Penick Ford Insurance Agency, insur- Stewart & Co., Andrew, marble distribu

Pugh & Son, J. C., professional and plant- Thomas Ogilvie Hardware Co., wholesale

THE NAVIGATION COMPANY'S PLANS.

While the organization is too recent to have perfected plans, the board of directors have been divided into four departments, as follows, for the purpose of formulating plans to secure the most effective, economical and permanent results:

Finance.-J. B. Ardis, chairman, A. Querbes, O. A. Wright, M. L. Bath, B. F. Thompson.

Traffic.-F. D. Lee, Chairman; J. C. Abel, George M. Hearne, W. H. Booth, J. L.

Pitts.

Equipment.-C. D. Kalmbach, chairman; John Jenkins, W. H. Booth, S. A. Dickson, W. D. Haas.

Executive.—W. K. Henderson, sr., chairman; M. L. Bath, J. B. Ardis, John Jenkins, A. Querbes, F. D. Lee.

All departments are actively engaged in perfecting their plans for early operation. It is the policy of the board to move cautiously and only after thorough investigation in selecting the type of craft to be used, regularity of service, economy of operation, and permanency being the fundamental objects to be attained. It will be the policy of the navigation company to operate for profit and not simply as a regulator of rates though it is expected that freight can be transported via water at a less cost than via rail, which saving will accrue to the benefit of the patrons as well as to the stockholders.

TONNAGE.

A canvass has been made of the tonnage moving into Shreveport from sources from which the navigation company can compete for the haul. Out of 26 replies received, an aggregate of 57,382 tons per annum has been reported, all of which, while not definitely committed, it was stated would be routed via the navigation company. Trading between Shreveport and way landings as well as through traffic to New Orleans will have to be developed to provide a down cargo, but during part of the year the large movement of cotton and its products, as well as oil, drilling equipment, and pipe, promise a satisfactory downstream cargo. The canvass above referred to on upstream tonnage also brought reply from two concerns located in Shreveport, indicating a downstream cargo of 25,300 tons.

A similar canvass amongst nine merchants of Alexandria, La., indicated a gross tonnage of 11,500 tons.

Fron this it is clearly evident that the inbound tonnage practically committed is more than double what would be a reasonable initial capacity.

The plan of the navigation company included equipping or securing adequate terminal and warehouse facilities either by ownership or lease. In New Orleans satisfactory wharfage and warehouse facilities are available at this time.

At Shreveport the city government contemplates providing terminal facilities not alone for the Red River Navigation Co. but for such other water transportation lines as may hereafter run into Shreveport, as is evidenced by the following:

RED RIVER NAVIGATION CO.,

Shreveport, La.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,

City of Shreveport, La., November 15, 1915.

DEAR SIRS: With reference to proposed navigation of Red River, the present city administration has plans for permanent protection of batture in front of city. These plans include concrete walls, as shown by specifications and blue prints now on file at the city hall. These plans and specifications have been approved by the United States Board of Engineers.

The city proposes to erect ample wharf facilities at proper points along concrete wall and to provide permanent roadways connecting with business section of city and railroad connections. This will insure proper handling of all river freight coming in and going out of Shreveport.

The city administration feels fully competent to render such assistance as may be needed for loading and unloading river craft pending completion of above plans.

Yours, very truly,

ARGUMENT.

S. A. DICKSON, Mayor.

The above data and evidence has been offered with the object of showing: First. The magnitude of the potential commerce of the Red River Valley as a whole and Shreveport in particular.

Second. While navigation has not been active since 1905, interest in water transportation has not ceased and efforts to navigate Red River have been continuously made

as evidenced by the City of Shreveport in 1910, prior to any decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission or investigation by the Board of Engineers.

Third. That navigation is necessary to furnish a means of transportation which the railroads are wholly unable to furnish on account of congestion of traffic and inadequate car supply, as evidenced by circular letter of the Interstate Commerce Commission of October 7, 1915, and by common knowledge.

