New-York tribune., 1868-07-06
TIE MISSISSIPPI LEVEES.

lers bill proposes that survey be made-(and
this, we trust will be authorized and effected
forthwith, whatever may be done thereafter)-
with view to establishing permanent levees
wherever necessary, from the mouth OF the
Ohio river to that of the Mississippi, on both
banks This would require about two thousand
miles of levee. An estimate before us fixes the
cost of building 260 miles of leyee between
Memphis and Vicksburg at S13,jOO,OOO or S52OOO
mile, which is considerably more expensive
than building the Pacific Railroad. The entire
1000 miles of levee involved in Mr.. FOwler's
bill would cost, at the same rate, S1O4,OOOO0O
for construction, beside continual expenses
for repairs Making due allowance for
the fact that considerable portions
of the levees already constructed might
be found adequate at present, yet 1t Is evident
that the work of maintaining levees on the
Mississippi is as costly as it is important.
Whether the National Government should un-
dertake the work, and if so, on what terms,
should be decided on some comprehensive
plan, instead of subiccting the National Treas
ury to be bled at every session of Congress, to
satisfy demand that is in its nature insatia-
BILE. For the tendency of the Mississippi to
fill up its channel and overflow is perpetual
one and the Government, in undertaking to
prevent it, is entering upon an endless warfare
with the elements of nature. The dykes OF
Holland do not furnish a parallel case. The
sea never rises above its original level, and a
dyke once sufficient, if properly maintained,
is always sufficient. But the heavy deposits
of alluvium in the bed of the Mississippi are
constantly filling up its channel, and the work
of protecting the adjacent country is therefore
perpetual.
Shall it therefore be given up now and
finally TO floods, desolation, and wastel BY no
means. But it should be determined in how far
this is a national work, and how far private
capital can be induced to cooperate in it,
on what terms the National Government will
undertake it, and to what extent it will re-
qure State or individual cooperation. Take
the Yazoo basin as an illustration. 1t lies be-
tween the Mississippi River on the west, the
Yazoo and the Tallahatchie on the east, and
the Tennessee line on the north, and contains
| 4OOO,OOO acres, with a front on the Misss-
! sippi river of $50 miles. The White pop
ulation in 1860 were 1923, the Black (slave)
! were 5O,212 and the cash value of its
| farms Sal 100000 Should the United States
pay $13,500,000 or about one-third as much as
the entire country was ever worth, to benefit
! the One-fifth of its population who now own
its entire soil and have control of its in
dustry, leaving the fOur-lfths whose labor
is most valuable to this region to receive
| little or no benefit therefrom9 Estimating
that one-sixth of the White population are
heads of families, and that one-thrd of
/ tIa
| land, we have rather less than 500 landhold-
| ers in the entire district. But we believe the
monopoly of land is even greater, and that
| two or three leading ex-Rebels own millions Of
acres thereof But division of our appropria-
! ton among 500 landholdeTs would give $4,000
| to each, which is rather a munificent donation
! to come from a country so heavily in debt as
our own, to citizens who have generally been
most bitter in their hostility to its flag.
| The laws of the State of Mississippi, until the
new Constitution shall be adopted, prevent four
| ffths of the people Of the Yazoo Valley. and
| those the loyal portion, from acquiring any in
| terest in the land, which we are asked
| to protect from inundation at the expense of
the common industry and capital of the coun-
| try The Government should not only-as the
oppressive laws are repealed, but that the ter
ritory they are asked to relieve shall be sub
divided into small and moderate farms, and
thrown open to actual settlers Mr.. Minor
Meriwether, late Chief-Engineer of the Leyee
District, in published report, states that one
person has placed in his hands nearly 5000
acres with the privilege of donating every alter
nate 4O-acre lot to actual settlers, and that he
believes that 100000 acres, OF fourth of
| the entire YazoO basin, could be obtained
on the same conditions. This would be
better than to drain this entire region
| for the benefit of wealthy Rebels like
Gen. Pillow and A. j. Donelson, whose estates,
we are informed include very large portion
of the Yazoo Basin. The great fertility and
productive value of the lands to be protected
by these levees admit of no denial, scarcely of
exaggeration. In 1860, the crop of live stock
alone was valued at $4,00O0O0, besides its
| enormous staple crops of cotton, sugar, and
corn, amounting to as much more. BY the
! depredatons of the war, duri ng which both
belgerents resorted to the cheap hostility of
cutting the levees, tho country was de-
vastated and now without aid from
some other quarter than the impoverished
people, it would soon relapse into
solitude and desolatiOn. Engineer Meriwether
proposes that the Government donate the levee,
when constructed, to some Railroad Company,
on condition that they equip and run road
over the levee from Memphis to Vicksburg. If
the Government, instead of directly building
| the road aud giving il away, should propose to