The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-12-04
Inadequacy Of Land Trans
portation Becomes More
Apparent as Demands for
Traffic Increase - Com
petent Engineers Needed
to Accomplish Surveys.

to Accomplish Surveys.
The Connecticut Deeper Waterways
association was formed over TWO
years ago. It has accomplished some
thing towards Its object by keeping
alive in this state the subject OF the
lirnnroyement and utilization of our
a+nta waterways. The association,
however. is not making as much pro-
gress as it should
The object for which it Is formed
is sufficiently important to warrant
the active support Of every manufac-
Eturer and business man in Connecn-
4 cut. That support has not been CIV
en-. The manufacturer and business
men Of Connecticut are s1nguaIY
neglected of their own interest SO Tar
as the subject Of state water trans
portation is concerned
Even with the embargo OF freasnt
shipments so wildly brought to their
attention during the past year, they
do not seem to be stirred to the polnI
Of seeking. any permanent relief
Railroad transportation is proving
utterly inadequate to handle the bust
ness offered, yet no attempt is made
TO divert any of this business to water
carriers.
1 Hartford, as an example, at one
time during the past II months was
practically deprived of rail frleght
communication and was dangerously
near 4, coal famine, if it's papers are
to be believed, and yet Hartford busl-
ness men and manufacturers care so
little about utilizing the Connecticut
river as a freight carrier that any TALK
of improving this waterway, OF build
ing municipal wharves, or OF en-
couraging water shipments, Is regard
ed by most Of them as joke.
No two western cities of the size
and prosperity Of Hartford and
Springfield would long permit a water
course great as the Connecticut to
run between them and to the ocean
without making that. waterway nav1g-
able.
New Haven and Bridgeport are
growing very fast and both Of them
should be intensely interested in pro-
yiding themselves with deeper water
approaches so as to induce water
transportation If there is any in
terest felt in these cities ia the pro-
iect of impr owing their water fac1l-
tiles, it rarely comes to the surface
and is productive Of no tangible re-
suit
All the coastal cities and towns Of
Connecticut should be actively inter
ested in improving their water fac1l-
tiles in order to build up their COM
MERGE by providing competitive
source of freight transportation
The Connecticut Deeper Water
ways association affords a means for
promoting the Improvement of the
n
berstip should be enrolled all the live
manufacturers and business men of
the state
To make progress the association
should have a policy The Day be-
lieves it's slow progress thus far has
been due to the lack Of one Con-
neeticut waterway Improvements
might be divided into three classes,
any of all of which the association
could profftab1y take up
F1rst-Those Of purely local char
acter and of small cost which should
be performed and paid for by the
cities and towns particularly benefit
ed.
SecDndEProjects which are bene-
dcda1 to certain localities and too cost
~ to be undertaken by them Build
ing breakwaters to provide safe har-
craft, dredging shallow bays to make
: them nav1gable, draining marsh land
and developing it into water front
and factory sites, and similar work
might be enumerated in the second
class The state should be asked to
provide appropriations to carry out
these projects and the work put under
the direction Of the river and harbor
commission
Third-Pro5ects so large in magni-
tnde as to become 1egitimately mat
{ ters for federal attention, such as
deepening the harbor of New Lon
don, opening the Connecticut river to
Springfield by installing locks, build
ing a canal from Norwich to Worces-
ter, etc.
With the backing Of large MEM
berstfp the ' Connecticut Deeper
waterways association could employ
competent engineers to investigate
the states water resources and to pre-
pare plans for their development.
working in conjunction with the
state commission Of rivers and har-
bors, it would be entirely feasible to
improve the water facilities of large
and small coastal communities to the
5 great benefit of the state as a whole.
With sufficient revenue a per-
rnanent campaign Of education could
be maintained by the state associa-
ton that would acquaint the people
Of Connecticut with the value of
1 water transportation as an auxiliary
4 to railroads.
There is plenty Of work cut out for
the Connecticut Deeper Waterways