Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-05-18
THE MLSSISsIPPI LEVEES.

One of the most difficult problems
that will present itself to the members
of the Convention, is how to control
the means to repair and rebuild the
levees along the Mississippi river, and
thus reclaim tens of thousandsof acres
of the best open cotton lands in the
,world: These Ievees have been neg
|lected, and consequently broken, du-
ring and since the war, the result IS
that. as was the case last week, the
whole river front, at many points, IS
subject to overflow. Even the great
city of New Orleans, the @pmercial
capital of the South and Southwest,
has been and is still threatened, from
this cause, with most serious disaster.
The people of the States along the
banks of the great river have not suf-
ficiently recovered from the disastrous
effects of the war to undertake a work
so necessary but 50 expensive. Pro
ductive as they know it will be Of
benefits to them and to the whole
country, they cannot engage in it for
want of the millions which ii Will
cost. They are still limited in means,
and cannot with safety to them
selves engage in a work that we
admit will tax even the Union to the
utmost stretch of its present means
and condition. Yet it is a work to be
done, and which, in default of the
ability of the States as of their people
to cope with it, must, if at all, betaken
up and prosecuted by the United
States. The Federal Government,
without any undue stretch of its au-
tharity or power, without even acting
up to the ~precedents established by it
in its subsidy of the lately completed
Pacific Railroad, can, if those who
control it will, not only relieve our
river population from the annual per-
lis, troubles and losses, TO which they
are now subjected, but add to the per-
manent and taxable wealth Of the
country millions of acres of the finest
lands in the world. Civil Engineers,
like our own MERRrwEATHER and
like Humphreys, of the army, have.
made known the manner OF con
struction of secure and enduring
levees, such as will resist the action of.
the ever-shifting current, and go as far
as human ingenuity has yet devised
to confine the river within its banks
and prevent those ineursiOns upon cul-
tivated plantations that has heretofore
rendered farming operations precari-
Gus except upon the most favored
points. A council of such ability as
these gentlemen represent is availa-
bic ut any time to the Government.
Mr.. MERRIWEATHER, who is an old
resident of this section, is especially
intelligent upon the subject of river
embankment and leveeing, has had
great experience and is in possession
of plans, maps and drawings
that we hope he viii place at
the disposition of the Convention;
which, let US hope, viii charge itself
with the grave5t and most careful con-
sideration ofthis subject. Missouri, Ar
kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ten
nessee and Kentucky are all more or
less interested in the proper leYee
ing Of the Mississippi, and sup
ported by the Convention would,
we are satisfied, be heard by
Congress in any petitions they
might prefer, or requests they might
make for the aid necessarily the prose-
cution.of so gigantic an undertaking.
| No grander work can enlist the SYM
pathies of the Convention, none more
50 secure the aid of the Government
as there is none so sorely pressing or
so necessary. The negroes, yet a bur-
den upon the Freedmen's Bureau,
might be probably employed in the
labor of a permanent and uniform
leyee system, as might the conyicts of
the States whose labor cannot be more
profitably utilized in any other way.
The Chinese, 50 doeile and such per-
sistent toilers, who have been so pro-
ftably employed upon the Central Pa
ciie Railroad, might also be engaged
and at rates of compensation that
would ensure its completion at half or
tvo-thirdg the rates ordinarily con-
tracted for by such labor as we now
employ. We hope the Convention
viii not adjourn over without some
definite action upon this subject, such
as win commend itself, even to a job
bling Congress, and such as will enlist
the active cooperation of President
GRANT and his Cabinet.