1908 



RIVERS AND HARBORS CONGRESS 



49 



Senator F. G. Newlands delivered 

 a strong address and advocated es- 

 pecially unionization or nationaliza- 

 tion in the development of all natural 

 resources. He said the people form 

 public opinion ; Congress records pub- 

 lic opinion. We must, therefore, edu- 

 cate the people. Senator Newlands 

 explained the provisions of his bill be- 

 fore Congress, which provides for the 

 expenditure of fifty million dollars 

 annually for the next ten years for the 

 improvement of the country's water- 

 ways. 



J. C. Welliver, of Iowa, a bright 

 newspaper correspondent, who inves- 

 tigated the waterways of Europe for 

 the Government, gave an interesting 

 comparison of European railways and 

 waterways. 



Albert Bettinger, of Cincinnati, em- 

 phasized the necessity of a five hun- 

 dred million dollar bond issue. 



The Governor of West Virginia, 

 W. M. O. Dawson, said that we should 

 improve our rivers and harbors, so as 

 to be ready for the Panama Canal 

 when it is ready for us. 



A notable ovation was given the 

 United States Forester, Mr. Gifford 

 Pinchot, who delighted and interested 

 the large audience with a masterly 

 exposition of not only the need of 

 utilizing the waters and forests, and 

 the public lands for homes, but of 

 conserving all the country's natural 

 resources for the benefit of the public. 

 He said that the range had been de- 

 pleted and the coal wasted, and that a 

 timber famine was now at hand. 

 Heretofore, each individual interest 

 had been working and fighting alone ; 

 these interests had not yet stood to- 

 gether. They all should now unite in 

 the conservation of the whole ; they 

 should all move forward together. 

 "Nothing can stop our progress," said 

 Mr. Pinchot, "if we all unite. The fu- 

 ture of our country lies in our hands 

 now : shall we hand on our prosperity 

 or discount it and use it now?" 



Chairman of the Interstate Com- 



merce Commission Martin A. Knapp 

 spoke of the enormous increase in 

 freight traffic and said that the United 

 States must improve the inland wa- 

 ter transportation if we wish to com- 

 pete with the other nations of the 

 world in foreign commerce. 



Ex-Governor Dr. Geo. C. Pardee 

 of California who, with Mrs. Pardee 

 and a delegation of thirty-three Cali- 

 fornians, came 3,000 miles to attend 

 the Congress, spoke very entertain- 

 ingly of the necessity of preserving 

 the forests. He said we should pre- 

 serve the rivers and harbors where 

 they begin — in the mountains of the 

 country. 



The improvement of the waterways 

 by an expenditure of five hundred 

 million dollars, paid in sums of fifty 

 million dollars every year, was fur- 

 ther advocated by Governor Glenn of 

 North Carolina, who also depreciated 

 the spending of "millions for battle- 

 ships that .can't enter our harbors." 



Dr. N. G. Blalock of the State of 

 Washington, a prominent figure at all 

 irrigation and similar congresses, 

 spoke interestingly of the Columbia 

 River and what its development means 

 to the people of his enterprising State. 



Continued cheers greeted Congress- 

 man Theodore E. Burton, chairman 

 of the Rivers and Harbors Committee, 

 when he arose to address the Con- 

 gress. He spoke of the inadequacy of 

 railway transportation, and said : "I 

 can stand by your platform of $50,- 

 000,000 a year." 



Mrs. Lydia Adams-Williams also 

 addressed the Congress and empha- 

 sized the statements, previously made, 

 that the forest is the father of the 

 river, and that without forests there 

 would be no rivers. 



The interest of the convention was 

 centered in the address by James J. 

 Hill, the railroad magnate and wizard 

 of transportation. Mr. Hill spoke of 

 the necessity of deepening the lower 

 Mississippi from St. Louis to the 

 Gulf to a depth of eighteen to twenty 



