Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-03-06

Take Better Care of the Levees
According to our special dispatche
from the flooded districts at least fort
people have already been drowned
thirty or forty thousand cattle hay
been destroyed and more than 81,
thousand square miles of territory ar
under water. Most Of the losses an,
suffering might have been prevented
had the natives taken better care O
their levees. Holland keeps out th,
sea, an ever present and restless force
far more menacing than Westerr
treshets but in the West and Soutl
our people seem to trust to a combina
tion of luck and Providence, neither
OF which was ever known to do mucl
in behalf Of the wilfully careless. Or
many river banks the top of the Ievet
is the favorite pathway Of pedestrians
and even of men on horseback, al
though every football wears away some
OF the soil that has been heaped al
great expense. Some of the reckless
ness of tho people may be attributed
to the fancy, carefully nourished b.
political demagogues, that the govern
ment ought to take care of the levees
but in most other affairs of life mer
are sensible enough to look to them
selves in matters Immediately afectinG
their lives and property.-[New Yorl
Herald, I'd.
The above betrays both ignorance O.
the subject and narrow-minded preju
dice toward the South. The Missis
sippi river has long since been recog
nized as national highway, and one
Of the incentives of Western men il
fighting out the war to the end was t.
preserve it as such. Whether a levet
system or a succession Of outlets or
combination of both would best solv,
this great national problem, is a de
batable question. Opinion is divided
upon that question. The State O.
Arkansaw established a considerabl,
levee system many years ago which
reclaimed large areas of valuable
lands, but these we're broken il
many places during the war ant
have never been as we'll rebuilt
The riVercounties in Mississippi have
endeavored to maintain levees sine,
the war, but with Indifferent success
These answer a good purpose in ordi
nary years, but are valueless agains
such food as this one. Up to the
present food, according to the repor
Of the Mississippi River Commission
there were 1900 miles of levees in ser
viceable condition. These answered
for small freshets, but not for grea
floods. Between Cairo and the Gul
there las been great loss Of life
destruction Of property and genera
desolation produced. If the Missis
sippi river ran from West to East anc
entered the Atlantic ocean through
New York harbor, the Eastern pres
would clamor for the expenditure o
millions to reclaim the rich alluvia
lands on its banks. The States ant
counties along this great river canno
separately or individually undertak,
such a vast enterprise as this
The government is the proper agenc,
and the only one that will ever ac
conplish any permanent improvement
The dikes, of Holland, we're built By
national effort, and all the work of i'm
proving rivers and harbors and lakes
largeand small, in this country hal
been done by the general government
on the ground that it was for the ben.
eft Of our common country and not
for a particular locality. 1t is
admitted on all hands that
for practical ends, and in every essen
tial attribute this is nation whether
spelled with large or a small letter
IN" The Mississippi river and its
branches drain 100000 square miles
of territory, equal to an area twenty
seven times as large as the State of
Pennsylvania. To confine all the
water that comes down from all this
vast region between two ordinary
walls is to suppose an impossi
bility, but by a system of
wide outlets on the lower Mississippi,
and substantial levees higher up, such
a calamity as the present might be
averted, and vast bodies of the richest
lands in the world permanently re.
claimed. The subject is forcibly
brought to the attention Of the general
public, and it is highly probable that a
wise and liberal policy will be adopted
by the government.
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