have got to encourage the inhabitants of this country to develop and to grow; and, Mr. Chairman, I want to repeat now, in view of your statement, that in the area of the original 13 States there is still undeveloped substantially one-half of the 161,000,000 acres of arable land. There is no necessity to go out and hunt irrigated land; no necessity to go into foreign countries. We have it along the seaboard, nearly one-half of it untilled from primeval chaos, awaiting the tiller of the soil, and irrigated by nature.

Now, we want to connect that up and give our people a chance to go in upon that land, establish their farms and their homes, create their industries, and thus, if need be, be able to derive sufficient revenue to properly maintain an Army and a Navy. I mention that merely because I do not want the committee to think that we are trying to inject the naval proposition into our discussion because the Secretary of the Navy has come to approve our scheme. The Secretary of War has recommended certain fortifications along the Atlantic seaboard and elsewhere-we are discussing now only the Atlantic seaboard-which indicates that he also must have the use of these inside waterways and that they must not be blocked, else the Army with its fleet of more than 2,500 boats, which the public does not understand apparently, may not be hindered in their legitimate business for the War Department of the Government. Therefore I want it understood that the introduction of the question of the approval of the Army and Navy of our great project is not intended in any way to minimize the influence of the commercial side of the question for which we stand. We have gone into this whole project with a view of improving our commercial facilities and promoting growth of trade and of industry and the giving of new occupations to men who did not have them before, and the taking of them away from the congested centers where they are likely to breed trouble, and to get them out in the free open air where they can live and be real patriots and own something in this country to defend.

Now, as to the naval side of the question, Mr. Chairman, I want later on to introduce the letter of the Secretary of the Navy, but shall at this time quote only this much of it:

When one looks at the coast line from Boston to New Orleans and notes this long inside-of-the-coast waterway, needing only to be properly dredged, widened, and connected up by proper canal links in the chain, it seems as if Providence had enriched us with a most remarkable natural defense, provided we make use of what nature has thus endowed us with. It seems as if Providence had lifted up a sand barrier between the hinter land and the sea and bade us go in and make it deep enough to carry our commercial and naval flotillas. Since it has been put within our reach, would it not be national suicide for us to fail to follow the lead?

There is much more on that line, and it is a splendid argument, and we could not have asked for anything better to prove our case. Later on the Secretary says:

Even in times of peace the canal is a very important factor to the Navy, and lends itself to preparation for national security. Large quantities of heavy materials are constantly required by the Government for its navy yards, such as guns, armor, fuel, ammunition, machinery, structural steel, cement, and the like, and on these the transportation charges by the waterway would be more than cut in half. This cheaper transportation would stimulate our commercial establishments to larger and keener competition in the supply of war materials.

There would be a further value in that the waterways enable our smaller craft to escape the dangers of storms at sea by plying from one port to another.

In other words, it is one of the most important strategic projects, so far as the Navy is concerned, that could be conceived.

Now, as to the commercial side, Mr. Chairman, we were told a long time ago that we would have to prove our case, not only before this committee but before Congress, and we have undertaken to do it each year, and we think we have done it. But since we were here before, the opening of the North Carolina Sound south of Cape Hatteras the great danger point along the southern coast, has resulted in the establishment of what we predicted when we were here beforeregular barge line of new vessels, constructed since we were here, more than 100 of them, with 15 large tugs carrying them through the sound and out into the open sea below Cape Hatteras and doing business for the first time this year as between Philadelphia-they can not get beyond Philadelphia thus far because of the shallowness of the Delaware & Raritan Canal-but from Philadelphia and Baltimore we do a barge business inside, safe from the storms of Hatteras outside, with Wilmington, N. C., with Charleston, S. C., a point never before reached by barges, and with Savannah, Ga., and with Jacksonville, Fla. This has been demonstrated. The business is there. New men are springing up prepared to engage in it. The capital has come forward. The labor has been given employment and our project has been proven in respect to these inside passageways since were here a year ago. We believed it would come and it has come.

Mr. EDWARDS. How many companies are operating there now?

Mr. MOORE. There is one large company of which I have knowledge and a number of independent companies. The Southern Transportation Co. is the largest company, and it now constructs its own barges at Chesapeake City, Md. It has a shipyard there, constructed since last year, and has turned out more than 100 barges of a modern type, well housing their men, and capable of carrying southern lumber into the northern markets, taking phosphates north and carrying coal south; something that has never been done before and something that could not be done economically by rail, because the railroads do not economically touch many of these southern points. Mr. TREADWAY. How much do those barges draw?

