SECOND DAY'S SESSION 



Speaker Cannon Declares Against Issue of Bonds for Waterways 

 Improvement Other Speakers Heard Election of Officers 



AT THE morning session of the 

 second day of the Congress, 

 Speaker Cannon, who made the 

 principal address, created excitement 

 and at the same time threw a chill 

 over the enthusiasm by stating 

 that if the Rivers and Harbors 

 Committee reports a bill for a bond 

 issue of a billion dollars, for wa- 

 terways improvement, he will not 

 vote for the bill or give it his support. 

 The Speaker's statement, coming as it 

 did after repeated declarations from 

 men high in public life, all favoring 

 a bond issue, cast a decided damper 

 upon the Congress. 



Former Senator Anthony Higgins, 

 of Delaware, was the first to address 

 the Congress, his talk being along 

 rather conservative lines. He an- 

 nounced his advocacy of the Atlantic 

 deeper waterway plan, but said that 

 careful consideration must be given to 

 all plans for internal improvement be- 

 fore any definite action can be taken. 



President Ransdell then announced 

 that he would introduce the man who 

 could give more help to the project 

 of deep waterways and good canals 

 than any man in the United States, 

 not excepting either the President nor 

 the Vice-president. He then intro- 

 duced Speaker Cannon. 



The Speaker said that possibly what 

 he would say would come as a disap- 

 pointment to some of the delegates. 

 "But at the close of the short session," 

 he said, "you may say that at least 

 one Representative did not lie to you." 

 He said that he voted for the rivers 

 and harbors bill in 1883, which was 

 vetoed by President Arthur, and came 



near being defeated for reelection on 

 account of it. 



He said that he was firmly in favor 

 of the improvement of the rivers and 

 harbors of the country. Continuing, 

 he said : 



'T have no doubt that some of these 

 people who, a quarter of a century ago, 

 tried to stamp out my political career 

 for voting for the river and harbor 

 bill in 1883, over the veto of President 

 Arthur, will say that I am a reaction- 

 ary a kind of fly in the ointment 

 and that I stand in the way. 



"Talk is cheap, but action is another 

 thing. But we want to go slowly and 

 to have the work done sanely and 

 safely. If in the construction of the 

 Panama Canal we had omitted to have 

 a safe project and a well defined 

 policy, the entire civilized world would 

 have been laughing at us." 



He said that he felt sure he would 

 give his support to any river and harbor 

 bill reported to Congress by "that prac- 

 tical and safe man,, Chairman Burton, 

 of the rivers and harbors committee." 



"If we enter upon policies faster than 

 we are ready and expenditures are ex- 

 travagant, there is not one of you that 

 would come out and take the stump in 

 my district," he continued. 



"Now, what I mean to say is that I 

 agree with you that the great water- 

 ways of the country and the rivers 

 and harbors should be efficiently im- 

 proved. There are twenty-five persons 

 to the square mile in the United States. 

 When we are thickly settled, as in Eu- 

 rope, there will be 500,000,000 people 

 in this country, or 125 to the square 

 mile, and from this time to that time, 



Si 



