57' > 



( ONSERVATION 



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 

 <>ur bulky traffic and with railroads more 

 efficient than present conditions permit them 

 to be in the handling of package freight. 

 \\ e. 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- 

 tion of rivers. Several of the statis, 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 a^ special business interest" might find 

 it profitable to estubli-h. In many instance* 

 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 \\ater routes, 'flu 

 policy of leaving the de\elopmeiit of \\aur 

 transportation to any considerable extent, 

 either to the states or to private corpora- 

 tions, is now realized to be wrong in th< 

 and unsatisfactory in practice. 



The stales 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 waterway* 

 as the Erie and Panama canals are clearly 

 works that private capital is neither able 

 nor disposed to execute. The great Stair 

 of Xew York has the financial ability and 

 economic incentive to reconstruct the Eric- 

 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 In- 

 more extensively used in the future than 

 they have been in the past. The reason s 

 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, aijd 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 waterway* j., emphasized by the fact 

 ;hat any considerable future reductions in 



costs of rail transportation are improba 

 ble. Indeed, for reasons that have alreaiK 

 been -Cited in this paper, the service of 

 American railroads may be expected to be 

 developed in the future more and more 

 \\itli referuicc to handling commodities ex 

 pedilioiisly and in small units. That is 

 uh.it is taking place in other countries; 

 there is no reason to suppose that our ex 

 perience will differ greatly from theirs. 

 I he economy of employing both railroads 

 .nid 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. Am- riean waterways \\jll, in the years 

 to come, be utilized more for navigation, 

 because we are certain, sooner or later, to 

 ronserve 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 popn 

 Nations with pure water. Moreover, the 



.vini; necessity for controlling our 

 Mrcam- ' make possible the reclama- 



tion of our vast areas of reclaimable land- 

 will tend to hasten the time when our prin 

 ripal waterways will be so regulated as to 

 be serviceable for navigation. 



It the past we have permitted the reck 

 - destruction of our forests, and it has 

 been our practice to let the streams spread 

 their floods destructively over their valleys 

 and hurry their surplus water to the sea. 

 \Ye cannot long afford to be so wasteful 

 of one of our greatest natural resources. 

 \Ye ought to, and we shall, reforest our 

 wild mountain areas, we shall hold hack the 

 tlood waters to irrigate our arid lands, to 

 turn 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. 



