Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-04-26
THE CINCINNATI CossMERCIAL AND
THE JErIIES.

Persistence in good cause, though re-
propsh and insult be the reward of it, is adj
Iudfrable, and it is honorable to human ma
ture that men can be found who will stand
firmly on the station of duty spite of all that
ridicule or persecution can do. Obstinacy in
error is just the contrary. 1t is not honor
able to those who manifest it, nor is it any
thing but displeasing to those who witness it.
Such obstinacy, we say it with regret, is dis
played by the Cincinnati CONNIE, cial, paper
whose enterprise we admire and whose indie
pendence of expression we respect. The OBJ
stinacy of which we speak is shown by the
Commercial toward tie jstties at the mouth
OF the Mississippi river. Its last exhibition
of its mania of unreason is the following:
1t 10 pity that there could rot be great South
ern enterprise worthy ofgovernment support. The
reef 20 tbs Ietty and eVee SCHEMES The
snags should be removed from the river and 1t
called for, are wanted in the pockets Of con-
i taeE sss i ~ Sud 5e scaped
Laying aside levee schemes and snag ex-
fractions, matters with which the Commercial
may not be very intimately acquainted, it is
impossible that itcan have escaped knowl-
edge of facts that entirely contr adict its as
sertion respecting the istties. In the first
place, as a general fact, the jetty system is
not a new invention; it has been in practical
and constant operation in Europe "time out
of mind" The jetty system is, therefore,
not a fraud as a system. In the second
place, when applied to the Mississippi river
there was no adoption of mere theory. A
certain thing was wanted to facilitate the en-
trance and exit of shipping TO and from the
channel of the Mississippi; other rivers long
ago had had the same want. The jetty sys-
tenn supplied the need there, and the same
system was applied to supply similar
want at the South Pass, just as we use
mortar TO cement bricks as is done elsewhere
There was, therefore, a simple adaptation of
what experience had shown to be valuable,
and, again there was no fraud. Lastly, the
adaptation is successful. Through pass
previously eight and half deep in places,
every sailing ship and steamer that reaches
New Orleans makes its way. The delay at
The mouth from inability to deal with the
formidable "mud Jumps" which used to be
a standing cause of hindrance and loss, exists
no longer. The jetties have done away with
it. In doing so they have opened up the |
Mississippi as a branch to the grand sea |
highway that opens access to every port in |
the world. What has accomplished so much |
for New Orleans, so much for every business |
town on the network of the Western rivers,
so much for the whole Mississippi river, SO
much for the commerce of the wide West, is
ca fraud. Why then does the Cincinnati
Commercial stultify and belittle itself, act
OF the position it holds AMI the
talent il exhibits, by showing toward the
jettIes the luminosity of bull for red rag;
the temper of a spoiled child toward nurse
who will not put enough molasses on its
bread? OF course rybody knows. that
the Commercial is as much aware of the ex-
cellence, value and indispensableness OF the
jetties as other people, and that it persists in
its freak of condemnation only from temper,
within, indulgence in oddity such as that ex-
hibited by Dickens's character who took in
finite pleasure in exclaiming at every OPP
portunity: "D-n that boy, he's asleep
again. Such small tricks may provoke
laughter, but they are neither wit nor good
sense. Therefore, as we dislike seeing those
we desire to respect make themselves abb
surd, we entreat the Cincinnati Commercial
to cease its irrational iterations respecting
the jetties.