Mr. MOORE. Less than 9 feet.

Mr. HUMPHREYS of Mississippi. I would like to ask you a question right there. You speak of carrying coal one way and phosphate another. Do you know whether they have been able to get a reasonably fair cargo at both places?

Mr. MOORE. They have been carrying full cargoes, and I am told by the Southern Transportation Co. people, who spoke to me about it a short time ago, that they are anxious to extend their trade, except for some hindrances that have arisen, partly in the matter of the depth of channel and partly in the matter of some local restrictions. that have been imposed along the line, caused by the introduction of the new business.

Mr. KENNEDY. What is the capacity of the barges they use?

Mr. MOORE. Less than 900 tons. They are not able to do as profitable a business as they would do otherwise because of the narrow width of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal locks. Those locks are

only about 24 feet wide, and these barges have to be constructed to accommodate that width. They must be not more than 9 feet draft, because you do not accommodate them with more than 9 feet safely through the Beaufort Cut, and they do not have more than that depth through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and that limitation practically fixes a limitation upon their business.

Mr. TREADWAY. Is there no place between Philadelphia

Mr. MOORE (interposing). Pardon me one moment. If they were able to construct larger barges, wider barges, and barges of greater depth, they could carry a greater tonnage with their crews and present equipment, and I am told that the business would then become reasonably profitable and, of course, would invite competition; but with the present restrictions-I am saying this for the independent operators who have spoken to me about it-and the limitations now imposed by the width of locks and the shallow depth, the larger companies have the advantage really of the independent companies, because the independents can not operate on so extensive a plan and on so narrow a margin as the larger companies necessarily have to do.

Mr. HUMPHREYS of Mississippi. Before answering Mr. Treadway, I would like to ask you another question along the line of the one I asked you before. Is there anyone here to-day who can probably give us the tonnage south and the tonnage north, so that we can see just how nearly balanced the traffic is?

Mr. MOORE. I am afraid not, although I can give partial figures. Mr. HUMPHREYS of Mississippi. But as a matter of fact they do have reasonably good cargoes both ways?

Mr. MOORE. Yes. I can say to you, Mr. Humphreys, that the tonnage through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal paying tolls which are equal to the railroad tolls and therefore not competitive at all, approximate 1,000,000 tons a year, and they were over that last year. That is very largely this southern traffic moving north and coal moving south, coal and lime and fertilizers go south, but the phosphates go north. There is a tremendous lumber trade north, and the lumber trade has begun to look up during the last few months, so that the people in the Carolinas and in Georgia and in Virginia are getting very hopeful about this northern business. I went through Hampton Roads a month ago and noticed not less than 20 barges tied up by Norfolk, waiting for a favorable opportunity to pass up through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. They were held up there on account of weather conditions at the time. But there were at least 20 of them ladened with southern lumber moving into the northern market at that time, and with the closing of the Panama Canal, through which Oregon and extreme western lumber has been coming to some extent, of course this southern trade has been picking up along the coast and they are endeavoring to make the most of it. The business has been dull up to the last two or three months, but this business is picking up like a great many other lines of industry.

Mr. TREADWAY. Mr. Moore, I wanted to be sure that I understood you. As I understand, there is no place between Philadelphia and Jacksonville, Fla., where it is necessary for these barges to go outside? Mr. MOORE. They have to go outside below Cape Hatteras now, but this committee several years ago authorized the improvement of the Adams Creek route so that now vessels can go into the North Carolina sounds from the north and go through the Beaufort cut into fairly

safe water below Cape Hatteras. So far as the barges are concerned, all they need is a tow at sea, and they can enter again at Georgetown, S. C., and go on South-that is, at Winyah Bay.

I want to say for the credit of this committee that the southern links in this chain are fairly well completed. I presume Mr. Edwards is to be given some credit for that, so far as those links moving north and south from Savannah are concerned. Vessels are now coming into Savannah, and we saw them while we were there. I have been there a number of times recently. We saw them coming in from the little rivers connecting with the Savannah, Upper Savannah, and other stretches, and they are bringing their little cargoes into port which did not come into port before, and it is due to the fact that we are beginning to open up these shallow streams and give the commerce a chance to flow.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Moore, have you the commercial statistics of the Delaware & Chesapeake Canal for this year?

