Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-09-08
WANTS THREE MILLIONS
FOR RIVER IMPROVEMENT
Senator Martin Tells Business Men
100000 Appropriation Is
Ridiculous.
SAYS HE WILL FIGHT TO END
Declares ut Rousing Mass-Meeting
That Richmond Deserves Better
Treatment Mt Hands of Federal
Government.

II am going TO make a fight rs long
am In public life for better treat
ment at the hands of the United States
government for Richmond in the mat
ter of water transportation facilities.
am going to make this fight first with
the government engineers in charge OF
James River Improvement. then with
the Engineering Department. Then, If
1t Is necessary, I, will go over their
heads and make my fight on the floor
of the Senate. I regard S a joke a
tritling. appE9HEiatipG ef e IA slo9. 900
toward a S3,0eo,000 waterway improve
mcnt project"
That uttcrancc Of United States Sem
ator Thomas s. Martin in an address
to the business men of Richmond at n
conference held in the assembly-room
OF the Chamber of Commerce yesterday
provoked an outburst of enthusiastic
applause that was prolonged for several
minutes. Half n hundred men, repre-
scntinG the largest Industrial and COM
mercial interests of Richmond. clapped
their hands. stamped their feet and beat
the floor with walking sticks in the
tumultuous demonstration of popular
sentiment voiced by the senior Virginia
Senator.
United States Senator Claude A.
Swanson and Congressman Andrew
Jackson Montague. heartily in SYM
pathy with the speaker, joined in the
applause. and later gave assurance in
brief speeches of .ncir earnest and
active support.
CONFERENCE Is CALLED
DY SENATOR MARTIN
The conference had been called un-
der the auspices of the Chamber Of
Commerce. through Business Manager
w. 7. Dabney. at the request of Sena-
tor Martin. William T. Reed. prcsi-
dent Of the Chamber of Commerce, pre-
sided at the conference, which began
shortly after the noon hour The chair
man explained that the object was to
enable the business men to give rea-
sons. facts and statistics with which
the two representatives OF Virginia in
the United States Senate and the Con-
gresham from this district might
fortifX themselves in the fight they
are wasing to obtain for Richmond the
water transportation facilities the i'm
portance OF this city. as a commercial
center and a distributing point for
trade. warrants. Senator Martin was
then presented He said:
The question of water transporta-
tion at Richmond has hcen long a
source of anxiety to me. II has com
mandcd my attention since | first en-
tered public life | have devoted much
thought and study TO the question. and
am convinced that il is a matter OF
vital Importance one Of your promi-
nent citizens mentioned to me on the
way up here that il would be impossi-
BILE 10 make a seaport of an inland
town. That may he true. hut we ought
to have. and we can have. reasonable
in cilitics.
RECOGNIZED
FOR TIIIRTN-ONE YEARS
The feasibility of a twenty-two-foot
waterway 10 Richmond has been recoS-
niZed for the last thirty-one years by
the government. Therefore. the ques-
engineering one
After reviewing the project adopted
by Congress for Il twenty-two- foot
channel, senator Martin said: We
have not the facilities that plan con
tcmplated because appropriations for
the Improvement work have been
Grotesquciy scant. 1t is simply dis.
for Congress 10 make
100000 appropriation toward $1,000
600 project OF this kind. Why. that
amount of money is necessary to re-
tricve. from year to year. natural waste
and deterioration. l have come to the
conclusion that we must prepare a !
clear-cut proposition. showing plainly /
why this city is entitled TO better treat
ment"
The speaker referred ITO the condi- |
tions which prevent vessels drawing
as much as eighteen feet OF water from
entering the channel These conditions
could be remndied. he said. with
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