576 



CONSERVATION 



trial conditions in the United States ap- 

 proach more closely those prevailing in 

 Europe, we shall find it increasingly de- 

 sirable to provide ourselves both with well- 

 developed waterways for handling much of 

 our bulky traffic and with railroads more 

 efficient than present conditions permit them 

 to be in the handling of package freight. 

 We, as well as Europe, will find it profita- 

 ble to minimize capital and warehousing 

 costs. 



The construction of canals and the im- 

 provement of rivers in the United States 

 have progressed slowly, in part at least, be- 

 cause the Federal Government has in the 

 past left to the states the work of canal 

 building, and, to some extent, the canaliza- 

 lion of rivers. Several of the states, after 

 having made costly mistakes in the execu- 

 tion of their earlier works of internal im- 

 provement, have been disposed to leave to 

 private capital the creation of such water- 

 ways as special business interests might find 

 it profitable to establish. In many instances 

 the states have thought best to dispose of 

 their waterways to the railroad companies, 

 which have generally found it unprofitable 

 to maintain both rail and water routes. The 

 policy of leaving the development of water 

 transportation to any considerable extent, 

 either to the states or to private corpora- 

 tions, is now realized to be wrong in theory 

 and unsatisfactory in practice. 



The states are manifestly incompetent to 

 carry out the improvement of our national 

 waterways, such as the Mississippi, Ohio, 

 Missouri, and Columbia rivers. Their de- 

 velopment has always been a national con- 

 cern. The construction of such waterways 

 as the Erie and Panama canals are clearly 

 works that private capital is neither able 

 nor disposed to execute. The great State 

 of New York has the financial ability and 

 economic incentive to reconstruct the Erie 

 Canal ; but its route is so clearly national 

 that the waterway should have long since 

 been taken over and enlarged by the Fed- 

 eral Government. 



The experience of our own country and 

 of other nations shows conclusively that 

 waterways should be public ways — that their 

 execution and maintenance should be by 

 the Government. The entire network of 

 .American waterways should be improved 

 and extended systematically by one author- 

 ity, and with reference to the economic and 

 social needs of the entire nation. There is 

 only one power whose authority is as wide 

 as our country, and that is the Federal Gov- 

 ernment. In the future but small place in 

 the development and control of waterways 

 will be given either to the states or to pri- 

 vate corporations. 



There can be no doubt that the inland 



waterways of the United States will be 

 more extensively used in the future than 

 they have been in the past. The reasons 

 for this are numerous and conclusive : 



1. The internal commerce of the United 

 States is growing rapidly and is certain to 

 increase with accelerating speed. The de- 

 mands for transportation facilities are ex- 

 panding so swiftly as to make it apparent 

 that the products of our farms, mines, for- 

 ests, and factories cannot secure ready and 

 economical transportation unless at least 

 the larger water routes of the country are 

 adapted to the needs of commerce. 



2. The necessity for the development of 

 our waterways is emphasized by the fact 

 ihat aiiy considerable future reductions in 

 the costs of rail transportation are improba- 

 ble. Indeed, for reasons that have already 

 been stated in this paper, the service of 

 American railroads may be expected to be 

 developed in the future more and more 

 with reference to handling commodities ex- 

 peditiously and in small units. That is 

 what is taking place in other countries; 

 there is no reason to suppose that our ex- 

 perience will differ greatly from theirs. 

 The economy of employing both railroads 

 and waterways for the performance of the 

 transportation services becomes greater in 

 every country with the increase in popula- 

 tion and the development and specialization 

 of industry. 



3. American waterways will, in the years 

 to come, be utilized more for navigation, 

 because we are certain, sooner or later, to 

 conserve and use the entire water resources 

 of the country simultaneously not only for 

 navigation, but also for irrigation, for water- 

 power, and for supplying our urban popu- 

 lations with pure water. Moreover, the 

 growing necessity for controlling our 

 streams so as to make possible the reclama- 

 tion of our vast areas of reclaimable lands 

 will tend to hasten the time when our prin- 

 cipal waterways will be so regulated as to 

 be serviceable for navigation. 



It the past we have permitted the reck- 

 less destruction of our forests, and it has 

 been our practice to let the streams spread 

 •Jieir floods destructively over their valleys 

 and hurry their surplus water to the sea. 

 We cannot long afford to be so wasteful 

 of one of our greatest natural resources. 

 We ought to, and we shall, reforest our 

 wild mountain areas, we shall hold back the 

 flood waters to irrigate our arid lands, to 

 '.urn the wheels of industry, to maintain the 

 channels of navigation, to give the towns 

 and cities their water-supply, and to equal- 

 ize the seasonal flow of our rivers so that 

 neither flood nor low water shall be a re 

 curring menace to life and property. 