Mr. MOORE. I will get them for you, Mr. Chairman.1 I do not have them with me. I want to say in explanation that we arranged this hearing hurriedly this morning, and most of us have been very busy for the last few days. As many of our friends along the coast were in attendance upon the Rivers and Harbors Congress, and finding that the committee and the chairman were willing to receive us, asked a number of them to come here this morning; not all of them because this is only a handful of the delegation that was here. I presume there are 50 men here now ready to be heard on this subject if the committee could hear them. We did not intend to come here this morning to go into a lengthy statistical hearing; we wanted to present ourselves, and let you know that we are still active and that things are improving all along the line.

If there is no objection, Mr. Chairman, I would like Mayor Ainslie, of Richmond, Va., to read a portion of the resolutions passed at the Savannah convention, to which I referred.

Mr. HUMPHREYS of Mississippi. Mr. Moore, if you have concluded, I would like to ask you a question. You made a statement just now which is very interesting. You said that in the 13 original States there were 161,000,000 acres of land now that had not been put in cultivation.

Mr. MOORE. Nearly one-half according to the census report of 1910. Mr. HUMPHREYS of Mississippi. Is that arable land?

Mr. MOORE. That is all the land, but only a little over half of it is actually occupied and tilled.

Mr. EDWARDS. That does not include the swamp land?

Mr. MOORE. I think that includes everything.

Mr. HUMPHREYS of Mississippi. I do not know that I understand you. Is it all capable of being tilled, or is only one-half of it subject to cultivation; that is, only one-half of the 161,000,000 acres?

Mr. MOORE. I mean to say that the report of Mr. Durand, the Director of the Census, as to 1910-and I have his speech and his figures on the subject-shows that there were in 1910, 160,000,000 acres of land capable of cultivation in the 13 original States and that only a little over half of it is actually occupied for cultivation.

Mr. HUMPHREYS of Mississippi. That is a very interesting statement.

1 Mr. Moore subsequently submitted figures showing the tonnage for the year ending May 31, 1915, to be 1,000,700 short tons.

Mr. MOORE. It is, and it is a very remarkable fact, which the people of the East have forgotten entirely. With all respect to the bounding and booming West and its splendid manhood and the great development out there, we have more opportunities for the people of the East to stay at home than any of them have knowledge of. We have land within a radius of 50 miles of Philadelphia with farm buildings on it, watered by running streams, which can be purchased for $60 an acre. We have plenty of such land.

Mr. HUMPHREYS of Mississippi. Of course, I was not asking for an explanation why a man in the East who had never been West or South should go to that country. I can I can understand that perfectly. [Laughter.]

Mr. MOORE. After all I heard of the gentleman's description of the Mississippi Valley and his pictorial talk before the Rivers and Harbors Congress last night, I would say that no one could fail to go to his El Dorado when invited to do so. But I do not mention this by way of raising any question as to the sections of the country or as to the desirability of going from one place to another, although those of us who have traveled a little bit certainly like our country more the more we see of it. But I do mention this as indicating the fact that because other sections of the country are booming and asking for great appropriations from Congress for development, is no reason why the people east of the Appalachian chain of mountains, where we have more than one-third of the entire population of the country and more than one-half of all the manufactures, and less than one-fourth of the railroad mileage of the country, why we should still be forced to attempt to do business on canals that are no better to-day than in the days of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson-and that is their condition.

I do not want to make a speech along that line, because it would take too long. But the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, which handles a million tons of commerce under the most adverse circumstances to-day, is substantially unchanged from the old canal that was completed in 1829, and we want to see a sea-level canal in its place. The old water wheel that turns the water from the Back Creek into that canal to feed it has been standing there grinding and churning away for more than 50 years, and it is a relic of antiquity worthy of inspection by any modern, active, up-to-date member of the Rivers and Harbors Committee, and it would be a treat if you would go over there with us and look at it. The Delaware and Raritan Canal was finished in 1834 and is much more broken down to-day than it was when it was the common burden bearer of the North and the South for all the commerce we had that we attempted to transport inland. There were no railroads, and it was the placing of the old Amboy Road along the line of that canal that gradually put it out of use, and it is the ownership of that canal by the Pennsylvania Railroad under a 999-year lease that prevents it being of any service to the public at all except for the transportation of a small quantity of very heavy freight, sand and stuff of that kind, which the railroad itself very largely desires to go through there.

There are one or two concerns that send boats through, and there are a great many yachtsmen that go through, but we are blocked as between the New England States and the South and between the ports of New York and Baltimore, and that blockade ought to be