Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-11-28
THE MIsSIsSIPPI VALLEY.
The Kindness Of the East TO its
Great National Importance.
81. Louls Republlcan.


are making so vigorous a wal on the
river and hsrbor bill of the last SEES
sion OF Congress may defeat their
object by a want of discrimination.
There was enough in the bill that is
assailable and indefensible to occupy
the attention of all sincere guardians
OF the public treasury. If that which
was good and i~mperatively needed be
not confounded with that which was
useless and profigate a long step may
be taken toward reforming a vicious
method of legislation. But if East
ern enemies Of the Mississippi river
and their narrow minded echoes
in other sections have not the dis
elimination to separate that great
water way from the push pole creeks
and the bayous and fish ponds Of me-
cessitous Congressman in outlying dis
tricts, they will show themselves SO
wanting in candor and justice and
breadth Of vision as TO lose all infu-
ence on this subject with the intelli-
gent voters. The greatest interest of
the Mississippi valley is not to be
assailed or retarded under cover of
the petty frauds which have been
forced into the river and barber bills.
The tactics Of rival interests and
routes are as transparent as glass.
There is a systematic plan of attack
and Misrepresentation of the work
and purposes ofthe River Commission.
A great volume Of false or partial
facts is to be poured out on the public
in a flood which it is hoped cannot be
resisted. 10 this way it is intended to
stay all progress and cause a suspen-
sion Of WORK which will bring about
IN fact the very waste and loss now
predicted by the marplots.
1t is fitting to remind the Obstruc-
uonists that the country drained by
the Mississippi and its tributaries
produces the exports Of the United
States, the grain and provisions and
cotton which balance and pay for the
eight hundred million dollars Of i'm
ports Of our commerce, and that this
imperial region has regis cred an ire
vocable purpose to have improved Wa
ter ways to the sea and to the markets
Of the world. The people who cause
the earth TO produce annually four
hundred million bushels Of wheat and
fifteen hundred million bushels Of
corn, and FIVE million bales Of cotton ,
and beet and pork enough to feed
forty million people, and every smaller
fruit Of the soil which is essential to
the life Of man, have a profound con
tempt for the puerile and fainting
opinion of anybody who does not be-
lieve they cans control the currents
and fix the channels and secure the
banks of streams whose abundant wa
ters offer them the easiest, cheapest
and safest means Of transportation
known 10 civilization. They see other
sections and other people construct
artificial water ways over mountains
aud plains and redeem broad
areas from the very tides OF the sea, at
an expense of work and money not
dreamed ofin connection with their
great aud tractsble rivers, and yet
they are invited to believe:that it IL
too much to ask for and expend FIVE
or xix million dollars to reclaim whole
States and render available streams
which will float the commerce Of half
a continent. The people of the West,
Of the valley of the Mississippi, are
tired of this childish talk. They are
not to be thwarted in a matter of such
vast and vital interest by arguments
which would scarcely have been ap
propriate to the struggling, feeble
sentiment ofthis region halfa century
ago. Canada, lying on the margin Of
the ocean, expends scores of millions
for paltry canals to compete with the
greatest and wealthiest railroads run
ming parallel to the markets; New
York, situated hundreds of miles
nearer to the Atlantic harbor than
this valley is, thinks fifty millions we'll
spent in securing water routes to rival
the railroads; and yet we are asked to
allow our rivers to be superseded and
abandoned because the cost Of their
Improvement will exceed their value.
AL the a~nalogies, as we'll as the logic
Of facts contradict such suggestions
H