The weekly clarion., 1875-04-07

Banquet to Captain Eads.


The bar of the Mississippi River
At the recent banquet in St. Louis
given in honor of Captain Eads, Genera
Sherman was called upon to respond t
the toast, "The army and navy" Afte
complimenting Captain Eads, the Genera
| said:
The newspapers of the day, especiall,
those of ST. Louis, have given the i'm
preston that the army is not friendly I,
Captain Eads and his designs. This
am certain is q mistake. The army al
ways honors great deeds, but it is no
| their custom to parade their opinions
lest they be called on 70 act, when then
duty often requires them to execute the
plans of others. But on all public ques
tions
OFFICERS OF THE ARMY
Act just like any other class of their fel-
low-citizens, each forming his own judg-
ment on the facts as known to him, OF
as represented by others. At this pres
ent moment the army contains 2,204
officers, of which number 100 only are
of the engineer corps. These latter con-
stitute distinct, separate body, and do
not compose the whole army, or the one
twentieth part of it. They are, however,
men of great intelligence, high culture,
and of strict integrity and honor. On
any professional question, when they are
harmonious, admit their opinion would
have grea! weight with their brethren,
but on few questions are they united.
EACH OFFICER HAS HIS OWN OPINION,
And only expresses it when called ON by
authority; and ON the great question of
opening the Mississippi to the ocean ships
by which the commerce of the world is
carried on, | know that our military en-
gineers have differed and do now differ
as widely as any other class of honest
men.
This is no new question-it is older than
any of US. Long before the Erie canal
or any of the railroads had turned the
tide of commerce from the West to the
Atlantic ports, the surplus products of
the Ohio and the Mississippi used to
float down to New Orleans for a market
Even at the beginning of this century
people were interested to improve the
bars at the mouth of the river; and from
that day to this the subject has been a
living question, but like all such ques-
tions, would rise and fall according to
the popular tide. I, myself, have heard
it discussed and ably discussed
MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS AGO.
No single man has probably given it
more patient study than General Hum
phreys, the present head of the engineer
corps, and it may be said to be his ''hob-
by" He seems, however, to have be-
come so convinced that canal, and a
canal alone, will fulfill the problem, that
probably he is not sufficiently patient
with those who have as honestly reached
the other conclusion, ''the open mouth,
Now it so happens that the very next
name on the roll of that corps, General
j. G. Barnard, an officer of like merit
and experience, is equally positive on the
ether side. Nor is this recent conver-
sion. He has been an officer of the en-
gineer corps for more than forty years
twelve of these years spent professionally
near the outlets Of the Mississippi. AS
early as 1852, when associated with
Majors Chase and Bramyard, he openly
opposed the project of a canal, which
was the hobby of Major Chase, and Off
cially advocated almost identically
THE VERY SCHEME THAT CAPTAIN EADs
Now proposes to execute, viz, to extend
the natural banks at the Southwest pass
by artificial jetties. Again, in 1872,
when member of the engineer board,
having this very scheme before it, when
the local engineer, Captain Howell, re-
ported in favor of the St Phillip canal,
which General Humphrey endorsed, he,
General Barnard, reported officially in
this language: cit is said the time has
come when the needs Of commerce de-
mand the canal, but l answer that the
time will come when the cry will be for
navigation unimpeded by lOcks-an
open river mouth" | have much per-
sonal knowledge on this subject, but can
not now take up your time. / am sure,
however, that Captain Eads will bear me
out in the assertion that he himself has
utilized much of the statistics and data
furnished by General Barnard in his
battle
AGAINST THE CANAL SCHEME.
He must remember that General Barnard
sought the acquaintance of Baron Offen
burg, Russian member of the Interna-
tional Board of Engineers, which superin-
tended the jetties at the mouth of the
Danube; as also of Sir Charles Hartley,
of the British army, the supervising en-
gineer of the same work, who happened
TO be visiting the United States at the
time; the result of which was the appoint
ment by the President of joint board
of military and civil engineers to proceed
to Europe to study the similar works
there in progress. This board reported
favorably to the jetty system in prefer
ence to the c4nal-and two out of the
three military engineers on that board
voted in its favor This settled the con-
troversy, and paved the way to Captain
Eads' final success.
l know of my own knowledge that
many of
OUR MILITARY ENGINEERS
Are, and have been, advocates of the
open mouth; so that emphatically deny
that the army is hostile to Captain Eads'
project, but assures him they will watch
his progress with intense interest, and
will hail his ultimate success with as
much enthusiasm rs any other body of
men in this country.
Our fellow-townsman, Captain Eads,
HAS UNDERTAKEN TO DO THAT
Which, if successful, will place his name
among those of the greatest engineers
of the world; he has undertaken to bridge
the Mississippi, to place curb in his