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FIAT — HATTIE TTT p i! amas hail (| if TTT | FE , HAMM TL VOL. 45 CLEVELAND DECEMBER, 1915 NEW YORK NG, 19% N ecessary Improvements 0 -Rivers attd Harbors Will Require Vast Sum Which Must Be Expend ed Effectively and among the numerous interesting methods that we have devised for squandering money wholesale, our biennial appropriations for rivers and harbors have become a marvel even in a land where pension jobbery and public buildings grafting have been developed to the highest state of perfection. The high tide of spoliation, however, is ebbing, and there are unmistakable signs that we are awakening to the necessity of moderate economy in managing the national exchequer. how ing a commendable spirit, but being an enthusiastic people, we are wont to carry our reforms far beyond the point of reason. There is danger that such may be the case in authorizing expenditures for the im- provement of our internal waterways. In the exercise of economy we should not become parsimonious. In recent years our rivers and harbors bills have offered shining marks for the champions of public thrift, who have not hesitated to point out all of their manifold weaknesses. We have learned of expendi- tures of millions on waterways where the traffic should be reckoned by hatfuls; we have been told of projects to improve creeks so puny as to be scorned even by minnows and we have heard so much of pork that many of our citizens have concluded that all federal expenditures for waterways are tainted with lard. Ares government is notoriously profligate Legitimate Improvements in Danger We face a situation, therefore, where legitimate and sorely needed river and harbor improvements may be thrown into the discard or indefinitely postponed to the detriment of our commerce, because of popular clamor regarding the character of certain appropria- tions in the past. Here lies a danger which the mari- time and navigation interests of the United States should take steps to avert. The time has not yet come when we can avoid 431 In this respect we are show- _ making large expenditures for the improvement of internal waterways, if our business life is to continue to flourish. In spite of enormous expenditures, our rivers, harbors, ports and canals, as a whole, are inadequately developed and_ insufficiently equipped. Compared with Europe, particularly Germany, we are 25 years behind the times. But little effort has been made to keep pace with the growth in the size and - carrying capacity of steamships or to provide facilities for their rapid dispatch. Economy Vs. Effectiveness Economy is not so much needed in river and harbor expenditures as effectiveness. We want waterways that will be used, channels straightened where the traffic is sufficiently heavy to justify the expense, and harbors deepened only if commerce will follow the dredger. Our municipalities and states also have much to do in providing economical means of handling and transferring freight. The expenditure of large sums is demanded, but the work must be so ad- ministered that there will be something to show for the money—something more tangible and enduring than receipted vouchers. The lump sum method of appropriation forced on the last congress by Senator Burton is therefore to be commended and should be endorsed by all who have the welfare of aur navigating interests at heart. It represents a long step forward, since it transfers the responsibility from an unbridled, log-rolling, badly advised committee, to a corps of expert engineers who are guided by facts and are not worried over the necessity for being re-elected. Given adequate funds in a lump sum, the United States Engineers may be entrusted to get results and to eliminate the pig-sty odor from at least one branch of national expenditure.