EDITORIAL 



639 



tional Forests,, especially in the Appa- 

 lachian and White Mountain regions. 



Yet an inspection of the vote on the 

 Weeks bill, taken in the House of Rep- 

 resentatives on March I last and pub- 

 lished in the June issue of this maga- 

 zine, will show that record to bristle 

 with surprises. 



Among the ayes may be found, for 

 example, the name oi one Republican 

 congressman who lost his place because 

 of his devotion to Speaker Cannon, and 

 of other stanch followers of the Speaker 

 who have been less unfortunate in their 

 districts. 



There will also be found the names 

 of Democrats who deserted their party 

 in the Special Session and voted for the 

 tariff bill. 



On the other hand, there will be 

 found among the noes eastern and 

 southern men whose interests, were 

 they guided by no broader principle, 

 would apparently have dictated the wis- 

 dom on their part of an affirmative vote. 



But more astonishing, still, we find 

 in that list the name of the leader of the 

 insurgent Republicans in the House, 

 and, among the Democrats, two, at 

 least, of the most advanced, not to say 

 radical, members of the Congress of 

 the United States. 



And these liberal members, Demo- 

 cratic or Republican, hail from the 

 Mississippi Valley, the great progress- 

 ive center of the country, while the bill 

 itself bears the name of a representative 

 from Massachusetts, "that land of petri- 

 fied conservatism." 



This is another of the surprises with 

 which politics abounds ; but it also goes 

 to show that the West has, as yet, no 

 monopoly on liberalism and progress- 

 iveness. 



K )g & 



The Lakes'to'thc'-Gulf Deep Waterways 

 Convention 



PRACTICAL though it is, the pres- 

 ent is an age when young men see 

 visions and old men dream dreams. 



One of the dreams of the present 

 day is of a deep waterway from the 

 Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. 



Conceive of a channel which will per- 

 mit ocean vessels to pass from the 



Great Lakes through the Desplaines, 

 Illinois, and Mississippi rivers, the 

 Gulf of Mexico and the Panama Canal 

 into the Pacific and thence westward to 

 the Orient ! 



The Mississippi Valley is the heart 

 of the world. Think what such a water- 

 way will mean for the development of 

 this valley ! 



Picture in mind the teeming millions 

 who will yet swarm in that valley, and 

 estimate the service which will be ren- 

 dered to them by this highway com- 

 bined with the arteries of traffic which 

 will radiate eastward and westward 

 therefrom ! 



But three years ago the people of the 

 Mississippi Valley began to give em- 

 bodiment to this dream by the organiza- 

 tion of a Lakes-to-the-Gulf Deep 

 Waterways Association. 



In 1906 this Association held a con- 

 vention in St. Louis, where 1,100 dele- 

 gates gathered. 



In 1907 the Association met in Mem- 

 phis. President Roosevelt went to St. 

 Louis and thence down the river to 

 Memphis as a guest of this Association, 

 making an address at the convention. 



In 1908 the Association held its third 

 convention, this time in Chicago, where 

 3,517 delegates met. On this occasion 

 the Association was addressed by candi- 

 dates Taft and Bryan. 



Now the call has been issued for the 

 fourth annual convention. The meeting 

 will be held in the Athenaeum in New 

 Orleans, Saturday, October 30 ; Mon- 

 day, November i , and Tuesday, Novem- 

 ber 2. 



The object of these meetings is, of 

 course, to promote the great enterprise 

 suggested by the Association's name. 



How, in the opinion of the Associa- 

 tion, the end to be accomplished is 

 indicated by its call. 



The sanitary district of Chicago 

 has built the waterway practically to 

 Joliet. The route from Joliet to New 

 Orleans has been surveyed under di- 

 rection of Congress by United States 

 engineers and reported feasible. 



The people of the state of Illinois 

 have voted a bond issue of $20,000,000 

 to promote the project. 



