The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1882-06-03
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

The foregoing is the heading of paper
published in the New Orleans Times, Dens-
oorat and signed by Joseph L. Brent.
Henry P. Kernochan, Fl. A. La Sassiec, b.
Laplace and F. s. Shields from which we
make the following extract, which Is de-
cidedly rich as coming from a set of men
asking for money irons the National Gov
ernment'to build levees, while their friends
sustain the River Commission ON the floor
of Congress-: 1859 eE@s Il ,sa5- .fs ll9s
Your men,orialists feel compelled to
affirm that the execution of the plans of
the River Commission will result in the
destruction of the communities living on
the land liable to overflow in the Lower
Mississippi valley, unless the Govern ment
takes measures that will remedy the effects
of their action"
1T cannot for moment be believed that
Congress, for the purpose of fostering
commerce, would deliberately, destroy
whole communities of its citizens" .s.. Il.
When the memorialists, at considerable
length, go on to show that the floods of
Louisiana are caused by the rains and the
melting of snow in States further NORTH
and say that when the upper valley was in
"a state of wildness the waters were held
back Then levees were not needed on the
highest lands. But now, where formerly a
levee of three feet high was sufficient one
six feet high is required; where one of six
feet high formerly existed, twelve feet is
now Inadequate On the banks of the
Mississippi river there are now levees
thirty feet high, and this year they are
broken '@5 e 135-s@ -Ake
Such in brief is the statement OF men
who are asking the government to under
take task which, according TO their own
showing, would not only be impossible
bat which, after bankrupting the National
Treasury, would render the whole country
a desolate waste. e,.s-.
If they could bring themselves down to
the natural and common sense proposition
of making outlets at the lower end com
mencing with the great one. all their trou7
bles from overdows would be stopped with
out levees, and the low water channel of
the river would be improved at the same
time. If telegraph wire was stretched
on each bank of the Mississippi river from
Cairo to New Orleans, al. d cost of SEC, 600
it would be as competent to prevent over
flows as would levee system that would
cost 800, ooo;Ooo. fas5
. But the good to be done is not the OBJ.
ject of these men. The money is what
the want. They would prefer to see the
the valley ruined by levee system that
would cost 500 000 600 than see it saved
by making the outlet at Lake Borgne at a
cost of S250. 600. 1919 -
:, The whole object of this memorial is to
get Congress to pass a bin permitting the
River Commission to build leyees to pro-
tect lands in lower Louisiana, for by the
provisions of the present bill which con-
tain the same saving clause that was in
the first bin appropriating $1,000, 600,
namely, that they could not build levees
excepting to improve navigation, and as
the Mississippi river, from the mouth of
Red river to New Orleans and on below, is
from so to 900 feet deep. by no stretch of
authority can the commission build levees
on the banks of that portionaof the river
under the pretence of improving naviga-
ton.
Now, we have no objection to seeing
two Or three millions jildiciously spent in
levees, provided tl1at at the same
time the appropriation be made to make
the outlet at Lake Borgne, which, in our
opinion. will in short time render levees
useless The levees viii then make good
roads for the public, and at the same time
act as a barrier to prevent some people
from running into the river. = Washington