Show J ATLANTIC ST A TO 1 worn WORt ron fOR uN AN INLAND f SYSTEM or Of WATERWAY r PHILADELPHIA Nov 20 After After a a. two da days days' s discussion of tho the project I 1 for an m inland waterway w along the Atlantic Atlantic Atlantic At At- lantic coast from New England to the Carolinas the tho Atlantic deep waterways I conference ence will vote this afternoon for fora a permanent organization and begin an agG aggressive campaign to accomplish that i undertaking Resolutions will cd ed asking the assistance of the n national government and wd the operation co-operation of all I states interested in inland waterways I Yesterdays Yesterday's n- n ns s 's s sessions were devoted to toa 1 a 4 discussion sion of a n water route from Philadelphia north to Boston Today's were lar largely taken up with addresses on nn the thc waterways that thai are supposed to form part of the Hio inland route south to I Beaufort N Nr N 0 C I Gen Felix Agnus Agnns of Baltimore who heads the delegation from froni Maryland I stated in an a address dress that the present I conference is one of the tho most inot t import ant meetings in itt tho thie history of American Ameri Amen can trade and aud transportation Said d he At Climax Now I HI fc l that we wo am aro at the climax V of of our efforts and public spirit of many nr I years ears that wo we arc are no longer dl dealing with paper plans or 01 theories thorie but are arc plain Jain business pr propositions anti and assured anta ad advantages es and profits This scheme of safe saCci navi navigation for our domestic commerce means more nore for our country and more for our wealth and anil ha happiness than Panama There arc are three vital facts in the work we propose to begin hero here this I week cele First transportation b by water is i I far chea cheaper r than transportation on by land Gainful Careful fi figures from the great lakes laks from the Mississippi and aud from large canals show that the rate rale r rr pr ton InI by In- bywater I water vater is about third one t the average rate by land I Startling Figures r II Second the conditions of t traffic between between be be- tween the north and south have been I be-I acute and for foJ s 1 years Since 1880 ISSO the assessed d values alucs I in the south have increased from frona 2 2 t- t to an and tho the thoI I south is now minin mining p pe per r cent more coal than all nIl the rest of ot the country mined in ISSO 1880 It is producing three times as nR much muck coke cole twice as much lumber hun lum her ber and ju just t as much pig piA iron and we wo may mav add to this tho the enormous cotton crop crop of bales ami find a total I of or products worth more than 1000 annually A lar large e part part- of this thu must t go to the northern markets and I hundreds of millions of dollars worth of I manufactured products must be returned returned re re- re turned to southern markets Tho The lines Hues of railroad we now o possess are arc trl not equal to this thiR business ness and it ii is likely that they will bo be inadequate for foJ years to come Nor is it possible that tho tim rates will willever ever cr bo be lower Here we have have- havethe the a ab absolute absolute ab- ab solute necessity t for relief made mado so manifest manifest manifest man man- that nut not even en a railroad i man can I dispute to it Growing Rapidly Third the growth of ot the country is not only proceeding at au iii astonishing astonishing astonishing astonish astonish- ing rate rato in the tho numbers number of population but is expanding almost incredibly in inthe in the tho ratio of trade movement to the population pop pop- population it itself eli 1 I b bog beg to quote fuote these fi figures rC's The frei freight ht in mile tons tong has grown crown from in 1882 and in iii 1890 1800 to in 1903 1905 the total for the tho latter y year ar arboin being boin more than as great reat as for isDo 1890 The gain of O tons between 1900 and 1905 1005 was as very err much larger than the tho total of 1882 and md nearly nearh tw two thirds thirds as great reat as the total of 1890 Undoubtedly much of our great at financial trouble was duo due to the fact that transportation had not been hren able ablo to give i e that quick exchange e of or materials mate mate- rials nials and products which would enable us to make mak the thc freest use of our money In other words slow transportation means the tying up u of our currency which under the tho most favorable circumstances cir II is hardly adequate to the needs of the country I Here on tho the eastern set seaboard board where 1 the bi biggest test work of the world is being done and where the necessity for quick transportation is largest est we force a situation sit sit- nation that calls for prompt relief and the only onh possible way in which the difficult dif HI- Is is s to be bo o overcome is to provide pro these facilities We will never got ot it from front the ra railroads because our new needs will grow row much faster than any an new facilities they can give lve Want Vant Improvements Now Wo We 0 are aro made to realize our duty more moro keenly than ever er by the wide pub pub- which the president s 's 3 trip down the tho Mississippi has given to his schemes for the middle and far west west schemes schemes that call caU for hundreds of m millions of ot dollars not to mention the tho building of the Panama canal and those great im immigration immigration im- im m migration appropriations which congress congress con con- gress is is expected to make It seems to me an extraordinary thing thinA that we wo should divert millions of o-f tho the national wealth s to the desert when here nere along alonA our eastern seaboard wo we have havo all tho facts of a high civilization de dc demanding demanding de- de manding reco recognition and encourage encourage- ment I have havo no objection to makin making ng the deserts blossom as tho the rose roso but 1 I Ido do think we wo owe tho the greater obligation to the men whose farms fannie and mines are turning out ont wealth and to the cities whose populations are aro dependent on the factories which have havo been built by br their enterprise and capital c More benefit is to bo be obtained from froma a l million dollars spent on these interior waterways than would come como from five ve or ten times that sum Bum invested in tho the Mississippi or at Panama or in desert lands |