Navigation of Red River by Shreveport and Alexandria is not of recent origin and has not been brought about by reports on the part of the Board of Engineers or decisions by the Interstate Commerce Commission.

In 1910 a few individuals at Shreveport organized the Shreveport Transportation Co., but the boat selected was not suitable to Red River and was too small for the trade, being of but 325 tons register, nor were the few men who organized that company practical or experienced rivermen. Following this unsuccessful venture, negotiations were entered into with owners of self-propelled barges whereby the owners of the barges were to put up 75 per cent of the capital necessary, and Shreveport citizens 25 per cent; but one feature of the proposed contract makes it impossible for Shreveport shippers to obligate themselves, as they would have had to furnish so much and no more tonnage each week, paying for the unused space at the average per ton per annum rate without receiving any credit for weekly excess tonnage offered. These negotiations proceeded for some time, and a representative of Shreveport shippers was sent to New York to secure some modifications in proposed contract, which would have made it possible of acceptance, and the owners of the barges, on another occasion, came to Shreveport at expense to Shreveport of $100 per day. Various and other schemes to restore navigation were looked into and investigated until finally it was decided that Shreveport had best organize a company and do its own navigating, of which the Red River Navigation Co. is the result. In perfect good faith it is stated that navigation has never been abandoned by Shreveport interests; that some plan to restore navigation has been in mind for the past six or seven years, which has culminated in the present intention, the good faith of which the cash in hand and in sight and the business integrity and standing of officers, directors, and stockholders is the best evidence. While activity toward navigation on Red River is manifested mostly in Shreveport, the voluntary action of Alexandria and Colfax in joining in the organization of the Red River Navigation Co. indicates clearly the desire of other sections of the valley for the active navigation of Red River.

It is proposed at the present time to have suitable facilities to handle business offered and to maintain a permanent organization at New Orleans, Alexandria, and Shreveport for the care, acceptance, and solicitation of freight in competition with rail lines, and therefore with the variety of stockholders and with their assured good will and an earnestness on the part of the management to give service there is reason to anticipate that at all times when the river is navigable there will be full cargoes.

PETITION.

It is therefore respectfully requested and urged that for a period of at least three years, a period sufficient to demonstrate our good faith and intention, the work being done in Red River be in no wise curtailed and that the Federal Government cooperate as far as it is practicable in maintaining a free channel that will insure expeditious and safe navigation. Respectfully submitted.

SHREVEPORT, LA., November 16, 1915.

SHREVEPORT CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,

By L. E. THOMAS, President.

ALEXANDRIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, By W. D. HAAS, President.

CITY OF SHREVEPORT,

By S. A. DICKSON, Mayor.
CITY OF ALEXANDRIA,

By W. W. WHITTINGTON, Mayor.
RED RIVER NAVIGATION Co.,
By W. K. HENDERSON, President.

The CHAIRMAN. What did they offer to do?

Mr. WATKINS. In one part of it they offered to put a line of steel barges in the river and to operate them in actual traffic on the river and to continue them, and they asked only for three years' time in which to demonstrate, not that they are going to begin on it then, because they are going to begin on it right away before we secure any money from any appropriation, but if they are not continuing that traffic at the end of three years, then they ask that all appropriations for Red River be suspended, and there will be no further appropriations made. If the chairman of the committee and the members indulge me, I can very easily read the agreement.

The CHAIRMAN. That can be filed.

Mr. WATKINS. I can furnish the reporter with a copy of it, but I have procured this by way of sufferance and privilege, which is not always accorded from the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, with the promise that I would return it to them as soon as I had presented the question to the committee. However, I will have it copied and put it into the hearings, if it is agreeable.

The CHAIRMAN. All right.

