in that country. So you will please take notice that we are building

those barges.

Mr. GOODWYN. When this committee adjourns I will be glad to get the gentleman's address.

Mr. HARDWICK. Mr. Chairman, we thank you very much. That is all.

I will leave these photographs.

The CHAIRMAN. I wish you would.

Mr. HARDWICK. I will leave them with the clerk of the committee. The CHAIRMAN. I want to say, Mr. Hardwick, you need have no fear that this committee will discriminate against you.

Mr. HARDWICK. I will say this, Mr. Chairman, that while I argue a question very earnestly, I realize that this committee has treated us very well in the past, and we have every confidence that they will continue to do so in the future.

The CHAIRMAN. We will now recess until 2 o'clock.

(Whereupon, at 12.30 o'clock p. m., the committee took a recess until 2 o'clock p. m.)

APPENDIX A.

Hon. S. M. SPARKMAN,

AUGUSTA, GA., January 17, 1914.

Chairman Rivers and Harbors Committee,

Washington, D. C.

DEAR SIR: I am to-day in receipt of a request from Mr. R. Roy Goodwin, representative of the river and canal commission, in charge of levee construction at Augusta, asking for information on the status of our new barge-line proposition, with the request that I place same before you immediately.

The transportation on the Savannah River has been handled in an unsatisfactory way for the past 20 years. Modern methods were apparently completely ignored, and the same methods of transportation in vogue 50 years ago were being attempted. Tonnage on the Savannah River dropped to such a figure that Col. Kingsman, United States Army, in charge of the Government work for this district, objected seriously to spending any more money on the Savannah River if a greater tonnage was not shown. This matter was called to the attention of Merchants and Manufacturers' Association, one of our local trade bodies, which appointed a committee of seven to look into the matter carefully and to bring about proper arrangements. This committee, after several weeks of investigation, realized that the old packet-line system with antiquated method was a thing of the past and strongly recommended the organization and operation of an up-to-date barge line with proper methods, railroad connections, and wharves with modern loading and unloading devices the last word in river warehousing and wharfage facilities.

After canvassing for a few days this committee was successful in interesting the leading retailers, manufacturers, and jobbers of this city and turning in bona fide signed subscriptions to the extent of $100,000. The committee in charge then went before the city council of Augusta, explaining to them the necessity of modern wharfage facilities in connection with the proposition, and council unanimously appropriated $50,000 for the erection of modern wharves, unloading machinery, etc., to be located at Augusta, owned by the city, and to be used by the new barge-line company without cost or at very nominal rent. The subscribers to the capital stock of the Barge Line Co. then held a meeting and approved everything which had been done up to this point and elected officers and a board of directors as follows: President, Fielding Wallace, president Planters Cotton Oil Co.; vice president, G. R. Stearne, president Riverside Mills; treasurer, Landon A. Thomas, president J. P. King Manufacturing Co. These gentlemen, together with the following, constitute the board of directors: W. A. Smith, of Smith Bros. Co., wholesale groceries; J. P. Doughty, of the firm of Heineken & Voglsane, cotton exporters of Augusta, Ga., and

Bremen, Germany; D. Slusky, wholesaler; and E. H. Calloway, attorney and formerly judge of the superior court, Augusta circuit.

The board has employed Mr. Clark Wilson, of New Orleans, ex-naval engineer, in an advisory capacity as to the type of boats. He has recommended a line of self-propelling steel barges of fireproof construction with a carrying capacity of 400 tons on a 4-foot channel. He is now working on the plans and specifications and will make his final report to the board within a few days. As soon as Mr. Clark's report is ready contracts will be made with a responsible shipbuilding company under Mr. Clark's supervision and two of these barges will be in operation by July 1 and two more shortly after.

The city of Augusta has charge of the erection of terminal facilities at Augusta and this work will be completed by the time the barges are in operation. Arrangements have been made with the Augusta Belt Line Co. for rail connection at the wharf which gives the new line quick connection with warehouses and manufacturing plants in the city and all out-going rail lines.

A committee from the board has had an interview with Mr. W. H. Pleasants, president and general manager of the Ocean Steamship Co., which has ample wharfage facilities in the city of Savannah. No contract has yet been signed between the Ocean Steamship Co. and the officers of the Barge Line Co., but negotiations have reached that point where Mr. Pleasants has assured them that the Barge Line Co. can use the Ocean Steamship Co. wharves, giving them ample room for the handling of local and through stuff. Augusta, by a decision of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1913, has a through and joint rate to interior northern and eastern points via Savannah River and this and other rates enjoyed by the river guarantees a large tonnage and a successful enterprise from every point of view.

I herewith inclose statement from the clerk, city council, Augusta, giving a copy of the resolution passed by council covering the appropriation for erection of wharves at Augusta.

I think I have covered the situation, but if there is any additional information required kindly have either Mr. Goodwin or Mr. Wingfield, our representatives now in Washington, wire us.

Yours, very truly,

THOMAS BIERRETE, Jr., Chairman River and Canal Commission.

A delegation from the Merchants & Manufacturers' Association appeared before council for the purpose of presenting a petition asking that council construct some adequate wharf facilities for the traffic on the Savannah River. Mr. T. S. Gray, of the delegation, was accorded the privileges of the floor, and addressed council in favor of the petition.

