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Show PRESIDENT CRITICISED For His Attitude on the Deep Waterway Un- ' : dertaking St Louis. Nov. 21 President Taft's ' attitude toward waterway projects was attacked by William Kaanaugh, .resident of the Lake-lo-ihe Gulf Deep Waterway association, In the tatter's address at the opening of tho association's associa-tion's annual convention here t"day. The attendance at the convention, which met In the First Regiment armory, ar-mory, was as large as at any previous , conventions. Prominent among the delegates and guests are United States senators, congressmen and governors of slate. A special tram of waterway boomers boom-ers arrived this morning from Chicago. Chi-cago. The reports of the secretary and treasurer and the address of President Presi-dent Kavenaugh of St. Ioiiis were the principal business of the morning session. ses-sion. Workers from New Orleans and San Francisco are among the delegates, seeking approval of their home cities for the Panama cxiosltlon. The mat tcr, it is thought, will not be brought before the convention The delegates differ as to the depth they want the Mississippi river to be made by the government. President Kavanaugh leads in urging fourteen feet, while a strong contingent will be satisfied with a nin-fnot depth. Prefacing his address of welcome, with a review of the work of the association. asso-ciation. President Kavanaugh declared that the organization had consistently demanded that river betterments be put on a practical hasl.i. This association, associa-tion, he said, like other river associations, associa-tions, condemn th? :pork barrel' policy :Mid demanded that river Improvements Improve-ments be put on a practical basis In I which commercial conditions should 1 be- held paramount to political consid-e consid-e ration. "What Is the result? Within the Ia.st four years, public sentiment has changed; water Improvements have ( become non-polttlcal. and even the President, despite a growing Indiffer- ; erce toward our great project and ' favorable action toward his own river, has announced hereafter that 'no pork , barrel' bills will receive his approval. 1 "From the beginning, this associa- 1 tlon has taken the vlevthat naHga- I . ti'in should he developed in connection with a comprehensive system, beginning be-ginning with the lakes to tbe gulf , deep waterway as it natural main artery. ar-tery. "Throughout its history this association asso-ciation has Insisted on principals that ' each waterway is a unit, from its i source to it; mouth the only prin- clple on which the perpetuity of navl-I navl-I gatlon can rest. "Thanks chiefly to tbe fidelity of men now present, the Sixty-first congress, con-gress, at Its l"ng session last winter, win-ter, enact i'd a jiver and harbor bill superior to its predecessors in several sev-eral respects. Largely In which it contemplated a modern lakes-to-the-gulf deep waterway, conditional on ! Approval by a board of engineers, for which provision was made. I "The item was well Intended and, I bad the intention been carried out faithfully, the critical peint of our project would now doubtless be pasl. It Is a bitter disappointment that we have to record at least paitial foilure of this Intent through an of fil ial "partiality first noted bv some ' of us in last year's river trip. The President postponed appointing; the hoard under the act for many weeks, thus making It apparent that tho I board's reports, in conformity with ' the act ef congress, must necessarily i be hastily arrived at The President also appointed men on this loard ' whom the people feared were unfriendly un-friendly to' the project. Thus, by in- ' direction, the p.irpc-se of the lcgls- ; laiion has been delayed. If not thwart-' ed. Surely the President misunderstands misunder-stands the meaning of that memorable memor-able river trip. Siitely he misjudges the temper of the men of the interior, indeed of the country at large. Our-j present need is for legislation so detinue and specific that it will become be-come cfTcetivo, desplto Indifference ami unfriendliness from any quarter, however exalted, or however unexpected unex-pected and unwarranted the opposition opposi-tion may be. "Why should not the Sixty-second congress, al its first session, adopt the oolicy of comprehensive water development, de-velopment, already approved by the people, and show Its good faith by a specific provision for a deep waterway water-way through the national artery connecting con-necting the great lakes and the gnlf, in accordance with the plans we hao framed at great cost.'" v |