ative branch of the Government sooner or later, and I suggest,
therefore, that immediate steps be taken to gain all available
information to insure equable and just legislation.

One route to connect the Mississippi Valley with the Atlantic, at
Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., by water, by the way of the Ohio
and Tennessee rivers, and canals and slack-water navigation to the
Savannah and Ocmulgee rivers, has been surveyed, and report made by an
accomplished engineer officer of the Army. Second and third new routes
will be proposed for the consideration of Congress, namely, by an
extension of the Kanawha and James River Canal to the Ohio, and by
extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.

I am not prepared to recommend Government aid to these or other
enterprises until it is clearly shown that they are not only of national
interest, but that when completed they will be of a value commensurate
with their cost.

That production increases more rapidly than the means of transportation
in our country has been demonstrated by past experience. That the
unprecedented growth in population and products of the whole country
will require additional facilities--and cheaper ones for the more bulky
articles of commerce to reach tide water and a market will be demanded
in the near future--is equally demonstrable. I would therefore suggest
either a committee or a commission to be authorized to consider this
whole question, and to report to Congress at some future day for its
better guidance in legislating on this important subject.

The railroads of the country have been rapidly extended during the last
few years to meet the growing demands of producers, and reflect much
credit upon the capitalists and managers engaged in their construction.

In addition to these, a project to facilitate commerce by the building
of a ship canal around Niagara Falls, on the United States side, which
has been agitated for many years, will no doubt be called to your
attention at this session.

Looking to the great future growth of the country and the increasing
demands of commerce, it might be well while on this subject not only
to have examined and reported upon the various practicable routes for
connecting the Mississippi with tide water on the Atlantic, but the
feasibility of an almost continuous landlocked navigation from Maine to
the Gulf of Mexico. Such a route along our coast would be of great value
at all times, and of inestimable value i