Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1868-05-30
THE MANCHAC PROJECT.

The Mobile and st. Louis papers con
tinue the discussion Of this magnificent
humbug without seeming TO care whether
New Orleans, or at least the State, is to
consulted in the matter. With all due
Difference to the wire pullers in this gro
tesque affair, we would suggest that a
little courtesy is due the people Of this
State. To talk and speculate upon i'm
provements within our limits, for their
benefit, without at all saying "bv your
leave" q consulting our authorities in the
matter, shows a lack Of courtesy we did
not expect from citizens so refined and
enterprising as our friends Of St. Louis
and Mobile. What would they say or
think of US were We to suggest an enter
prise within their respective State limits
and call upon Congress for assistance to
help carry it through, without at all con
sultipg them IN the matter /! Louisiana,
it is true, has fallen from the high posi-
ton she once held among her sister
States but her pride is as great as ever
and she will not be treated with indifer
ence, and certainly not by Alabama or
Missouri. Whatever may be exacted Of
Us through courtesy, will never be accord
ed to brazen assurance. Our friends a
mt tbat IN tLair nina 1tr
We have observed, with much astonish-
nent, that while the st. Louis and Mo
bile papers are specializing wildly upon
this project-w while they are going into
ecstacies over the millions that are to
aow into the Golfers Of their merchants
while they give all the high c%oloring
they can to the tantaiizipg phantom, they
never give their wheeled readers the
other side of the picture. Oh, no! that
would never answer. Rejecting men
would then weigh the matter we'll in their
minds before they planted the positive
dime to pluck an imaginary dollar. We
do not mean by this that the reopening
of the Mancbac is simply a speculation /;
but we do mean bat those who are now
endeavoring to effect that object are ut
terly ignorant of the consequences. TIE
plans, estimates, etc, all look very well
upon paper, drawn and made by interest
ed parties, yet a little examination-a
little trouble taken to investigate the
matter, viii deprive it Of much borrowed
splendor. In the first place, can the
Manchac be reopened and kept open, so
as to permit steamboat navigation The
year round =? 2 Can a channel be main
tanned at all times through the Amite
river, Pass Manchac, Lakes Maurepas
and Pontcbartain, and what would it
cost, annually, to keep it 500 3. Would
the people living along the banks of the
Manchac hundreds of farmers of the
poorer class ever consent to risk annual
i~nnuudations from that bayou. to amuse
or benefit the merchants of those enter
prising cities? 4. Would the State of
Louisiana permit SO large aud fertile a
portion of her territory to be turned into
a wilderness that trade may be diverted
from its proper channel merely to enrich
Mobile and St. louis? 5. Would New
Orleans remain idle and see the commerce
of her lakes destroyed to encourage the
growth of other cities? 6. Would Con-
gress act SO u%njustly as to iniure one
State for the benefit of another 2 And
last, though not least, has our State moth
ing to say in the matter Is she not to
be consulted in the premises E? Gentle
men of the visionary idea, we wish you
well-wish you success in every honora-
bic enterprise calculated TO improve your
commandments your trade, in all
and everything that will tend to develop
the great resources of your respective
cities, but We cannot and will not remain
a passive spectator to the efforts you are
making to benefit yourselves''to the great
injury of our State. The Manchac pro.