The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1922-02-22
WILL BE a LIVE CONVENTION

the sixteen proceeding cOHVtutiOis
have not been lacking either in num-
bers or in interest.
One thing that will help to increase
the attendance is the fact that. for the
first time since the beginning of the
great war, the railroads have granted
reduced rates for this convention and
that of the National Merchant Marine
Association which meets in Washing
ton on March 8 and 4. A rate of one
and one-half fare for the round trip,
on the certificate plan, has also been
granted from all parts Of the United
States except the Pacific Coast, New
Mexico and Arizona.
But among the things that will con-
tribute most largely both to the at
tendance and interest-possibly the
excitement-the first place must I'M
doubtedly be given to the discussion
of the proposed st. Lawrence River
ship channel This is to be held on
the afternoon of Wednesday, March
1, instead of on the evening of that
day as first announced. To find any
thing like the intensity of feeling
which which has been aroused over
this question, we must go back to the
the Civil War. Then it was north
against south; now it is east against
west.
John Barrett, formerly director of
the Pan American Union, who has re-
Gently been holding conferences with
financial organizations, both in the
east and west, to secure their coopera-
tion for the revival and extension of
our foreign trade. has issued a letter
in which he declares there is danger
of 1.-THE arraying of the east against
the west in bitter conflict which will
affect unfavorably all phases of legis-
lation and financial and commercial
relations essential to national prosper
ity." He adds that, everywhere in the
conferences that he has held, There
has doomed up in the background, in
greater or less degree according to
the location of the interest concerned, |
the shadow of big sectional differ
ence and even a dangerous conflict be-
tween the central west and the north
Atlantic Seaboard over this great
waterway project
Both the friends and the opponents
of this project will be present in large
the least, the debate on the subject
will not be lacking in animation.
The slogan of the National Rivers
and Harbors Congress is Not Pro-
ject, but Policy" and while both the
proponents and opponents of impor
tant projects have always been given
ample opportunity to be heard at its
conventions, no project has ever been
either favored or opposed in the reso-
lutions which have been adopted. |
Some strong efforts have been made
in the past to break this rule, the most
strenuous having been by the advo-
Gates of the Lakes to the Gulf Deep
Waterway, but all of these have so
far failed.
Some of the ardent opponents of the
st. Lawrence River project are now
planning to secure by a flank move |
ment what cannot be obtained by a di-
rect assault They will argue first
before the committee on resolutions
and, if unsuccessful there. then upon
the floor of the convention when the
resolutions are considered, that the /
congress ought not to be neutral on
a proposition to expend United States I
which lies in a foreign country, and |
they will argue the passage of a reso-
luton demanding that United States
money shall be spent only for the de-
velopment of waterways within Unit
ed States territory"
The advocates of the proposed ship
channel will declare that such a reso-
luton, while 1t does not specifically |
name any waterway. would, II passed, |
be understood by everybody as putting
the congress on record as opposing the
development of the ST. Lawrence route |
and would therefore be violation of
the policy which has continuously been
maintained by the organization since
1t was founded.
Certain ardent advocates of water
ways, especially those located in the |
Mississippi Valley, who are out of pa
thence at the slowness with which the |
work of river improvement is carried
on. due TO the meager appropriations
made by congress, feel that the resolu-
tions adopted and the policy pursued
by the National Rivers and Harbors i
is not sufficiently aggressive |
1t is understood that an organized eff
fort is under way to compel the adop-
ton by the coming convention of a
resolution demanding that congress
shall appropriate s100.000.000 a year |
for FIVE years for Improvement of |
waterways" There are some who go /
so far as to say that unless the con-
gress will adopt this resolution it is /
no longer of any use, and, unless it |
win give up the ghost voluntarily, /
ought to be killed.
There are others who say that 1t /
would do harm rather than good to
the waterway cause to voice demand
for something which it is impossible
to secure under existing conditions,
and that all the strength that can be
mustered should be concentrated on
the effort 10 secure reasonably ade-
quate appropriation for rivers and
harbors for the coming year instead /
of the lump sum of s12,o0o.0oo or sl5.-
0o0, 900 which now seems probable. and
which amount would be barely suf
hcient for maintenance and would