The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-06-24
THE COMING GnEAT CIrY OF TExAs

..rrHa fNs-'tf iHti.lI-ta tIttl-
The discussion Of Eads's plan Of open
ing the mouth of the Mississippi does
not give strength to public confidence in
jethes as applied at the de5ouehure of that
great river. He may wall in the river shores,
confne all the vast volume OF water to a
single channel, the depth may be doubled
and velocity of the current indefinitely ac-
celerated, but the same vast quantity of
detritus must still be projected against a
wall of sea water at single spot. No ocean
current moves it to the right or left. The
NGulf Stream does not sweep with any ap-
preciable force along the coast of Texas or
of Louisiana If the Gulf be a thousand or
three thousand feet deep the alluvium will
soon constitute gaseous island rising above
the waters surface, and the same obstruc-
.tions that exist to-day will be reproduced
forever. The Danube and Mississippi are
no more alike than pellucid Texan rivu-
let and the Amazon. The winds cooper
ate with the waves, and, blowing from the
South almost perennially, are ever con-
structing a dam across the rivers mouth.
Eads has begun Sysiphean task Vessels
will enter the river drawing twenty-five,
perhaps thirty, feet, but within the half
year that Eads announces this triumph, if
his wall-building at the same time be sus-
pended, the river and Gulf cooperating w1ll
again lift up an allnviar barrier to exclude
Great Easterns from the Finland sea. y The
ten millions to be wasted by Eads will be,
nevertheless, wisely expended. The whole
country will be taught, while the work pro-
crosses, the lnestimable value to American
commerce of the great drain of the conti-
nent It will be teen that grain can be
transferred from St. Louis to New York at
less cost, by this water route, than by the
cheapest possible freight-bearing railway
lines, and that twenty per cent. win be
saved of the corn, wheat and tobacco grown
in the valley of the Mississippi. Ships
entering the Mississippi to bear. away cot
ton, sugar and grain wlll hardly come in
ballast to Vicksburg, Memphis, Cairo or St.
Louis. They will bring goods from Europe
to exchange for products of American agri-
cultural toll, and thus the producer and con-
sumer viii DE brOussIt together face to.faee
and the. leading idea Of the Changers
eonsummated. The middle lbea viii be
''plumped outn and Eads, If triumphant,
becomes the ''marvel' Of the age. But
Eads is only an index finger Of providence
pointing the way to ends be viii never
achieve It is not Danube and Black Sea
to be welded here in America by jetties,
but the Gulf Of Mexico and that mighty
inland ocean over whose inlets and bays
and estuaries vessels float twenty eight
thousand miles. As Lesseps connected the
Mediterranean and Red Seas, even 50 nusi
q slackWater ship canal connect the Missis'
sippi at New Orleans with the Gulf forty
miles distant At Fort livingston, the mouth
Of Barrataria Bay. AvOyage from Calves
ton to and from New Orleans will be les
sened more than three hundred miles, and
the obstruction Of the eriVer's current covi
ated. Eads's failure viii beget the con
structlon Of this canal or naval architsctur.
win be 50 perfected that neither Eadai
je.ties nor CoWdou's canal VII be essential
to the achievsment Of direct trade bstWecE
Americs and Europe. OF vessels hayinl
double keels and capable q earring teI
thousand cotton bales nnd drawing 0nll
] fifteen feet vster, 1Lr. Jedeuon. DAVIS