94 



CONSERVATION 



wise; when you think of this reservoir in its 

 extensive applications, you must realize that 

 it is no less a national and interstate posses- 

 sion than the air itself. It belongs to all of 

 us. It is the common property of the entire 

 Nation, and there are those of us who con- 

 ceive that it must be so administered, and 

 that, proceeding from the navigable streams 

 which we hold should be so improved as to 

 relieve the trafhc congestion of this country, 

 we may deal with every aspect of this quan- 

 tity, this great resource, this resource on 

 which the value of all the rest depends. It is 

 a natural possession. It is the possession of 

 the several States jointly. The States hold 

 an individual interest in this great commodity. 



The chair then called on Governor 

 Hoggett, of Alaska, for a talk, the 

 Governor responding with a brief ad- 

 dress on the natural resources of that 

 far-away part of Uncle Sam's domain. 

 Governor-elect Stubbs, of Kansas, was 

 next called upon, responding with a 

 talk, the keynote of which was.* "Do 

 something — don't waste further time in 

 talking." He spoke of the necessity — the 

 urgent commercial need — for the de- 

 velopment of an adequate system of 

 waterways and water transportation. 

 He said that the development of a 

 fourteen-foot channel 1,500 or 2,000 

 miles up the Missouri, and as far up 

 the Mississippi as it could be taken, 

 would result in a reduction of the cost 

 of transporting heavy traffic by fully 

 seventy per cent. 



"This is the greatest economic prob- 

 lem before the American people to-day. 

 It *is necessary only to apply to it 

 simple, sound business laws," he said. 

 "Do you suppose that if a private or- 

 ganization or corporation was go- 

 ing to build a trans-continental rail- 

 road they would build a mile a 

 year, or five miles a year, for a 

 hundred years? Would they ever 

 get anywhere at that rate ? In the name 

 of Heaven, what does it mean, that the 

 great American Nation, the greatest 

 Nation of the world, should dillydally 

 and play like children with the greatest 

 problem that has ever confronted them 

 in legislative matters ? 



"I say to you there is no trouble about 

 doing this work. It is not a question 

 of how to do it : it is a question of get- 

 ting the money to do it with. You ask 



This, Mr. Chairman, is what I wanted to 

 say, merely in the way of getting before you 

 a great subject. I desire to add that Gov- 

 ernor Noel, who is on this platform; Gov- 

 ernor Ansell, Governor Deneen, who will rise 

 shortly afterwards, and Governor Hoggett of 

 Alaska, are among those who have the energy 

 to express the convictions of their respective 

 commonwealths concerning the value of this 

 fundamental resource ; and in addition, I 

 will mention Governor Stubbs of Kansas, for- 

 gotten for the moment only because Kansas 

 is the central State of the Nation, the hub of 

 the entire country. We are hopeful also that 

 the chairman of the connnission, Mr. Burton, 

 will shortly be with us. 



how shall we do this great work ? I 

 say to you, you can improve the Missis- 

 sippi River throughout its entire nav- 

 igable length, and the Missouri River 

 for 1,500 miles, and all the trib- 

 utaries of these rivers ; you can im- 

 prove your eastern rivers and your 

 western rivers, and you can do it as 

 easily in eight years as you can in 

 eighty years, and get some bene- 

 fit out of the rivers. How will you do 

 it? Issue bonds at two per cent., and 

 then authorize President Taft to go 

 ahead with the work and do it as a 

 great railroad corporation would do it. 



"What would it cost? Suppose it 

 cost a billion dollars ; that would be 

 the merest bagatelle in comparison with 

 the benefits that would accrue. Sup- 

 pose you invest a billion dollars in the 

 development of this great river sys- 

 tem at two per cent, for fifty years, 

 it would cost $30,000,000 a year to pay 

 ofif the debt. What would this great 

 waterways system pay in the way of 

 return ? The highest authorities say it 

 would yield not less than $300,000,000 

 a year — ten times the annual cost — and 

 I believe this statement is a conserva- 

 tive one." 



Mr. Stubbs concluded his remarks 

 with the statement that he fully agreed 

 with Secretary Taft's idea that no bet- 

 ter legacy could be left to the uprising 

 generation that a bond issue for such in- 

 ternal improvements. "Let us," he 

 said, "Leave to our descendants this 

 great project, "at least partially com- 

 pleted If we do that, it will mark this 

 as the greatest epoch in the history of 

 the American people." 



