The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-23

Senate. There has been no log roll ing, no pork barrel no regard for in dividual prospects or anything of the sort; no regard for any particular To- cality in the country"
 That statement of MT. Burton was absolutely true in 1909, less than seven years ago, and it is just as true to-day. MT. Burton may change, but truth is unchangeable. The same careful painstaking methods in River and Harbor legislation which pre- vailed then prevail now. At that time. no waterway project of any import ance was adopted by Congress that had not first been investigated, sur veyed, and favorably reported upon by the Engineer Corps of the Army; and the same investigation and report by that splendid corps is requfred now as a condition precedent to the adoption of any important River and Harbor project. These surveys and investigations are made and reported upon by ten engineers, ranging in rank from captain to brigadier-gen- eral. These Engineers are among the honor, men of West Point, and they are as disinterested high class officials as any in the public service. Goethals, Sibert, Gaillard and Hodges, the builders of the Panama Canal, learned how to execute that great work while serving as engineers in charge of waterway projects. and dur ing their terms of service reported on a number of them. Does anyone believe these great men, of whom our country is so proud, would have favored projects smelling of pork?
 Indeed, is anyone so small-souled and slimy as to believe that a major ity of the men elected to the House of Representatives and the United States Senate would so besmirch themselves as to vote millions for un- worthy pork barrel projects? The very thought should bring the blush of shame to every honest cheek. Has the record of the American Congress warranted such accusations against it? Have not the vast majority of its members, since the birth of our republic. given the lie to such insin- uations? And yet, some men now in Congress, some who have been in Congress, and some who are wen ac- quainted with it's history and tradi- tions, make the charge, caring noth- ing for its falsity. Why do they do it?, There is a bug under the chip, a nigger in the woodpile. The only answer is they are opposed to water ways-by long odds the cheapest agencies of transportation-bec they are friends of railways which are afraid of water competition.
 The cry of pork is always in regard to the other fellows project. Speak ing in the Senate on the eleventh of August, I appealed to my brother Senators to tell of any case of inn proper appropriations for waterways with which they were familiar. I paused for a reply, but none was made I now appeal to readers of this article to make public statement of the pork barrel river and harbor appropriations in their respective To- calities. giving time, place and cir cumstance. Many of my readers doubtless believe these slanderous charges because they have been so often made in the press and by men in high station, but I am certain that every one of them feels that the pork exists somewhere else, and not in the vicinity of his home. If you be a
 New Yorker, let me ask if there is any pork in the river and harbor pro- jects of that great State? If your
 home is in Chicago, can you tel