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446 character of the channels with all of their inherent advantages. This can best be carried out through a depart- ment of public docks, under charge of a dock board, in each town or city. Where state laws do not exist for the creation of. "this. department they should be enacted early as possible. Such laws were enacted by the legis- latures of Minnesota, Wisconsin, IIli- nois and: Iowa at their last session. Amoftization of the cost of the terminal and the expense of operating it, when carefully managed, could eas- ily be taken care of through moderate service charges, without being a pub- lic burden, and at the same time be a saving to both the carrier and the shipper. Through the heart of the Mississip- pi valley, the most. fertile and most productive valley on earth, flows the Mississippi river from nearly the Ca- nadian boundary on the north to the Gulf of Mexico on the south, which, with its tributaries, aggregates nearly 16,000 miles of navigable waters, equal in length to nearly five transconti- nental railroads, and of unlimited car- rying capacity. On the opening of the Panama canal, every port on these rivers will be in direct water commu- nication with all the ports of the world. These water routes, when properly utilized, will be able to sup- ply such. cheap transportation as will enable American industries to com- pete on even terms with those of other countries in all markets. Let the people face the situation squarely, and avail themselves of the opportunity within their reach to in- crease their commerce and wealth, by doing what is so essential and impor- tant, in the way of providing ade- quate facilities for utilizing our great system of waterways to its full extent commensurate with its possibilities and the vast sum expended by the ' general government upon its im- provement. Then the purpose for which the National Rivers and Har- bors Congress was organized will have been accomplished. Capt. Ulster Davis resigned his po- sition as president and manager of the Albany Towing Co; on Sept. 1 and has started in business for him- self in general transportation on the Hudson river and barge canal. The Seattle Construction & Dry Dock Co. has been awarded the con- tract for three steel ocean-going tugs and nine steel barges for the depart- ment of supplies and accounts, Puget Sound navy yard. THE MARINE REVIEW The Nation's Waterways By Henry W. Hill The National Rivers and Harbors Congress, whose tenth annual con- vention will occur in Washington on Dee: 3, 4 and 5; 1913, will consist of delegates from all parts of the United States, assembled for the purpose of considering waterways develop- ment as a policy and not a project, HENRY W. HILL. Hon. Henry W. Hill, of Buffalo, N. Y., was a member of the New York constitutional convention of 1894, mem- ber of the New York assembly from 1896 to 1900 and of the New York state: senate: from. 1901: to. 1911. (He. is the author and advocate of various New York constitutional amendments and of a work on "Waterways and Canal Con- struction in New York State,' and of several encyclopedic articles... He was the principal advocate of the barge can- al referendum measure through the sen- ate and before the electorate in the state of New York in 1903. He is the president of the New York state water- ways association, a director of the Na- tional rivers and and harbors congress and one of the well known authorities on waterways matters in this country. His writings are quoted in Germany and in France and: he has been honored by the president of France, who has _ recent- ly made him a knight of the National Legion of Honor of France, in recog- nition of his public services and literary work as the author of the valuable _his- torical reports of the Lake Champlain tercentenary commission. He is the president of the. Buffalo Historical So- ciety, a trustee of the University of Vermont, and a practicing lawyer of the city of Buffalo. nation wide in scope and_ intensely interesting in the discussion of its important phases. The Great Lakes region ought to furnish a large num- ber of delegates from the seven states bordering thereon, who are alive to the needs of national appro- priations to develop and improve tributaries to the Great Lakes, the large harbors and also the channels connecting the same. They afford a large part of the commerce of the United States, measured in tonnage, aggregating from seventy-five to one hundred million tons annually, car- ried at a rate of three-tenths to three- December, 1913 fourths of a mill per ton mile, and outranking in importance the com- merce of any other similar waterways in the world. Duluth has a tonnage equaling that of London, and Buffalo a tonnage equaling that of Liverpool, and the other great ports have correspond- ingly large volumes of tonnage, handled by them respectively annual- ly. This vast° tonnage is floated over five of the largest fresh bodies of water in the world, along the north- ern frontier, contributed by the seven states bordering on the Great Lakes and other central and western states, contributing their mineral, agricul- tural and manufactured products in a volume so large that it outranks the tonnage produced by any other equal area in the world. All the ports of the: Great Lakes have received and ought to continue to receive liberal appropriations from the federal government for their im- provement and development, in addi- tion to what may be done by the mu- . nicipalities' and: states. affected. The state of Ohio has its great port of Cleveland, its great iron ore ports of Ashtabula and Conneaut, and, in ad- dition, the port of Toledo, which has a considerable annual tonnage. This important matter may be lost sight of unless the representatives of these great ports impress upon conventions such as those held annually by the National Rivers and Harbors Con- gress, the necessities of these ports, which ought to be presented force- fully to the thousands of members there convened, and also to the mem- bers of the federal congress, many of whom attend and who are directly responsible to the people for liberal appropriations for waterway improve- ments. Hitherto the attendance from the Great Lakes region, at the sessions of the National Rivers and Harbors Congress, has been smaller in pro- portion to the interests involved than the attendance from the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio valleys and from the southern states. It is encourag- ing to note that THe Marine Review, of Cleveland has sounded a warning in this respect, and is doing much to awaken a greater interest in the Na- tional Rivers and Harbors Congress. There will be assembled delegates from all over the nation, ready and willing to listen to what may be said in relation to the demands of various localities; and it is the one great forum of the nation, outside of the congress of the United States, where ample opportunity is afforded by the officers of the national organization