New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-03-09
THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
Improvement of the Rivera Twelve.
Feet Water Way for ships-The Com
merciaI Development With south
America and West Indies.
,From the St Louis Globel

2. L.. -.
lecture at the Temple. His subject was
The Commercial. Destiny OF the Miss.s-
sippi Valley
Hon. John H. Terry and Charles Jones
escorted the speaker to the platform and
Mr. Terry introduced him.
Mr.. Reavis talked for about ore hun
dred minutes, ana his principal points were
as follows:
If the new questions OF the future are
me. in due time, and discussed with ear
nestness and wisdom, it viii be the high
prerogative Of the inhabitants OF North
| America to lead the great progressive Coz
umn Of the worlds people into new Ee-ds
Of activity and thought.
For the people 10 achieve the highest
| ends of industrial and commercial HE on
| this continent. the efforts must be in har-
monv with the essential and distinctive
| features Of nature, as marked 10y me
| physical formation Of America.
The Mississippi basin is, and will be. DIS
! tinguished by many features OF clViIlZat!oA
| peculiarly and essentially is own, OWING
| to the nature of its physical formation: IFS
| superlative size warrants Il as one OF vast
| importance TO the future material pros
| perity OF its inhabitants. The MISSISSIPPI
| valley, with its 2,ijj,3 square miles, IS
| the largest land formation OF the KIND OF
| the globe, ana embraces within It's area al
| the essential climates OF all zones OF sAe
| earth.
The true commercial interests OF the
| valley involves an entire reorganization o.
| traffic and commerce upon the continent
! and the exchanges OF products through
| new channels, supported by puD!lc IN
| provements that are not yet al the asctL-
| dency.
The commercial destiny of the valley
must be achieved in harmony with nature;
the surplus products designed for foreign
trade must FOLLOW the flow of the water
| from Hudson Bay TO the Gulf OF Mexico
| 1.-THE Mediterranean OF the New World.
| The transportation by the rivers OF the
valley to the Gulf will forever remain
necessity to which the present and future
millions of the inhabitants Of the central
! plain of the continent must resort tor me
purpose of getting their surplus products 10
| market.
| The transportation Of the products OF the
| farms and factories of every part OF the
valley can be done cheaper by the rivers to
| the Gulf, and thence TO foreign markets,
than can possibly be done to the Atlantic
| and Pacific seabOards, and from their ports
| to the markets OF the world.
The future place of traffic ;or the people
of the Mississippi valley must be with the
| West India Islands and Central and South
| America. The necessity for this comes
from the fact that il will be utterly impos-
sible for the railroads OF the country TO
! take the produce of the farms and factories
| and toundries to market. 1t IS ImposslpIe
to build within the bounds of interest and
economy sufficient number OF railroads to
| take away to the gulf the products destined
TO accumulate in the valley The present
railroads have cost $4,000, 100000. and
! can not with the river, do the treghung
| business as prompt as the best interests OF
the people demand. In less than genera
ton the valley will have a population OF
more than 100, 900, 600. and the commerce VIII
be more than triplet. The rivers vii! afford
ample facilities. The Mississippi has
treighting capacity greater than all the
railroads in the world. Speed viii neces-
sarilv draw the travel and light freights to
| the railroads, and cheap rates will draw
| the heavy treights TO the rivers, and thus
both will subserve their own best purpose
in the industrial and commercial! affairs OF
the country.
The transportation of one ton Of freight
costs, by ocean, one and one quarter mills
per mile; by lake two and One-haH mills;
by river three mills; by canal ten mills. and
| bv railroad thirty mills. To carry one
| bushel of wheat from St. Paul by rail- 70
New York, and from there to Liverpool.
| will cost tifty-two cents. The same amount
taken by way Of the Mississippi river and
| Cult and ocean would COS. but .hlr.y-oac
| cents
If art and capita! improve railways. s.!-
ence and capital car improve tie A-ss-s.
| sippi and its tributaries.
There is no Commercial! and nat!"ua.
question today half SO important as That
| Of improving the great rivers Of the valley.
so as to afford free, and ample navigation
| for first class steamers.
There is not a navigabie river in the val
| iey of the Mississippi that does not a1"ro
sufficient water for all the demands Of COM
| merce almost the entire year, II the water
| could be utilized. by its proper cOntin.men.
| 20 the channels of the various streams. ~
less expense than would be required for
any other public improvement of eIUa!
| magnitude and Importance. the Mississippi!
| can be made more than double ITS present
value to the commerce. the civilization and
government of North America.
The depth of the river from 81. LOuis,
| southwark should be twelve feet, so as ~
admit sea-Soing vessels OK from loJU 10
| 400 tons.
Less than a century hence :C0, 100000
citizens viii reside in the valley. There
will be fresh systems OF navigation, and
| new modes of transactins business, :. vast
| system of inter oceanic navi CATION. ships
| arIivin. by the s.. Lawrence and going out
by the Mississippi. st. Louis and other cities
Will be ports of entry. and North America
| controlling the commerce and civilization
of the world Il will not be lar in the III.
ture before ships will be built at St. Louis
and other river cities, What Will traverse
| alike the rivers the lakes, and the ocean
with equal facility, and will be owned and
| van by home capitalists.
The cost Of deepening and ieveeing the
| river az suggested. is estimated, by COM
petent engineers. at $500GO,00O, if the
| money Is honestly expended, or twice that
if Otherwise The general government
| should appropriate the money, or issue
river Improvement bonds TO the necessary
amount bearing six or eight per cent inter-
| est, and payable i'll fifty years. The profits
by the expenditure would infinitely tran
| scend the burdens OF taxation. and when
the bonds matuved there Will be $500, OOeOU0.
| The people vii! be the gamers in less than
| five years after the work is done. Insur-
| ance on river property will be reduced, and
rates OF freight viii be less. The Vestora-
ton of drained lands along the rivers would
bring into existence property worth more
| than double the cost OF the entire improve
mcnt. Humphrey and Abbot's report on
| the survey OF the Mississippi, shows that by
| a proper system of levees from Cape Girard-
, eau to the gulf $2Gr000,n00 worth Of prop
erty can be reclaimed al an expenditure u.
| 81. 100000.
The pervading impression %: the public
| mind is that the railroads and Eastern cap
italists have controlling power over Con-
gress and the people 20 prevent any i'm
| provement OF the rivers. as long as their
| use is reckoneI to be hostile to thely inter
| ests.
The Western. or Mississippi valley State.
have mos. of the population of the country.
and have majority OF the Senators and
| Representative. in Congress. II these
| Western Congressman We're statesmen il.
stead OF politicians. legislation and money
would be given in abundance at the die
| tat.s of wisdom and craftsmanship. and ot