The daily gazette., 1882-03-22
Tha Rlanh ProhIan..
nm the 81. Louis 0lobe-Dsmocrat,

From the IT. Louis 0lobe-Dsm0crat,
The Mississippi isa mighty stream,
and II II Ia manageable BY man the ac-
curate knowledge OF how It can be con-
trolled has certainly not been arrived
at yet. IL 10 well 10 approach the great
problem In an humble spirit. Il Is not
TO be solved off-hand, II at all. Aud It
may be that the people In the valley
will be ultimately forced 10 the conol1-
sion that Nature will have her way, and
that men will have have 10 move their
habltatlons from the low lands altoReth-
or and take their chances for the plant
ing and the salvation Of their crops at
her csprlceS. Only the weather.
classes Of the tilleEs Of the soil can pur-
sue business full Of such uncettaln-
ties. They must save more than
enouzh out Of the good years to tide
them over the bad ones to render 1t pro-
fitable, and hence must pos sess capital
enough 10 insure thems.lv The fer
tility Of the oveIfowsd territory is suf-
ficlently great to warrant this kind of
cultivation.
But people are very far from having
arrived at this semi despalring view yet.
The hope that the river will be hemmed
In by some means will survive q good
many overfows alter the present one.
The issues at stake are too geat to per-
init Of the abandonment Of intelligent
effort In the desired direction. The
amount cf cotton raised on the precari-
ous region aggregates probably 8 ,me
$25, 100000 annually, and II by any
system of levees or outlets, or both COM
bined, the destroying waters can be
guided harmlessly to the Gulf 1t is
worth while to spend good many mil
lion dollars In endeavorlng TO accom-
plish it be fore giving up the attempt ss
useless. One thing must lie evident,
and that Is that the plan adopted must
be a comprehensive one. The difficult
ties In the way of any set Of privats IN
dlviduals performing the task are appa-
rently insuperable, nor can the various
State Governments, unles they miracu-
lously agree upon some d. flute plan OF
action, supply the meek ssAry unity Of
action. II is clearly the province Of The
National Government TO undertake the
work. That can alone take q general
view of all the necessities of the stu
alton and act independently Of State
lines.
The question as to bow the expenses is
to be met looms up pr mlnently. It Is
certainly not to be expected that the
people At large are to pay for all the inn
provements and hand over the redsemed
territory to Its present owners free Of
charge. The protected region In some
way ought to pay for its own redemp-
ton. Matters OF this kind are not
easily arranged, but they will all have
to be provided for before the effective
action demanded can be secured. II
can be seen that the entire subject Is q
difficult one. The river itself 10 q ire
mendoas thing to manage, and the OBJ
stacles In the way OF arriving at the besI
plan Of managing it are almost as great
As TO ths present status OF affairs, thu
Government cannot well refus1 10 give
the aid needed In the ahl licted districts
but that 1t should frequently be calleC
upon TO grant relief In this way TO th'
same sections is asking too much Ct It
To have this relief regarded as perma
nent institution whenever the floods oc
cur would inevitably lead TO abuses AM
TO lmproVidence on the part 0fthose VIII
bad learned 10 expect II.