Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-03-11
Is the Leves System : Failure

This is the most important question
for residents of the Mississippi valley
If the system OF keeping out the wateI
of the Mississippi river by embark
ments is a failure or a partial failure
the sooner it is abandoned and al
effective system adopted the better
Already the Levee Boards are maxim.
estimates Of the cost Of repairing th,
crevasSes and strengthening the levees
and hundreds Of thousands Of dollar:
are put down with the utmost non,
ohalence-hundreds Of thousands oil
dollars, that viii have to be paid Sy
the people, and absolutely thrown into
the floods, if the leves system is a
failure.
Our experience aud observation in
duce us to say that the system is not
the most effectual one that can be
adopted, though it is by all odds the
most expensive. The Levee Boards,
the Engineers, the contractors, and all
the hangers-on, viii at once say the
remedy is good, if enough is applied.
That is extremely doubtful. No CON-
muuity, no sounty, no Levee Board,
no State. has yet been able to apply
enough OF it, and we doubt the ability
OF the United States government to
erect embankmeDts sufficiently large
to restrain the oceans Of water that
must at times escape through the
Mississippi valley. The levee adve.
cates Eal say, Mississippi must keep
the syusm up, because other States
will DO it, and throw all the water on
Mississippi If she does not keep up
her leyees. Before the recent floods
it was a common boast OF leVee men
in Mississippi that Mississippi was
safe. because her levees were so much
better than those in Arkansaw and
Louisiana, the latter would give way
and relieve the pressure on the Mis-
issippi lsvees. So mUsh had been
spent on our %leyees, We placed some
confidence in their assertions, but the
result proves they were vain. The
Mississippi lsvess, like all the balance,
T only effective barriers against low
water. 1t is doubtless true that one
State should not abandon the system
while the others adhere to it. Some
general system should be adopted for
the whole river, and that system should
be perfected By the United States
government. If the leyes system is
not the best, then the government
should not rely on it, if the %levees, in
connection with other measures, can
be made Of use, rely on them to that
extent only. One thing is sure, States
rights OF no States rights, the United
States government must control its
great inland sea, or the whole valley
will be intellectually injured. The
people in the valley cannot help them
selves, and without the assistance Of
the government they cannot abandon
the levee system, ii it is ineffective,
for il II is abandoned it must be done
BY the whole valley at the same time.
This unity of action can only be Gu
forced by the United States govern
ment.
Senator George has just introduced
a bill to appropriate a million dollars
to rebuild the Mississippi levees. He
is moved by an earnest desire to assist
his people, but if he is moving in the
wrong direction, is it not best for those
who have tested levees fer a lifetime
and at vast expense, to speak out? Il
is hardly probable a bill apprOpriating
moneyto build the leyees in one State
will receive the approval Of Congress,
and it it does, is it not better to secure
unity Of interests and action by some
wise general law for the protection oil
the whole valley by some system that
has not proved a failure? There must
be outlets, there must be cut-ofs
possibly a few leveesin very low places
and the whole work from Cairo to the
Gulf should be under one control.