THE NATIONAL RIVERS AND 

 HARBORS CONGRESS 



Washington, D. C, December 3, 4 and 5, 1907 



BY 



Mrs. Lydia Adams- Williams, of Women's National Press Association, and International 



League of Press Clubs 



Special Report for Forestry and Irrigation* 



T"' HE large ball room of the New 

 ■*■ Willard Hotel, all in white and 

 gold, with the National emblem in evi- 

 dence, was the scene of a brilliant and 

 representative gathering of the fore- 

 most and most substantial men of the 

 Nation, when the important Rivers 

 and Harbors Congress held its ses- 

 sions there on December 3, 4, and 5, 

 1907. 



Cabinet members and other repre- 

 sentatives of the great Government de- 

 partments, foreign Ambassadors, 

 Gnited States Senators and Congress- 

 men, the Governors of many States 

 and other notables of State and Na- 

 tional distinction, and representatives 

 of the most important financial and 

 commercial industries from every part 

 of the Union, wath a sprinkling of 

 earnest and interested women, com- 

 bined to make a gathering, the per- 

 sonnel of which is seldom, if ever, 

 equalled. 



In attendance there were, not count- 

 ing many spectators, 2,000 delegates 

 from 463 cities and towns in 43 States. 

 These w^ere appointed by 23 govern- 

 ors, 51 mayors and 183 waterway and 

 commercial organizations. 



Congressman Joseph E. Ransdell. 

 of Louisiana, President of the Rivers 

 and Harbors Congress — he whose un- 

 tiring energy and unswerving devo- 

 tion to the one fixed policy of "fifty 

 millions annually for river and har- 

 bor improvements," bid fair to be 



crowmed with success — called the 

 meeting to order and presided in an 

 able and impartial manner ever its de- 

 liberations. 



The Congress was opened with a 

 prayer by Rev. Earl Cranston, of 

 Washington, D. C, bishop of the M. 

 E. Church. 



The able Secretary of State, Elihu 

 Root, was the first and principal 

 speaker, of the opening session. After 

 commending the efficient work of 

 Chairman Burton, of the Rivers and 

 Harbors Committee, and referring to 

 the Panama and Erie canals. Secre- 

 tary Root said : "We have reached 

 the bridge. It is now a question of 

 whether we shall have our products 

 carried or not. 



"There is no greater achievement 

 than the transportation of articles 

 from one point where they are value- 

 less to another where they are valu- 

 able. The railroads of the country 

 no longer are able, physically, to carry 

 the traf^c of America, and the one 

 avenue open to such trafific is water 

 transportation. We must move for- 

 ward or we will go backward. I see 

 American production handicapped by 

 two things ; first, the cost of getting 

 the goods to the seaboard, and, sec- 

 ond, the absence of an American 

 merchant marine." 



The Ambassador from France, M. 

 >Jusserand, delivered an entertaining 

 and characteristic address.* 



*NOTE. — Found elsewhere in this issue. — Ed. 