Mr. WATKINS. Now, Mr. Chairman, I can talk almost ad infinitum on this question, because it is a question in which my people are vitally interested. There are nearly a million and a half people in this territory who are interested in this proposition, and they are very much aroused on the subject. They feel that it is a great river which they have failed to navigate simply because it was not dredged out, and simply and entirely on that account. They feel like it is a great injustice, and while I never complain to any legislative body, still I do feel that a great river like this has certainly been overlooked either by the engineers in charge of the project or by the Members of Congress here; and my people feel the same way about it, and I believe that when you hear from the other Members you will learn that they feel the same way about it. Judge Wilson is also here and he is interested. Senator Ransdell has already expressed himself on the question. Judge Wingo, who talked this morning, and Judge Taylor and Mr. Goodwin are all vitally interested. The Members from Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma are interested.

We formed an association of the Members of Congress a few years ago, and some of the most enthusiastic expressions which I have ever heard of being elicited anywhere were heard in meetings in Texas and Louisiana for the purpose of continuing actual navigation in Red River. The thing that has hampered and intimidated us and prevented us from accomplishing what we set out to do and put the barges in the river, has been the danger incident to the traffic, and I believe that, with the assurance which we have now from all quarters, not only the men who are actually interested, but from the interest that the board of engineers are now taking in it, that there will be no difficulty hereafter, particularly in view of the fact that Capt. Fisk, who is now in charge of the Ouachita River and the Red River will devote his time more entirely to these rivers which we will have open to traffic in the future.

I very much regret that I have to hurry on to the House, but the Committee on the Revision of the Laws is next on the calendar and the Committee on Labor is expected to conclude its work at

3 o'clock. On that account it will be necessary for me to forego saying anything for the present. But I will have these copies made out and furnished the committee with them.

I want to call the attention of the committee to one fact, that at the hearing at Shreveport all of these questions were gone into very thoroughly, all of the data and everything that was available was presented to the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, and at that hearing, among other things, Mr. Moore from Texarkana was granted the privilege of presenting his views and his facts which he might have at a later date. That reservation was made, and Mr. Moore is here, in addition to the Members representing these several congressional districts, and I hope he will have an opportunity of being heard before the hearing closes.

If it meets with the approval of whoever has the management in charge of the order of business, I have told Judge Wilson that he might be heard next, if that is agreeable. I believe that Mr. Taylor was somewhat looking after the order of the addresses here to-day, but if there is no order arranged, I have told Judge Wilson that I would call upon him.

Mr. HULBERT. Will Judge Watkins permit a question?

Mr. WATKINS. Yes, sir.

Mr. HULBERT. He referred to the comparison of commerce between 1914 and 1915, when it shows an increase from $300,000 to practically $3,000,000. He seems to be very familiar with the conditions there, and I want to ask him if he knows whether Maj. Slattery adopted any different method of computation from that used by Capt. Graves, who, it seems, was there when the statistics of 1914 and 1915 were computed.

Mr. WATKINS. My answer to that would be a conjecture. The gentlemen who are usually there were comparatively young men, graduates of West Point, and who had gone into a strange country and who had taken charge of this matter, and they really did not have the opportunity of making a careful investigation like Maj. Slattery did. That is my information about it. However, that is simply a conjecture on my part; that they did not have an opportunity of making the physical examination, the personal investigation, that was made by Maj. Slattery. I went down on the boat with Maj. Slattery, and he took the soundings in various parts of the river and made some investigation at various points, and all the investigation of these young men was made in a very cursory kind of way.

Mr. HULBERT. Do you know the method that has prevailed in that district for ascertaining the amount of commerce?

Mr. WATKINS. Yes, sir; it is one of the most crude things imaginable. From the best information I have, either personally or otherwise, they go to a place like Shreveport, where there are 40,000 inhabitants, a great deal of business being done there necessarily, 250,000 bales of cotton being shipped out frequently in a year, and vast quantities of oil and staves and crossties, and they would go to a wholesale merchant or a manufacturer or a member of the chamber of commerce and make inquiry, and then they would want to know the basis of that information, and so far as the figures with reference to Shreveport are concerned, I think they were fair, but when it came to the smaller places of 1,000 and 1,200 and 1,500 population, along the bank