Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-24
Hoover and the Long Haul.

There is no more SlgnlncanC SJaJe-
ment In President Hoover's striking adj
dress at Louisville last night than the
assertion that he does mot measure the
future of America in terms of our life
time" The Engineer Executive, as be-
fits the professional calling he adorns,
takes the "long haul view of internal
waterway development.
Speaking from the deck of steam
boat riding on the murky bosom OF the
modernized Ohio River, the President
proclaimed eloquently the faith that Is
In him with respect to the future OF
"the Mississippi system" Ways and
means of improving it, Mr.. Hoover
points out, may change with the f1uctu-
ating needs of commerce. But it is
the river that is permanent" the Presi-
dent adds. ut is one of Gods gifts to
man, and with each succeeding genera
ton we will advance in our appreciation
and use of it."
Mr.. Hoover reminded his hosts in
Kentucky that "the completion of our
national job on the Ohio is but one seq
ment of the natural inclined waterways
with which Providence has blessed u.s."
There Is still prodigious amount of
work to be done before the Presidents
ideal for their development can be real
lied. He peers far into the future even
to the day when our Nation and race
have been replaced with some other
civilization" Mr. Hoover would build
against that day. remote as it is. His
theory is that the America of this hour
is but the trustee for the America of an
hour that is ages away.
The President does not confine him
self to glittering generalities on the
country's waterway future. He has a
concrete program for its realization.
He proposes in particular a nine-foot
channel, not alone for the Mississippi
and for the Ohio, with which part of
the larger and all of the smaller river
are now equipped, but throughout the
"trunk system" Mr.. Hoover calls boldly
for a comprehensive construction
scheme to this end and for abandon
naent of the "patchwork" local improve
ments hitherto undertaken. Such
patchwork has in past years been the
sink of hundreds of millions Of public
money" the President declares. He
manifestly believes that makeshift econ
omy in waterway development is, in
fact, rank extravaganza. He advocates
Q break with the penny-wise-pound-
foolish practices of the past.
When the Mississippi system is COM
pleted five years hence the United
States will be in possession of great
north and-south trunk waterway en-
tirely across the country from the Gulf
TO Canada. There will be a tributary
east-and-west route stretching half
way across the Union. Cheaper trans
portation of what Mr.. Hoover calls ''pri-
mary goods" will then be opened to the
farmers and manufacturers Of more
than score Of States. Intracoastal
canals, Of which TAG miles are built and
another 1000 remain to be constructed,
will supplement this interlocking river
system. Finally, the President urges
earliest possible completion of the vital
Improvement" represented by the st.
Lawrence-Great Lakes waterway. The
United States is ready to undertake its
half Of that project, Mr.. Hoover at
firms, whenever our Canadian friends
are prepared to do theirs.
The President graphically links i'm
pending events in the naval domain
with his inspiring waterway plans. To
complete the various programs he IA
vors would increase national eXpendi-
ture some $2O,OOO,OOO year-half the
cost of battleship. IF we are so for
tunate as to save this annual outlay on
naval construction as the result of the
Forthcoming naval conference in Lon
DON" he said in his concluding words
on the ohio, nothing could be finer
or more vivid conversion of swords into
ploWshares." The American people are
not likely to withhold their support
from such a program of constructive
economy.