Evening star., 1921-12-18

table consumption. by giving more
adequate transportation at a MIMI
mum cost, the project of developing
an inland waterway from the farm
ers to the sea. through the great
lakes and the ST. Lawrence river
thus making every lakeport a sea-
port, is going to be pressed upon Con-
gress at this session.
The international joint commission
composed of three representative OF
the United States and three repre-
sentatives of Canada, is now in ses-
sion in Washington considering thls
proiect and will continue in confer
ence until its report Is ready. rms
is expected about the middle OF jan
uary. 1t will thus link in a timely
way with the report OF the JOINT con-
Eressional commits Ssion on agricultural
inquiry, one of whose chief investiga-
tions has been regarding the widen
ing spread of cost between what the
farmer receives and what the con-
sumner has to pay.
AS soon as the report of the inter-
national joint commission is made
Representative a. Z. Nelson OF WIS
conSin, who has repeatedly urged the
importance of such an inland water
way as a matter of national defense
as well as of public sustenance. in
duStrial and commercial importance
is prepared to Introduce a bill ia
carry those recommendations INTO ef-
feet. In impressing upon the House
during the last week the need tor
such legislation. he insisted that;
There is no question that the great
est and most important problem IN
the economy of our national life to-
day is the problem of adequate trans
portation at reasonable cost both to
nd ha
the contention of the eighteen states
members of the Great Lakes-St. Law
renee Tidewater Association. is that
this inland sea shall no longer con-
continue bottled up. but he unbottled
and utilized for the benefit of the
great interior states of the nation
and that no one state or seaport
should by mere local or selfish inter-
est stand in the way of it's develop
ment for the interest of the entire
nation"
Engineers Make Report.
Representative Nelson has been
fathering the proposition for the last
Two years, and is optimistic of sue
cessful issue. The report of both the
American and Canadian engineers has
been made. AS result of their in
investigation of the engineering fea-
lures of the proposed ship channel
from Lake Ontario to Montreal, the
engineers representing the United
States and Canada have submitted to
the International Joint Commission
their conclusions and recommends
tions. briefly summarized, as follows:
The physical conditions are favor
able for improvements for navigation
which will be permanent and will
have very low upkeep costs. The i'm
provement for navigation alone is
feasible. but it will be more economi-
cal to coordinate navigation with
waterpower, limiting the latter de-
velopment. however. to the amount
which can be readily marketed. The
provement for navigation alone
where side canals and locks can most
economically be used, and to provide
for power development in that part
of the river where the construction
of locks and dams offers the most
feasible means of preventing naviga-
ton
The International Joint Commission,
authorized by Congress. and the Can
adam parliament. consists of Obadiah
Gardner, Rockland. Me-; Clarence D..
Clark. Evanston. Wyo., and Marcus
A. Smith, Tucson, Ariz, representing
the United States, and Charles A. Ma
grath. Ottawa Ontario; Henry A.
Powell K. G.. st: John. New Bruns-
wick, and Sir William Hearst. X c.,
Canada.
Would Become Seaports.
According to Representative Nell
sons outline of the propositions. it is
proposed to make seaports out of such
1akeports as Chicago, Toledo. Cleve-
land. Milwaukee. Detroit, Superior
and Duluth.
His arguments follow closely GER
tan suggestions and recommendations
made by President Harding in his mes
sage to Congress. notably with ref
erence. to the American merchant
m m
sentative Nelson said: Our interest
should not be confined to making ap-
preparations for improvements of
rivers and harbors, but that other
and more drastic emedies should be
applied to effect better distribu-
ton Of commerce through the ports
of the country, to the end that we
may be freed. in part, at least, from
the tremendous burdens that have
been placed upon our commerce be-
cause we have permitted the continu-
ance of conditions which have forced
the foreign business of the country
largely through the archaic port Of
New York.
We now have a large merchant
marine and We must establish con-
ditions which will enable the vessels
of our commercial fleet to operate
profitably. not only at the port of
New York, but at every port of the
country which constitutes logical
outlet for traffic. The great port of
Norfolk. whose natural advantages
are unsurpassed, has been victim
of our lack of transportation policy
devised in the interests of the coun-
try as a whole. Likewise the great
ports of Boston, Charleston. Savan-
nah and Mobile have been unable to
take their true places as outlets for
the territory logically tributary to
them because of our remissness in
allowing the powerful trunk lines
centerins at New York to control the
situation.
Centering mt One Port a Folly.
I'VE have committed monumental
folly in permitting the assembling at
one port of the shipping resources of
q nation. and for this folly we are
now bearing burden amounting to
hundreds of millions of dollars an
nually. Freight which should logic
ally be shipped from Portland, Bos-
ton, Norfolk, Wilmington, Charleston.
Savannah, Jacksonville, Tampa and
Mobile directly to foreign destination
now proceeds by rail to New York, at
great cost, because it cannot obtain
a ship to destination from the port
which should receive the traffic. Are
We to content ourselves with this
situation or are we to begin now to
unravel the tangles of our transpor-
tation situation and lay the founda-
tion on which all of our important
ports on the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific
coasts and on the great lakes may
hope to perform their proper func-
tions in the interests of the country?
"Only In this way can we reduce the
excessive rail hauls that now burden
our traffic and handicap US in foreign
trade, and only in this way can we
bring about conditions which will
enable our large merchant fleet to
operate successfully"
Detailed statistics have been COM
piled by Representative Nelson as