The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-12-18

| y, IL.
| inches Of rain fell at New Orleans within less
| Than seven hours, a phenomenon almost IN
| precedPnted III the history Of meteorological
observations, Mt least in this country, and vet
,''ht tremendous down-pour did not raise the
| leVel ot mo Mississippi Il measurable fraction
Of an inch.
1t is true, however that q great and sud-
den rain storm, accompanied by hiph winds
~ source 81 danger when the river is no To
the top of the loveos. Tho slightest iucraasa
is then apt. under the agitation caused Nv
high winds, ~ abrade the levcos and cause
CrnvaSses.
No sir, The swamps Of tho lower country
are filled the lavees are broken the nInnto
tions are inundated by tho vast volume of va
ter rolled down into the channel of the Nissis-
sipp by the Missouri the ohio. the Illinois
the Wisconsin, the Upper Mississippi and the
Arkansas. Whom the signal office Of this gov
eminent announces the impending rains which
an" to fertiZs the fields of OHIO and Illinois
ana Indiana, Of Wisconsin and Iowa and Kan
sas. and which are To fill their granaries with
y wealth OF agricultural products, to the peo-
PIE the aIuVinl States il conveys Il note Of
warning anu alarm. When the same author
IVY pfoelalmS that commerce and industry are
10 DC released and the wheels of a thousand
steamers are to lac set In motion by the break
my ut the Icy fetters which have bound the
Northern rivers in their beds, il foreteIls Ia
the people Of the lower riparian States tho
speedy coming Of the foe who 50 often before.
has ravaged their fields, has devastated their
homes, destroyed their property and bIighted
their hopes. Against an enemy like this the
Efforts of individuals. Of communities of
States, have always hitherto been pnwerless
~ IS not too much to say that such efforts, dis
Jointed. ffagmentary local in their character.
rs they must continue to be cannot within
any period over which our view Of the future
can extend. b" attended with other than local
ana iragmentary benefits. and that under
such system, generations perhaps centuries,
VIII pass away before the vast alluval spaces
n Lou II, 1
claimed from the dominion OF the waters
thus 1t is clear that I'm all It's physical
aspects and as to all its physical phenomena.
the Mississippi river Is national in its charac-
ter, national through its whole course lin
Guiding its greater af1luentsj from the Rocky
Mountains, or the Aleghanios or the plateau
Of Northern Minnesota, to its mouth on the
shores of the Mexican Gulf, It would seem
mat the questions arising out Of its regi-
men that the duties and Responsibilities
springing out Of tho action Of its
waters on the lands through which IL
flows are, in like manner, national
duties and national responsibilities. But, sir.
am prepared to go further than this am
prepared to show that the Federal govern
ment has not only assumed exclusive itlrisdie-
tion over all the waters Of the Mississippi:
thatft not onl y possesses undoubted dominion
over it, to the exclusion of all other powers.
whether foreign governments or State gov
ernqents, but that the United States the ma
ton, in fact, claims the absolute unqualified
and indisputable ownership Of the river; and
that this has been the doctrine Of the govern
ment, the unContradicted doctrine, in regard
tn all navigahle rivers flowing through more
than one State, from the year 1913 to the pres
ent moment.
For some years after the adoption of the
constitution, it was believed that the adml-
rally and maritime jurisdiction of the United
States was limited to tide water But in the
year 1915 an act of Congress extended the adj
mIralty and maritime Jurisdiction of the
Federal courts To all navigable waters flowing
between or connecting ports In different
states and Territories and to the ''lakes and
navigable waters connecting said lakes"
This jurisdiction Is In its nature exclusive,
and has been decided to be exclusive by the
Supreme Court. The ninth section Of the ju-
dietary act Of 1879, by which the first courts
OF admiralty were established, declares that
the district collyts-
Shall have exclusive cognizanee Of all civil
causes Of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction
" on waters which are uayigable from
the sea as well az upon the high seas.
In Hire VS.. Trevor, 4 Wallace, Justice Mil
Ter, in delivering the opinion of the court,
says:
II must be taken. therefore as the settled law
OF this court that wherever the District Courts
Of the United States have original cogbizance Of
admiralty causes by virtue Of the net Of 1888.
hat cognizance Is exclusive, nnd no other court,
State or national, can exercise II, with the ex-
CeptiOn always OF such concurrent remedy az is
given by tho common law.
In the Propeller Genesee Chief 81 al VS..
Fitzhugh ct al ~ Howard, Chief Justice
fancy. in delivering the opinion Of the court,
refutes and completely disposes of the doc
trne that the admiralty and maritime juris-
diCtiOn OF the United States is limited to tide
water. Referring to the case Of Warning VS..
Clark 8 Howard, the Chief Justice says:
But that ease showed the unreasonableness of
giving u construction 10 the constitution which
would measure the jurisdiction Of the admiral
~ by the tide. For f such be the construction.