The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1879-10-10
tributaries possesses by far the greater
number of miles.

uUAOoI Oh lOlAeS.
The time has come, gentlemen, when
tne commercial power of the Missfs-
sippt Valley, With Its billions of accu-
mulated wealth demands q rectlfication
OF this disparity. The first step toward
that rectthcation has already been
taken In the adoption aud prosecution
Dy tho government OF the pruiectof
Capt. Eatls at the mouth of the river.
And the response of the commercial
spirit of the Great Valley to that tirst
sign of encouragement Is shown In the
increase Of new tonnage buiit upon tho
river and Its tributaries, from 5000
tons In 1876, and $4,000 In 1877, to
69, 900 tons In 1878. What the increase
will be under the DEVELOPMENT of the
operations of your honorable board, we
need not attempt to conjecture.
have thus far followed the tenor of
the law in presenting the three great
heads of your duties separately.
have done so simply for the sake of
perspicuity in handling the details Of
statistics and Of suggestion that each
view of the subject involved. But It
Is fact which cannot properly be
omitted in the final summing up that
the tripartite duty with which you arc
charged Is really II single responsible
ity. That Is to say, no ono of the great
duties enjoined upon you can be dis
charged without at the same time
meeting the other two. ..s :.
T If you stdeepen the channel and
protect the banks," the works ncces-
sary to that will also operate to "prc-
vent destructive floods" Aud the Oc-
complishment of these two results
must necessarily promote commerce.,
trade and the postal service.
1t Is not my purpose to suggest any
particular scheme or urge any specific
plan upon you. Several modes of deal
ing with the great problem before you
have been put forward, from time to
time, and all OF them are sustained
moro or less by the endorsement of OK
far as have Investigated the subject 1
find that, without doubt, the prepon-
derance OF opinion among engineers IL
in favar of the project of the old or
levee plan, as a basis of operations,
modified In some particulars not es-
sential In any generic sense. On this
point will not weary your patience,
or consume your time, by citing indi-
vidunl authorities; to do so would sim
ply be to rehearse utterances with
which all of you are familiar, and of
which some of you are the authors. 1t
only remains to be said that upon your
skill, experience and discernment must
rest the responsibility of selection rs
to plan and mode Of operations. u.s.,
And now, in conclusion, Mr., Presi-
dent and gentlemen of the Mississippi
River Commission, let me say that
am keenly alive to the responsibility
which the faithful discharge of your
own duties will devoive upon mo as n
representative in Congress of tho peo-
pie most intimately concerned. It will
DO your duty to make the surveys, ma
ture the plans, and recommend tho
necessary for their exc.
cution. 1t Will then become my duty
and the duty OF my colleagues in Con-
gress to see that your plains are adopted
and your recommendations ratified In
legislation. Believe mo, when as
sure you that you shall not lack dill
gent cooperation and jealous support
from my colleagues and myself. When
you como back to Washington with
the results of your researches embodied
In plans and estimates; you will hnd at
your back the same moral, intellectual,
and political forces that last session
pressed to its passage the law under
which your honorable body exists.
You will be sustained and your hands
will be upheld. We shall all work to-
yether with one zeal, with q single
thought and with common purpose.
There will DC on our part no haiting,
40 hesitancy, no chickering's; as thoro
will be on your part no division of
no dissent of faction and no
lispute Of interests. r.-..... ......
Thus shall we succeed in tho accom-
'lishment of tho greatest task ever con-
lded to men in tho arts OF peace and
n tho best and highest interests Of hu-
nanity. rr.. l .,l..,.l.
Col. Brewer, Auditor OF Alabama,
our sentiments exactly. In
! recent declaration, in alluding to tho
:esult of a general negro exodus, ho
'aid: "White labor would no longer
come in competition with black labor;
there would be no vast hordes of un-
skilled laborers to butcher tho lands
and wreck the homestead; there
would be no squalor and but little idle
ness fewer crimes and moro intelli-
gence. White cottages would begin to
deck the landscape RS tho torrent of
came pouring in; tillagc
would be more thorough and imple-
ments moro perfect; schools and
churches would be sustained as the
fhirroped and orr chill