AN INLAND WATERWAYS SYSTEM 



Part of an Address before the California State Farmers' Institute 



BY 

 Dr. Clarence B. Edwords, of the California State Promotion Committee 



\TOTHING is of greater moment in 

 * ^ the political economy of the pres- 

 ent than inland waterways. We have 

 had a railroad era, which, sweeping on 

 to its full tide, has forced its own lim- 

 itation ; for so great has become the de- 

 velopment of the country, through 

 railroad progress, that all lines are 

 now taxed to supply the means of get- 

 ting the products of that development 

 to market. As a result of these press- 

 ing conditions, the navigable water- 

 ways of the country are occupying a 

 large place in the public mind, as the 

 logical and practical relief for a condi- 

 tion that is becoming unbearable. 



It is realized that the congestion of 

 freight of the railroads of the country 

 must be relieved through the water- 

 ways. Millions of tons of the heavier 

 commodities can be transported by 

 slow water routes, thus permitting the 

 railroads to transport the more valu- 

 able freight rapidly and expeditiously. 



Germany long ago recognized the 

 vast importance of her inland water- 

 ways, and as a result every city in that 

 empire is connected with water trans- 

 portation. On her 3.700 miles of nat- 

 ural waterways and 5,000 miles of ar- 

 tificial waters, the German govern- 

 ment has expended the sum of $T.- 

 400,000,000, yet the German empire 

 has an area of but 208.000 square 

 miles, while California alone has an 

 area of 160.000 square miles, and the 

 United States as an entirety has ex- 

 pended but a little more than one- 

 third of the sum that the German gov- 

 ernment has found available. 



\Yhat this development of Ger- 

 many's waterways means is shown in 

 the fact that through this wonderful 

 inland waterway system that nation 

 has developed an inland commerce ex- 

 ceeding her outside commerce of 2.- 



250,000 tons annually. France i: 

 thoroughly recognized the importance 

 of water transportation that she i. 

 expended upon her harbors alone the 

 vast sum of $155,000,000. 



The moment seems to have arrived 

 in the United States for a concert 

 action of all the people of the Nation 

 toward the betterment of inland wa- 

 terways. Certain movements, great 

 epochs in history, appear to spring full 

 panoplied into being and astonish tin- 

 world with their completeness. Such 

 movements have been nurtured long 

 in the minds of a few earnest and 

 studious men who have worked out 

 the problems to satisfactory solutions. 

 and then have educated the people to 

 conditions, so that when public an- 

 nouncement has been made the whole 

 world grasped the idea and adopted it. 

 So it is with the improvement of tin- 

 inland waterways of the United Stai> 

 These problems have been occupying 

 the minds of studious men for ye. 

 and now they are prepared to ask f'>; 

 concerted action by all the people, and 

 the people are ready for the opportu- 

 nity. 



Permit me to quote from an ;"M- 

 delivered by Maim- T. '.. l>al>r< 

 chairman of the Commission of Kn- 

 ginecrs, which investigated conditions 

 in California, before the River Im- 

 provement and Drainage Vssociati 

 of California, in N . 1904. V 



jor Dabney's remarks an ar 



value as they show th< 

 complished in the improvement of the 

 Mississippi river, and show ho\\- simi- 

 lar work can be carri' -nil 

 conclusion in California. Major Dab- 

 ney outlined tin lie and individ- 

 ual efforts of the people along the 

 great waterway to protect their lands 

 and to restrain the floods, and showed 



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