The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1915-11-13
INTER-coAsTAL WATERWAY.
Nine-Foot Channel with Width of 100
Feet Demanded by League.

eGE Demanded by League
The eleventh annual convention o
the Inland Waterways League o
Louisiana and Texas, which has Jus
completed its session at Houston
spoke out in no uncertain terms
There was no evidence of any weak
ening on its part because of the man,
difficulties presented or the opposi
ton shown in certain directions. Oh
the contrary, the league was NOR.
pronounced and emphatic than ever
asked for more than it has hitherto
demanded, and it met with vigorou:
language the several efforts made tt
sidetrack this improvement. The
case of those who believe that this
waterway is to the advantage Of the
country from every point of view, in.
dustrial, economic, commercial and
military. besides being easy of con.
struction and costing comparatively
little. was presented more forcibly
and convincingly than ever before
The convention put itself on record
as favoring 9-foot channel with a
width of 100 feet, instead of the s.
foot channel previously advocated.
men who had been very active in the
campaign for this inland waterway
who deemed it wise to still adhere to
the 5-foot channel, believing it is
easier to get the appropriation for
such an improvement than the deeper
and more expensive one, but the con-
vention would not hear of this. The
United States engineer in charge Of
the work spoke for a 9-foot channel,
declaring that it was necessary to get
full value from the proposed improve
ment; that the engineers favored
standardizlng our canals and interior
waterways and had agreed on 9 feet
as the standard depth. This has been
accepted for the lower Mississippi and
the Ohit and as it was proposed to
connect the coastal waterway with
these streams, it should be made of
the same depth, so that coal and
other freight of that character from
above could be delivered by the water
route direct.
The convention asked for an APP
preparation sufficient to open the
routes from Morgan City to New Or
leans and from Galveston to the Sa-
bine river, thus giving a through
water route from the Mississippi to
Corpus Christi.
In support Of the appropriation and
the improvement, the advantages it
would prove TO the gulf coast country,
commercially and industrially, were
pointed out. 1t would connect sever
al thousand miles of interior water
wav, enabling the people of the coun-
try tributary thereto to exchange
their products without putting to sea
and without risking any danger from
storm or from an enemy, should our
coast ever be blockaded. The inn
provement was also advocated from
military and naval point of view,
as the canal would enable us to trans
fer shipping from point to point along
our coast without coming in sight of
an enemy; and it was rightly sarmis-
ed that this point would receive con-
sideration in the next congress, which
will take up the question of prepar-
edness. Finally, 1t was pointed out
that this waterway would play lead
ing part in aiding the work Of drain
age and land reclamation, throughout
the territory it traverses, to which
work the federal government has
pledged its encouragement and as
sistance.
As for the opposition and the yari-
Gus objections raised, the convention
was out-spoken and did not nince
words. 1t denounced the tpiecemeal''
manner III which congress provided
for internal improvement as waste
full, unbusiness-like and uneeonomic"
1t similarly denounced the efforts of
certain papers to prevent the i'm
provement Of our water routes for the |
use of our commerce by calling the |
'ta pork barrel" and |
declared at the only feature of such |
appropriations that could be so char
acterlzed was the absurd and loose |
manner in which the money is doled |
out by congress, thereby greatly in |
creasing the cost of the work.
And it took issue with the step
fatherly manner in which certain
members Of the rivers and harbors
committee are disposed to deal with |
this intercoastal route and to defeat
It's claim on congress by pretending /
that the present demands are for an
new scheme of Improvement /
and could not be taken up under a
ruling of the last congress against
considering any new projects. The
showed from the official
reports Of the government engineers
that this was wholly untrue. In fine,
The convention presented its claims
more strongly and more forcibly than
aver 7 i'm ac- pSoav11na
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