The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-12-23
PROF. FONTAINE'S CARD
40 THE PEOPLE OF LOUISIANA AND
OF ALL THE STATES OF THE MIS-
sIsSIPPI VALLEY.


slF ALL THE STATES OF THE Mise
sIssIPPI VALLEY.
Card First.
A GENERAL LEvEE SYSTEM BY JETTIEs.
Feto,u Citizens-I hope that the Importance OF
the subject of this address to your welfare VIII
exonerate me from the charge OF egot,ism ana
arrogance In pre- enting 1t for your wise con-
sideration and united action. nope that YOU
viii not permit your minds to be deluded and
oon ndi part Of the general plan for the Improve
nent Of the Mississippi river and its tributaries
byjees presented e you n 1855 as yop Tere
which was Endorsed by some, OF the ablest en-
gineers in the world and made public that year
recommended first the removal 9f the bars az
nj na,f Of The sama pyan aduised tier application
10 Che sehole rjuer, e contract its channel and
gse If edess 70 The :" Is D as 'T re
New Orleans academy of Scencies, of which
was then Secretary and Lecturer in Geology,
adopted the report s OF ne vae 10 w M9 as
serted the opinion. which s certainly correct,
that this plan Of jetties if applied properly to
Jars. and make II nayigable to The largest ships
hnolrn 10 commerce, but that IL bouM so deepen
is caame! X 9 as @ as ." aa pg 70
co,tering the fyeest and the most ststent oppn-
stion for ciole decade and tetteredg ~ is oppH-
eaon to The s a sd en% nest aea Sosi
denies and distractions planned by corrupt Graf
wv and influential enemies has been sncces3nhH
N#alied and 1t Is now time TO begin the sec0nd,
IsSorder that you may understand it, and that ct
you may be prepared for the opposition 1t VIII
certainly meet here, and also that you may
learn something OF the devices and general
character of the enemies you will encounter. |
will make the. foil wing st tement which will
need ne confederation except recorded tnets
we'll impressed upon your mem ,rirs by your
own eyes and ears hope 1t wi II stir up your
pure, minds, by way Of remembrance, that We
may be mindful q the words when were spoken
mics of many kinds years ago; and that 1t will
enable you to know who the scofe's are who are
as they did at The first, But | must offer
an apology before | proceed further for
this garbled quotation from Holy Writ, Writ;
The strongest objection you have heard
to the whole plan is, that 1t was devised by a
preacher, and not by Typographical engineer
Of the United States army; have i is true been
q preacher forty years, but not Arrays nothing
but preacher: and the presentation oil this plan
In 1866 made me so unpopular in New Orleans
that l have never since been able to. get the
charge of church Of sufficient magnitude to
afford me full clerical employment, or q salary
large enough for my support. But nope that
dence, rs the forced exemption from ministe-
rial labor has enabled me to devote my spare
time to The physical t,npronemeh OF our magnlf,,
cent valley, which is most intimately connected
with the spiritual welfare OF it's Inhabitants.
Under similar circumstances many OF the great
Inventions OF the ages which have elapsed since
In their perilous hours of idleness Notably
the discovery OF aupo'o6er BY Frar Bacon "a, that
Of ns q ne ess Ry nd Inc pa
sctdtcher'" by the Rev. Sydney Smith when he
was d poor country rarson The dog ehurn
and the old fashioned hand cotton GIN by a
full blooded negro minister of that denomna-
tion, slave in Granville county. North Caro-
You doubtless recolect the terrible excite
ment the matter stirred up in our valley, and
the wrath 1t reused In Chicago, and all along
the old line Of the grain and pork trade w 4,
Europe and tropical America by tue way Of the
lakes and New York and Philadelphia. This
Ws apd nenres ~ deyered on our souSern
and Western interests. and our direct, trade
with Europe, the. West Indies, Mexico, Central
Mississippi. Ny inability, to procure clerical
employment enabled me to devote the greater
part of my time In 1866. 81 and 'es, and subse.
phecy Of Patrick Henry. who. in 1888. after pre-.
dieting all the conflicts Of interests which have
since arisen between what were then termed
the North and he South, ending with the
forcible emancipation of our, slaves, and
the. cndeavor to - hold Us in subsection
that class of our popoulation, pointed us
to our only remedy when the last great disaster
had overwhelmed us. Il was TO unite our d s.
tiny with that Of, the teeming millions Of the
agrieulturists who would fill the vale of the
Mississippi which then mostly belonged tc
Spain and which he said we must have aud
beyond |, the acquisition Of which this Northern
majority would oppose: He asserted that after
our q II IN f OF Their oPpos
agricultural States which would outvote then
in Congress, and d stroy their tariffs, shipping
bounties, and their whole selfish protective
policy: and after their forcible emancipation OF
our slaves to hold us still in letters, our poiti
cal salvation would depend upon our unior
valley of that great and inestimable. river
There clearly foresee the power Of America
will ultimately be seated. He CLOSED
his prophecy by assurins his posterity tina
this union OF the South and the people OF tn Il
valley would save our liberty. we'll knew tina
ths union na could d only Ply be effected by
channel. Of the Father Of Waters to the com
merce Of the world. This | knew would give
great heart and arteries of our b ,dy polite
with all its veins and nerves; obiterate sec
tional lines, ultimately annihlate oil sectiona
and partial legislation. lablish free trade ant
peaceful relations with foreign nations. ant
preserve our union and liberty. Hence | care
fully elaborated this plan, after careful ex
troll OF water currents and the Improvement o
rivers and harbers. from the days of the Egyp
tian Menes to the present age. of which ancfen
and modern history give us any records, or tn
e. critical Inspection Of the hydraui
Wb eauo9s
thorough experiments to test the practicabilit
and efficacy of any improvements | recon
mended After vainly attempting to get tn
city Of New Orleans as, a CORPORATION through
her Council and Chamber of Commerce to Ia
dorse and recommend the plan, and also til
War Department of the United States govern
ment to approve 1t. ] was forced to appeal t.
the people of the whole valley to support il
Aided, peeuniarily, by few patriotic indiyid
lecturing the chambers of commerce of tn
principal cities of the valley, and in explaining
oongress the pe editors sue Of the prncpn
papers, and the representative men and direct