The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1873-09-27
IMPROVEMENT OF THE OHIO
RIVER.
NO, H..


transportation facilities under individ.
ual enterprise and governmental action
presenting the population of the coun-
try for whose navigation the govern.
ment has expended millions, in con.
trast with that asking the expenditure
of sufficient millions, if need be, to
render the navigation Of the Ohio
what it must Of necessity become, and
should Of right be made. For the at
tainment Of that navigation the leading
plans heretofore proposed have been
locks aud dams after the usual slack
water method modification Of that
plan, by the introduction Of self-ad-
justing chutes or movable sections,
raised or depressed 10y the action Of
the water, reservoirs, and, latterly, the |
project Of pumping supply from lake
Erie, over an elevation Of eight hun
bred feet, into lake Chautaulua, seven
miles distant, from whence through
the Allegheny river the water would
flow into the Ohio. Each Of these
plans has its opponents as well as its
advocates. Amy of these plans will
cost large sum, or any combination
Of them. 1t is we'll, therefore, before
considering the plans, to make some
examination into population, products,
resources and wants now aud in the fu
ture of the seven states of the Ohio val
ley; and under their showing and
other statistics arrive at the present
and prospective value of the territory
proposed to be chiefly benefited and
the bearing of the Improvement upon
the economies and profits Of other sec
tons of the Union
There are three quite distinct pro.
positions in relation to the cost of such
improvement of the Ohio as may be
necessary, the reply Of either Of which
being in the affirmative, the expendit-
ure to attain the result becomes only
secondary, and the plan which shall
most desirably accomplish the object
sought, primary. The first of those
propositions is, can the cost Of the work
be obtained from the products and pop
ulation Of the immediate states where
the expenditure is demanded, without
being burdensome, and within a reason
able period of time The second is
the work sought to be accomplished of
such nature, Of such a necessity and
of such benefit to the country seeking
it, as to render it obligatory On the gov
eminent in its paternal character to
make its expenditure from the general
revenues OF the nation? The third is,
are the transportation benefits sought
to be attained so intimately linked with
all the economies OF the whole country
as to render it the interest Of all sec
tons that the work should be done?
The direct as well as indirect benefits
to all, compromising for the as essment
OF all, even to the more dircc, benefit
of a portion.
As preliminary TO the fact, that may
shape the answer to these propositions,
| propose TO statisically examine some
of the more salient facts a. 10 the growth
and resources of the seven Ohio states,
and incidentally those OF the eight
Mississippi states.
BY the census OF $50 We find that
the seven Ohio valley state had in that
year l3,459,371 inhabitants, while the
eighteen states having territory bodcr-
ing on our sea coast, had Ii, 1871 1872 of
population. In 1880, when the fu.
ture necessity of the improvement o.
this Ohio began to be urged, the sever
Ohio states had 4,lj6,O33 inhabitants
the eighteen sea coast states > rs COL
la forty years the census of 1870 show
the growth Of populat.A in the Sc
coast states has been but little owe
ninety per cent while that Of the Obi
states has been two hundred per cen
nder the same ratios, at the end Q
another forty years, the sea coast state
will have O,269, lS9 inhabitaut,. an
the Ohio states 40,25s ,l3l. Shout
the progress OF the nation bc a- grea
then in the next forty years rs in III
past, the indications arc that it may
greater rather than less, the seven OH
states in population and by analogy
reasoning in wealth will be a powerf
an empire in all respects as the who
United States now is What then vs.
be the wants of those states for tran
portation What that Of the 9th
states Of the Union What ,hou
the Ohio river be made in view
this
This great aud unavoidable neces,i
the individual of thirty year, of u,
or less will in all probability live
see. We all feel how rapid i. Il
flight Of time, and many who read tn
still in the yigor OF life, still able to i
Auencc the legislation Of the natio
can look back over forty years of bu
ness labors aud active participation
the public improvements of The natio
If the direct transportation wants
fully one half Of the present populati,
of the nation are, to be met CIV
twenty, or ten years from now to ;
nothing Of the coming millions,
would seem as it long enough til
had been spent in wise head shakiu
over the cost of improving the oh
and temporizing expodients for its
conplishment. BE that cost ten mi
ions or twenty, it cannot be all spent
day, nor all required in year d
the few figures so far examined indie
how disprotationate it is to the P
.f"t..Hs a-,Ik