The Evening critic., 1882-03-18


Army, officers and all.
IN DEALING with the Mississippi River prob
lem the Springfield Republican advises the
people of the Mississippi valley to take n hint
from the Egyptians, who have kindred expert
ences in the overflow of the Nile for hundreds
Of miles in length and many miles in width.
But the Egyptians never thought OF wrestling
with their great monster OF nature. They
knew better They adapted their agriculture
TO the river, not trying to make the river con-
form TO their agriculture. They accepted the
service of the Nile as the great fertilizer Of
their fields, and needed no Peruvian guano
islands TO sustain the fecundity of their soil.
The Mississippi valley ought to follow this
policy. With a boundless continent before us,
II is poor policy to locate population below the
line of high water along the river. The period
OF annual occurrences OF flood should be pru-
IDENTIFY observed by the migration of cattle and
people from the fields imperiled, and by other
preparations TO save loss.- -ECentRG star.
As the Lord is infinite, of course He
could create greater fool than the writer
of the above paragraph, but we doubt
whether He ever has done so. Certainly
none such has ever before appeared in
print. The proposition made is simply to
abandon all the lands in the Mi ssissppi
Valley subject to overflow, and let them
relapse INTO their wildness-that is, to give
up to- the allegators and wild animals
the richest section of the world to surren =
der one-half the cotton and two thirds of
the sugar crop of the United States, for the
overflow of the Mississippi does not affect
only.the immediate country upon its banks,
but the low lands of the st. Frances, White
Arkansas, Yazoo, Ouachita, Red River
Tensas, Bayou Macon, Bayou Bartholo.
new, Atchafalaya Rivers, and the numer-
Gus smaller and sluggish streams which
traverse the whole sugar region of Loais.
lana
1t is poor policy" says the sapient ass
:" to locate population below the line OF
overflow" and yet this has been and is the
policy of the world in all ages and in every
civilized or semi-civilized land. The
waters of the Euphrates were diverted into
canals to irrigate the cultivated lands (ol
course below the overflow line) thousands
of years ago the valley of the Nile ha:
been a granary since before the light o
History began to shine; the Gauges ha
been oyerfowing its cultivated banks sine
the days when Buddha was supposed Il
exist the great rivers of China have sup
ported teeming millions for centuries th
Danube has been oyeriiowing villages an'
farms since the days when the Caesars frs
penetrated the north ern wilds; the plain
of Loml ardy have been reclaimed from tn
overflow of the Po for ten centuries; th
city Of Paris is in marsh Of the Seine
once subjected to overflow, and st. Peters
burg was reclaimed from the overflow
the Neva.
In fact, the world has been civilized
the location of people below the line
overflow" and starvation would follow I'll
desertion of that policy" The Units
States to-day would not contain ten mi
lions of people but for the settlements
the valley of the Mississippi "below ii
line Of high water \" for it is those lam
that for twenty years before the war fu
nished all the exports Of the country al
made 1t prosperous, and which to-day gi,
employment not only To ten millions
people in this country, but 10 double thi
number in England, France and German
The territory ii is proposed TO desert
an empire. The guano that has been US
upon itssinee it was first opened, or tn
will be needed in it for the next ten &c
taries, could be deposited by one sparrow
a single day, and the crops that could
adapted to the overflow, as on the Nj
could be eaten by the same bird in the sa
time, without distendiDg its craw. But
Ereaiag Star is not alone in its folly II
one of vast company Of fools, who are {
deayoring to ssolve a problem that is
easily solyable as the addition Of two a
two, only the star has acquired pl
eminenoe in this company BY It's supreI
folly.