The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-05-12
HOLDS UP PLAN FOR DEEP WATER INTO NAVY YARD Burleson Blocks Project and President Is Asked To
 tsCall Him Off,"

| Washington. May 12.-Resentment on the part of some of the officials of l the Administration for one cause, and 1 of pork barreT'' Congressmen for an 1 other, threatens to jeopardize the pro- | vision in the Rivers and Harbors bill designed to make the approaches to l the New York Navy Yard easier of
 navigation for warships.
 1 The grievance of the former is that Ndw York Democratic. Congressmen
 brought about the rejection of the Clarke amendment to the Philippine Independence bill The objection of,
 the Congressional advocates of Et'pork' to the New York project is that it is the only new feature contained in the
 measure which, by direction of the President, has been stripped of the
 usual schemes for improving rural mill creeks and swimming holes. The treatment of the plan to insure
 an adequate channel between the low
 CT New York Bay and the Brooklyn
 Navy Yard has been unusual. Upon
 the recommendation of the War De- partment, backed by theirequest of the
 city and the Representatives of the State. in the two Houses of Congress,
 the Rivers and Harbors Committee of the House incorporated into the conservative measure framed this year a provision offered by Congressman
 Murray Hubert, authorizing thei ex- penditures of $2OO,O0O at once, and
 
 mond Shoals off the Battery and in
 sure a, channel thirty-five feet deep
 continuously from the ocean to the
 Navy Yard.
 In the judgment of the engineers of the GoVernm a channel of less dept is a serious menace to the navigation of warshipS at any time, particularly in an emergency. The New York Congressman convinced the President that this plan was an essential feature
 to the preparedness programme advo cated by him.
 | The President thereupon wrote | letter to the Rivers and HaEbors Com
 rnittee of the House urging that the 1 item be incorporated in the Rivers and
 Harbors Bill, pointing out that it was mot to be confused with the ordinary Congressional ventures in the line of 1 local improvements.
 Democratic members of the com
 rnittee from other States expressed dis pleasure at the discrimination shown in favor of New York, and b1untly informed Congressmen from the Elm
 pire State that they were dfsinclined to concede any favors to them until
 the New York papers stopped call ing us Southern and Western mem bers of Congress ''grafters'' and pork barrel statesmen.
 The Presidents letter had the effect of removing the open opposition to the plan, and the Hubert amendment
 was put into the bill. passed by the House and sent to the Senate. A few days later the New York members
 made known their opposition to the l Clarke endnent in the Philippine Independence Bill, providing for the
 withdrawal of the United States from
 the Pacific archipelago at the end of l four years.
 l This opposition angered some mem
 bers of the Administration although
 there is good reason to state it was
 not resented by the President himself.
 Postmaster General Burleson, who is
 generally regarded as the political and i legislative manipu1ator of the Admin l istration, expressed bitter chagrin at
 the refusal of the New York DemoA crats to vote for the Philippine Bill, 1 if the Clarke amendment was retain-
 ed.
 | The Postmaster General did not ! hesitate to brand the New Workers as l bolters of their party because they
 Democrats that they Would not abide l by it's decision to put through the
 measure unless the objectionable feat
 ure was stricken out.
 The charge did not tend to improve the relations between the Postmaster 1 General and the New York Congress-
 men, who, with many of their asso- l ciates from other States, feel they | have not been accorded the consicera- 1 tion due them by that official. l Their grievances are many, mainly l ton of patronage in their districts and repeated attempts on the part of MT | Burleson to compel obedience to his 1 personal wishes the ground that l they were in accord with the policies