March 13, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



417 



Secretary Plwnt Section — N. E. Hansen, Brook- 

 ings, S. Dak. 



All persons interested in the science or 

 art of breeding are invited to join the As- 

 sociation and to send their names to the 

 secretary. The membership fee of two 

 dollars includes the year-book of proceed- 

 ings which can be obtained only by mem- 

 bers. 



Chas. B. Davenport 



INLAND WATERWAYS'- 

 To the Senate and House of Representa- 

 tives: 



I transmit herewith a preliminary re- 

 port from the Inland Waterways Com- 

 mission, which was appointed by me last 

 March in response to a wide-spread interest 

 and demand from the people. The basis 

 of this demand lay in the general and ad- 

 mitted inability of the railroads to handle 

 promptly the traffic of the country, and 

 especially the crops of the previous fall. 



This report is well worth your attention. 

 It is thorough, conservative, sane and just. 

 It represents the mature judgment of a 

 body of men exceptionally qualified, by 

 personal experience and knowledge of con- 

 ditions throughout the United States, to 

 understand and discuss the great problem 

 of how best to use our waterways in the 

 interest of all the people. Unusual care 

 has been taken to secure accuracy and 

 balance of statement. If the report errs 

 at all it is by over-conservatism. It con- 

 tains findings or statements of fact, a num- 

 ber of specific recommendations and an 

 account of inquiries still in progress, and 

 it is based in part on statistics and other 

 information contained in a voluminous ap- 

 pendix. The subject with which it deals 

 is of critical importance both to the present 

 and to the future of our country. 



^ Message from the President, delivered to the 

 Senate and House of Representatives on February 



Our river systems are better adapted to 

 the needs of the people than those of any 

 other country. In ' extent, distribution, 

 navigability and ease of use, they stand 

 first. Yet the rivers of no other civilized 

 country are so poorly developed, so little 

 used, or play so small a part in the indus- 

 trial life of the nation as those of the 

 United States. In view of the use made 

 of rivers elsewhere, the failure to use our 

 own is astonishing, and no thoughtful man 

 can believe that it will last. The accom- 

 panying report indicates clearly the rea- 

 sons for it and the way to end it. 



The commission finds that it was un- 

 regulated railroad competition which pre- 

 vented or destroyed the development of 

 commerce on our inland waterways. The 

 I\Iississippi, our greatest natural highway, 

 is a case in point. At one time the traffic 

 upon it was without a rival in any country. 

 The report shows that commerce was driven 

 from the Mississippi by the railroads. 

 While production was limited, the rail- 

 ways, with their convenient terminals, gave 

 quicker and more satisfactory service than 

 the waterways. Later they prevented the 

 restoration of river traffic by keeping down 

 their rates along the rivers, recouping 

 themselves by higher charges elsewhere. 

 They also acquired water fronts and 

 terminals to an extent which made water 

 competition impossible. Throughout the 

 country the railways have secured such 

 control of canals and steamboat lines 

 that to-day inland watei'way transporta- 

 tion is largely in their hands. This was 

 natural and doubtless inevitable under the 

 circumstances, but it should not be allowed 

 to continue unless under careful govern- 

 ment regulation. 



Comparatively little inland freight is 

 carried by boat which is not carried a part 

 of its journey by rail also. As the report 

 shows, the successful development and use 

 of our interstate waterways will require in- 



