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Show DEEP WATERWAY IS DE11IM ALL Great River Convention Is Held in New Orleans. PRESIDENT FAVORS PROJECT Promises the Present Administration Will Support Issuance of Federal Bonda If Fourteen-Foot Program Pro-gram Proves Feasible. New Orleans, Nov. 1. Ringing demands for "14 feet through tho valley" val-ley" and elaborate argument In support sup-port of tho program fo tho crcatlpn of n deop waterway from tho lake's to tho gulf have marked the great convention con-vention of tho Deop Waterway association asso-ciation that opened here Saturday. PresIdonf'Tnft, Vico-Presldcnt Sherman, Sher-man, Speaker Cannon, governors of th Mississippi valley states, innumerable' innumer-able' senators and representatives and n mighty throng of prlvnto citizens' who bollovo' in ihe big river project are hero and all urgo that it bo undertaken un-dertaken and carried to a speedy conclusion. con-clusion. . President Taft Promises Support. President Tnft, who arrived in Now Orleans escorted by n great flotilla, after an Illuminating trip down tho .Mississippi rlvor from St. Louis, landed land-ed from tho lighthouse tender Oleander Olean-der about eight o'clock Saturdny morning, nnd was driven to his ho-tol ho-tol through streets that wero enno-plod enno-plod with magnolia branches, pnlmot-toes pnlmot-toes and southern moss, and everywhere every-where entwined In tho decorations wero tho mottoes "Fourteen Feet Through tho Valloy" nnd "Rlvor Rato Regulation Is Rato Regulation." At tho Athenaoum in tho afternoon tho president aroused a storm of chcors by promising that if tho 14-feot project proved feaslblo and ndvlsablo, tho present administration would fnvor tho Issuance of government bonds to defray tho coat. Not for a "Pork Barrel." At tho samo time Mr. Taft mado it plain that ho would not stand for any p'.nn to mako a "pork barrol" of tho project. Ho said he opposed any such genornl bond lssuo of $500,000,-000 $500,000,-000 or $1,000,000,000 for waterwnys Improvement, tho money to bo cut up nnd pnrcolod out to different sections. sec-tions. Ho declared that tho improvement improve-ment of watorways had boon carried forward in n haphazard fashion In President Taft. tho past, and that a now method should bo adopted. "I bollovo In tho deop waterway," said tho president. "I am for it, and I shall uso all the power that I possess pos-sess in doing what may bo accomplished accom-plished to give you citizens of this groat valley what you so earnestly desire. de-sire. It la all a part of a still greater great-er movement inaugurated by Theo-doro Theo-doro Roosovolt, and . properly called by him tho conservation of our national na-tional resources. "Tho projects for Irrigation nnd for tho Improvement of watorway3 in tho futuro nro not to bo for tho purposo of distributing 'pork' to overy pnrt of tho country. Every measure is to bo xulop tod-oa-th a gtound-4faat-lt-w.Hl-.bfr-useful to tho wholo country. Thoy aro not to- bo adopted for sondlng certain congressmen back to Washington Wash-ington or for making cortnin parts of tho country profitable during tho expenditure ex-penditure of the money. "Wo should tuko up overy comprehensive compre-hensive project on its merits nnd determine de-termine whethor tho country whoro tho project is to bo carried out has so far deevloped as to Justify tho enormous enor-mous oxpondlturo of monoy and if it will bo useful whon dorio. When wo dccldo in favor of a project, I bollovo In Issuing bonds to carry It to completion com-pletion as rapidly as possible iOhas been proposed that wo Issue bonds for $500,000,000 or $1,000,000,000, and cut It up nnd parcel the monoy out In this nnd that section of tho country. I am opposed to any such proposition, becauso it not only smells of tho 'pork barrel,' but would bo n 'pork barrel.' " Sherman, Too, la for It. Vice-President James S. Sherman has brought to tho people of tho mid-dlo mid-dlo west tho messngo of the cast, promising enthusiastic support of tho waterway program. "Wo people of tho cast depend on your people of tho west," said he. "When wo help you, wo help ourselves, so there Is overy reason why wo Bhould do all In our power for you, as soon ns we realize what you want nnd why you want It." Sponkor Cannon nnd Secretary of War Dickinson nro no less outspoken In their assurances of support, nnd mnny senators and representatives, among them Senator Lorliner of Illinois, Illi-nois, tho father of tho deop waterway Secretary of War Dickinson. movement, this afternoon mado addressee ad-dressee full of hopeful enthusiasm. Kavanaugh Opens Convention. William K. Kavanaugh of Missouri, president of tho association, called tho convention to ordor Saturday morning nnd Bot forth briefly the aims and plans of tho organization. Ho said tho deep waterway work Is now In this condition: 1. Tho snnltary district of Chicago has built tho deep waterway, practically practi-cally to Jollot, nearly 40 miles, and $GO,000,000 have been spent thus far on tho work. 2. Tho entlro route of tho lakes-to-tho-gulf deop waterwny from Jollet to Now Orleans, through tho Dos Plnlnes river, tho Illinois river nnd tho Mississippi Mis-sissippi river, has been surveyed under un-der direction of congress by United States engineers, who havo ofllclally reported to congress that tho building of tho deep wnterway is feaslblo. 3. Tho pcoplo of tho stnto of Illinois Illi-nois havo adopted a constitutional amendment providing for a bond lssuo ls-suo of $20,000,000, tho money to bo spent in constructing tho deep wator-way wator-way southward from Jollot. 4. A bill introduced by United States Representative Richard Bartholdt of Missouri is now ponding la congress, providing for tho issuanco by tho United States government of bonds to tho amount of $500,000,000, tho monoy to bo spent in constructing this deep wnterway front tho lnkos to tho gulf nnd othor meritorious projected river Improvements. 5. It Is Intended to ask tho Sixty-first Sixty-first congress to pass n bill providing definitely that the United States government gov-ernment undertako tho construction of tho deop waterway from tho point whero tho Illinois work will end, ta tho Gulf of Mexico. In tho afternoon, following tho ad-dress ad-dress of President Taft, Clifford Pin-chot, Pin-chot, head of tho government forestry department, mado nn address on tho conservation of tho nation's natural resources. In tho ovenlng tho delegates to tho convention wero entertained at a stag smokor by tho Progressive union ol Now Orleans. This evening all tho delegates and the Indies accompanying accompany-ing them wero the guests of tho Progressive Pro-gressive union at tho Now Orleans Opera house, whero "La Julve" was given by tho French Opora Company. |
