New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-12-04

Indian corn 6.a,ooU, eos
Wheat u.0GO, UJ
Rye i,oCo,Ga.
Oats I,t,ntt," go,
! Barley 1900 .r.j
Buck~heat 5.uJa.ru
Potatoes !o,UDn, roa
Total -I,053. o02,oo
The animal food received in Chicago. -.
Louis, Cincinnati and New York iro.a the
West amounted in the aggregate to 10, .n-
head of cattle. There wcrc also OF h'I-
packed at the same time more than .uJb,1u.
Add 10 this the manufacture, of the ln,ir chief
cities Of the valley, st. Louis, Cincinnati.
Chicago. and louisville, si5o. 600 Goa; ada
to this the amount of coal iron, lead, copper,
sMt, lumber, cotton, and tobacco; this, the
product OF an empire little Longer under man :
4 culture than half Il century is hu: the earnest
| of the great bulk Of values soon to come
with the rapidly increasing population and
the wonderfully multiplying and improving
appliances that The genius OF man is original
ing for the creation nf wealth.
In handling any distributin. values, such
as sugar, cotton rice, and tobacco, the leyrc
question, especially to Louisiana, and largely
to Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, ausi
portions Of Missouri, is IL question of vital
q.
that has borne upon his bosom the lertiIizing
elements that in the coarse OF time have been
deposited and made the ellluyium that COM
stitutes our most fruitful heritage, somctimgs
wastes as lavishly as he bestOws. The Hoods
sweep away the fruits Of the hr,bsfidman' ;
labor. Men will not plant where they can
not gather, nor SOW where they cannot reap
| security to the products of their labor must
be afforded to stimulate the laborcr to work.
How will you protect these fertile Lands from
overflow.
The expcdient Of cut-o.t'o has long since
been abandoned and the highest engineering
authorities have decided that an adequate
and complete system OF lcvccs will alone
meet this want, and afford the protection
sought.
| The individual States are not able to bear
the burdens OF building and maintaining
levees necessary for the protection Of their
people. Private capital, acting in corporate
| form, under State charters, cannot be trusted
| with a work of snch magnitude as is required.
nor would it be able, without crushing eXac-
tons upon the people, to bear the heavy
| burden of expense that the management Of
the levees would involve. The cost Of con-
struction and maintenance is so great and
the importance of the interest 50 grave that
| the work attans national proportions. and
|
executed except b. the General Government.
or under its supervision.
| We should, therefore, urge Congress to
natiOnaize in some form the iGvecs OF the
Mississippi and its tributaries.
| Protection secured to the products Of the
valley from overflow, the next question Of
Importance is to find an outlet from this
inland sea to the Gulf, and thence 10 the
markets of the world for our surplus pre-
ducts.
Heretofore various methods have been
adopted to remove the distractions at the
mouth Of the river, but dredging has been
manl, relied upon, and the National Gov
eminent has annually for some time made
| appropriations to that end. And il IS due
to thc present competent management Of
the Federal dredses at the passes OF the Mis-
| sissppi river to say that the result OF Grcdg-
ing this season has given great satisfaction
to the commercial community. and tins
method has more nearly met the demands oi
commerce than in any year previous to its
adoption but the system is defective and
| incapable OF giving the depth Of water de
manded for a prosperous commerce. Be-
sides, it is expensive and continuous, depend
ing upon a constant recurring appropriation
of public money, and said appropriation, III
its turn, depending upon varying public
opinion and changing majority in ihe ma
tional Congress.
These seventeen million people Of the
valley, with their thousands OF millions Of
annual products, demand an outlet common
surate and assured, that no political c0nlbi-
nations can disturb; aai such an outlet, in
! the Judgment Of the most accomplished cngi.
geers of the United States, is TO be found by
an artificial channel or ship canal from the
Mississippi liver, at or near Fort st. Philip,
and running thence six or seven miles t.
Breton island Sound.
Canals as a means OF efficient and ChuaI
| transportation are neither new nor expert
mental. The Chinese, more than Il thousand
years ago, conceived and executed a system
| of canals many hundreds of miles i'll length
| and the same are in successful operation t.
this day. Holland adopted the system in
| the twelfth century. and owes its prosperity
to the same. In the fifteenth century was
constructed in Lombardy canal that made
the Lombards a commercial people. Eng
land, in 1875, built her first canal, aud has
at present more than two thousand miles oi
canals in successful operation. France,
under Louis XIV, projected and carried out
the great enterprise of connecting the
waters OF the Bay Of Biscay with the Mcdi-
terranean, and this canal, several hundred
miles in length, is one Of the most successful
works of its kind. The Suez canal, lately
constructed under French and Egyptian aus
pices, at a cost between eighty and ninety
millions of dollars, is one OF the grandsst
enterprises of the age, furnishing water COM
muncation by q direct line of less than a
hundred miles between Europe and Asia
which had previously been separated by
fifteen thousand miles. The Eric canal
Chesapeake and Ohio, and the James River
and Kanawha canals in the United States
aggregating more than a thousand miles, and
constructed at the expoAse Of more than a
hundred millions Of dollars, abundantly at
test the success and utility OF canals a a
cheap and reliable highway OF tradic.
The Fort St. Philip project is not new
scheme, having been q matter OF inyestiga-
ton and survey since 1881 TO the present
time, surveys and estimates having been
made during that period by both the United
States and the State Of Louisiana looking tC
its construction, and the estimates Of cost
ranging from s., SOC, 600 to SD, coo 900.
The public mind, no less than the public
needs, demands outlets !Jr the constantly in
ereasing values of the fertile lands Of the
Mississippi and lis tributaries 10 the gulf and
to the Atlantic. New YsEk, Philadelphia
Baltimore, Norfolk and Savannah have pro-
jected systems by which they propose TO meet
the demands for cheap freight, depending fol
the ssnpletiop OF the lines Of transportation