River improvement means better conditions of transportation than we have now, but it means development too.

We cannot see this problem clearly and see it whole in the light of the past alone.
The actual problems of river development are not less worthy of our best attention than their commercial results.

Every river is a unit from its source to its mouth.

If it is to be given its highest usefulness to all the people, and serve them for all the uses they can make of it, it must be developed with that idea clearly in mind.

To develop a river for navigation alone, or power alone, or irrigation alone, is often like using a sheep for mutton, or a steer for beef, and throwing away the leather and the wool.