Mr. Doughty offered the following resolution :

Be it resolved by the city council of Augusta, and it is hereby resolved, That an amount not exceeding $50,000 be appropriated, to be used in purchasing and building such municipal wharves and warehouses and all other incidents usual or connected therewith as will be best suited for the purposes intended." On motion of Mr. Myers, the resolution was uanimously adopted.

I. J. Louis Sayre, do hereby certify that I am the duly elected deputy clerk of council and that the foregoing is a correct extract from the minutes of the city council of Augusta, of a meeing held Wednesday, September 24, 1913, folio 240.

J. LOUIS SAYRE,

Deputy Clerk of Council.

AUGUSTA, GA., January 17, 1914.

SAVANNAH RIVER AT AND NEAR NORTH AUGUSTA, S. C.

COMMITTEE ON RIVERS AND HARBORS,
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Tuesday, January 20, 1914.

The committee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. Stephen M. Sparkman (chairman) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. We will hear first this morning from Mr. Byrnes.

STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES F. BYRNES, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

The CHAIRMAN. You have a matter to present, I believe, Mr. Byrnes, it being the same matter presented at a recent hearing of the committee by Mr. Hardwick, of Georgia.

Mr. BYRNES. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. You may proceed.

Mr. BYRNES. Mr. Chairman, the information I have is that Mr. Hardwick, with some citizens of the city of Augusta, Ga., appeared before the committee the other day and asked for an appropriation for some work to be done on the Savannah River for the protection of the city of Augusta from floods.

The Savannah River divides the States of Georgia and South Carolina. On the South Carolina side of the river is the city of North Augusta. That city is inhabited to a great extent by people who are doing business in the city of Augusta, but yet it has a number of business enterprises located right on the river. Whenever Augusta has been visited by a flood North Augusta has also suffered at the same time from the rising of the same waters. The people of Augusta are now engaged in constructing a levee to protect the city of Augusta. We have no opposition to their movement; in fact, we would be glad if Congress could see its way clear to assist them in constructing this levee, but at the same time we want to ask that if the National Government shall embark upon this work that it also appropriate for the same purpose some money to assist the people on the South Carolina side of the river for the purpose of constructing a levee to protect themselves from floods.

Mr. KENNEDY. I thought the ground on the other side was much higher.

Mr. BYRNES. It is much higher. I have been at home when the last two floods occurred, and at a safe distance I have seen the buildings on the South Carolina side of the river completely covered by the waters of the Savannah River. We think, if you are going to appropriate for the protection of the people on the Georgia side, you should also appropriate for the protection of the people on the South Carolina side.

Mr. KENNEDY. Is there a bluff a little way back?

Mr. BYRNES. There is.

Mr. KENNEDY. How far is that from the river bank?

Mr. BYRNES. I suppose a half mile; between a quarter and a half mile.

Mr. KENNEDY. You say there are industrial plants there on the lowlands?

Mr. BYRNES. Yes. There is one large concern, the Industrial Lumber Co., which is much interested in this work. They have property in there of about $250.000, and they have taken the matter up with me. There are a number of other business houses there. Of course, their losses have been great at flood times.

Because of the fact that there is some bluff on the South Carolina side of the river, it is estimated by engineers that the city of North Augusta could be protected from the waters of the Savannah during its flood stages by an expenditure of about $100,000.

Mr. KENNEDY. Is the residential part of the city on the bluff?
Mr. BYRNES. Yes, sir; most of it.

The people of the city of North Augusta view the matter in this light, that if a levee is constructed on the Georgia side of the river the waters must naturally find an outlet, and that the result of the construction of a levee on the Georgia side will be to force the waters over on the South Carolina side.

Mr. EDWARDS. Have you had any information from the engineers as to whether or not that would be the result if the levee is constructed on the Georgia side, to force the waters over to the South Carolina side of the river?

Mr. BYRNES. No, I have not. I will also say this, however, that it would take the opinion of a dozen engineers to convince me that that is not the case; that if you bank up one side of the river the waters of the river will be forced to go to the other side.

Mr. KENNEDY. That is similar to the condition that we have had on the lower Mississippi River during the rise of the water level.

Mr. BYRNES. Yes, it is bound to do that, and drown out the people on the South Carolina side of the river. It means that it will be necessary for those people to remove their places of business, or to build some kind of a levee to protect the people on the South Carolina side.

The city of Augusta is asking for a levee. The people on our side of the river do not desire to oppose that; rather they would join with them, but with this proviso, that when you assist in the construction of a levee on the Georgia side, you also make some provision for assisting the people to construct one on the South Carolina side.

The CHAIRMAN. We have not seen the report of the survey.

Mr. TAYLOR. You ask for that on the principle of the protection of the land. or navigation?

Mr. BYRNES. On the principle of self-defense.

Mr. TAYLOR. Do you ask for it on the principle of the protection of the land, or on the principle of navigation?

Mr. BYRNES. On the principle--I do not believe in attempting to evade the issue and say it is done for the purpose of navigation. I can not say that. My idea is that it would be nothing but protection for the lands and business houses; but if the United States Govern