New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-04-20
Communicated.
THR JRTTIBS AND THR DRRDGR-
BOATS,


respondent Alligator" sm astonished q
and regret tho tone and character of hi
communication and your articles. 18th,
Dredgeboats to the Rescue" and ''The Tow
boats and the Jetties." all of which sp
peared in your paper Of the eighteenth in
slant.
If asplendid ship, crowded with passen
gers, were stranded and about to 20 te
pieces, and brave and skillful captain
should man boat and 90 to the relief o1
the ship and her passengers, what would
be thought of the crew and passengers oi
that ship if, in the midst of their danger
and distress. they should not only not offer
to aid in their own rescue, but actually fire
ON the gallant man who, with his compan-
ions, was fearlessly risking his all to save
them; aye, even if they should do more
and should threaten and deter others ON
shore who stood ready to aid their reecue9
| There would be, there could be, none other
than harsh judgment passed upon them.
As Nathan said unto David, "ThOu art the
manv
Such is almost literally the case before
US. New Orleans is stranded ship, and
Captain Eads is trying to save her and her
citizens; he has ventured his own means
and called in the aid of his friends, and
while he is hopefully and msnfully strug-
contend with, We witness the astonishing
spectacle Of . number of our people, for
tunately few, who seem not only not
anxiOus that he should succeed in accom-
plishing our salvation, but who delight in
heralding every petty obstacle which
springs up in the progress of this great
work - though they would rejoice at q
complete failure. Is it possible that such
can be the cases Have We no interest in
this matteri Is is not our duty to give
Captain Eads not only our sympathy but
assistsncei It is not his interest or his re-
putation alone that 10 at stake. It 10
all important to 10 that he should succeed,
and succeed quickly. Times are dull with
| as, but they would be duller were he to
fail. If we can hasten his operations, NO
matter what he may gain by it, We gain
vastly. immeasurably more.
complete success thus far; but it is slow
in its action, slower, perhaps, than
Captain Ends calculated. It will do its
work in time, but if that time
is hastened by dredging, it is NO argu-
ment or proof against the jetty system.
Dredging We have tried for years. We know
1t Affords temporary and partial relief;
the jetties, it is claimed, will give perns-
nent and full relief: Let us in good faith
give them fair trial; let Us aid them by
dredging, if necessary 1t is for our greater
benefit, to Captain Esds less benefit, that
he should succeed. The whole experiment
costa rs nothing, though We of New Or.
leans are more vitality interested in it's sue
GEES or failure than all the other people of
the Mississippi valley.
The United States is to pay Captain Eads
if he succeeds; if he fails he gets nothing.
large sum for dredging and owns two
dredgeboats--tbe Esssy0ns. new repairing
at cost of $1,000 and the McAlester.
Congress accepted Captain Eads' proposal
and appropriated the means for the con-
tract because they wished Captain Eads to
succeed for the good of the whole country
aad the world. 1t is the peoples money
people that the dredgebosts belong; they
do not belong to the engineers. Even in
the worst phase of the case, if Captain Eads
were about to make Q failure, and little
assistance would prevent it, it would surely
be to the interest of the government and
the people that that aid shou be rendered
and rendered promptly. But when it is
dredgeb0ats should for . week or two do in
South Psss what they are paid for TO do
wherever wanted to make . deeper channel
in order that the great West may get its
superabundant corn crop to market by this
route when it is most needed in Europe, all
sorts of objections are started, and Captain
Eads is denounced as failure.
Surely, Mr.. Editor, you apd your CORE
spondent, alligator" have not looked at
Esds is very stubborn; he has such faith in
his jetties that he could be brought to Listen
to no proposition to aid his system by
dredging, and know enough of him now
to know that it was not, ss you suppose at
his motion or instigation that the proposal
to use the government boats was made. He
would simply consent to their use to hasten
operations, in order that the South Pass
might be opened at once to deep vessels,
to supply an unexpected demand for grain
in Europe.
The board of engineers who reported
upon the mouths of the Mississippi and
recommended jetties at the South Pass, be-
ing Generals B. 8 Alexander and G. B.
COmstOck, Of the United States Engineer
Corps, Henry Mitchell, of the coast survey,
T. e Sickles, w. Milue Roberts and H. |
D. Whitcomb, civil engineers, said in their |
report: 1--WE shall be helping the pass to
would ultimately take; and by aiding it, if |
by dredging, should be able to |
reduce at pleasure the time required for
the process" This is just what is now
necessary, in spite Of Captain Eads'
hopes to the contrary. These eminent en-
gineers, as we'll as Sir Charles Hartley, did |
not expect that Captain Esds would get |
through without the aid of little dredging
in the short space of time allowed him, and |
they did not hesitate to recommend it 90 .
proper auxiliary to the jetty system. And |
now, forsooth, because Mr.. Highly, who is
largely interested in the grain trade, desires
operations facilitated by the use of the gov
ernment's own dredgeboats, and at NO ex-
ira expense to tho government, We must
stand by like parcel of gamblers who are
simply interested by our bets on the result,
and cry "Hands of Mono OF that, now,
let your old corn and wheat rot in the West;
SAINT get deep water, and We don't intend
that anything or anybody shall help him."
Now, in point Of tact, the jetties will very
soon do their work at the mouth of the
South Pass, but the bar at the head of the
Pass will remain to be deepened. Strictly,
this 10 not in Captain Eads' contract, 81
this bar at the head of tho Passes is not in
South Pass but is some distance above in
the main river. Yet he has not quibbled
sbout the matter, but has gone to work to
build . costly dyke to remove this bar.
Here, then, where there is bar which Cap
tain Esds is under no obligation to remove,
the dredgeboats surely could and should
1t least assist him. 1t was, perhaps, an
in the trainers Of the bill not to
nclnde this upper bar, but they did not,
ind Captain Eads has shown his good faith
oy not taking advantage of the omission,
md should be aided in his efforts to do
What he did not contract to do, but with.
tut which his great work would be in
,OmDl0t0 and une0tiAfAOtOrY. |
Az to your correspondent, "Alligator,"
vnn0d taxa r1oasnro in ina war;uw - hSvn f,.l1- |