, our legislation has done
so little, but also TO the people of the
nation as whole; and we rs clear
ly owe the other in fulillment Of our
repeated promises that the water DOW
er OF the country should in fact as
well as In name be put at the disposal
Of great industries which can make
economical and profitable use of il.
the rights of the public being ade-
quately guarded the while. and mo-
nopoly In the use prevented. To have
begun such measures and not COM
pleted them would indeed mar the
record of this great congress very
seriously. | hope and confidently be- |
lieve that they will be completed.
And there is another great piece of |
legislation which awaits and should |
receive the sanction of the senate:
I mean the bill which gives a larger
Of selfgOvernment to the peo-
PIE of the Philippines. How better
In this time of anxious questioning |
and perpleying policy, could we show
our confidence in the principles of |
liberty. as the source as well as the
expression Of life, how better could we
demonstrate our own selfpossession
and steadfastness in the courses Of
Justice and disinterestedness than by
thus going calmly forward to fulfill
our promises to a dependent people,
who will now look more anxiously
than ever to see whether we have in
deed the liberallty, the unselfshness,
the courage, the faith we have boast
ed and prOfessed. I cannot believe
that the senate will let this great
measure of constructive Justice await
he action of another congress. It's
passage would nobly crown the record
Of these two years of memorable la
oor
An Important Duty.
But / think that you will agree
With me that this does not complete
he toll OF our duty. How are we to
larry our goods to the empty markets
II which | have spoken IL we have
lot the certain and constant means
" transportation upon which all profit
Ible and useful commerce depends?
And how are we to get the ships If
ut them? TO correct the many mis-
axes by which we have discouraged
nd all but destroyed the merchant
marine of the country, to retrace the
teps by which we have, it seems al
most deliberately, withdrawn our flag
rom the seas, except where here and
here, a ship of war is hidden carry
t, or some wandering yacht displays
/. would take a long time and in
olives many detailed items of legisla-
ion, and the trade which we ought
to handle would disap-
ear or find other channels while we
ebated the items.
The case is not unlike that which
onfronted us when our own CONT
ent was to be opened up to settle
nent and industry, and we needed
ong lines of railway, extended means
I transportation prepared beforehand,
development was not to lag intoler-
bly, and wait interminably. We Law
silly subsidized the building of trans
ontinental railroads. We look back ,
pom that with regret now, because {
he subsidies led to many scandals ,
which we are ashamed but we {
now that the railroads had to be s
uilt. and If we had 1t to do over again I