The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-23
NO PORK IN RIVER AND HARB0R
 LEGISLATION, SAYS STATESMAN
Accusation Without Foundation Senator Joseph E. Ransdel Asserts Railway Interests Behind Charges, He Intimates.

Accusations that River and Har- bor Bills are pork barrel. log rolling measures are entirely without founda- ton. It is surprising that well in- formed newspapers and men high in public esteem-especially Presidential Candidate Hughes and ex-Candidate Burton-should so far forget the rules of common honesty and veracity as to make these statements. Only few years ago, as I will show later this same MT. Burton said: There has been no line of appropriations made by this government more care fully guarded than appropriations for rivers and harbors."
 I have been connected with this legislation for over seventeen years and have studied it more closely than any other. The present system has been in existence for, a long time, but was perfected in several details dur ing the ten years prior to March 1908 when MT. Burton was Chairman o1 the Rivers and Harbors Committee of the House. No material change has been made since then; and nearly all of the waterway projects which now receive appropriations were car ried in the various River and HarboI Bills during MT. Burton's. term as Chairman, many of them having beer adopted originally under his regime Out of the 280 items in the River and Harbor Bill passed few weeks ago 21O were included in the great bill of 1907 which MT. Burton champion ed, and which he has lauded fre- quently as perfect piece of water way legislation. All of the remaining items except fourteen were adopted during Republican administrations and only fourteen new items, carrying an aggregate of $2,653,675 have been taken up since MT. Wilson became President These fourteen items are admitted to be of great merit; and no one has made the charge of pork against them.
 With the exception of these four teen. aggregating. a little over twc and a half millions, all the remain ing items of this River and Harbor Bill which carried total appropria- ton of SAP .886,085, were inherited from Republican administrations, and it was necessary for the Democrats to provide funds for prosecuting work thereon and for maintaining them. If there me any pork in River and Har- bor Bills passed since MT. Wilson be- came President, which I deny, then it is certainly Republican and not Democratic pork, for the Democratic Administration merely continued and maintained what was started by its Republican precedessors.
 Ex-Senator Burton, who became a critic of River and Harbor Legislation after he began to aspire to the Presi- dency, was formerly one of it's great est champions. In speech before the National Rivers and Harbors Con- gress in December 1909-see page 10t of its proceedings-he said: 'Yol have had to meet the idea that there is pork barrel somewhere. When ever there is a man of superficial in formation on the subject, or one wht has had some project that has beer turned down and turned down hart
 because it had to be turned down that man begins to talk about th' pork barrel There has been no lint of appropriations made by this gov ernment more carefully guarded thai appropriations for Rivers and liar bors. I challenge anyone to cite al instance where that bill has ever beel made up to gratify certain localitie or to advance the interests of som member of Congress in the House O