Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-01-18
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.

Stone Banks for the Miss issippi.
To the Editors of the Appeal:
The following is believed to be a valuable
suggestion and radical cure for the Mis-
sssippi river overf1ows and for preventing
its banks from shifting as they do now.
Please publish it for the information OF the
people of your city. MERCHANT.
: NEW YORK, January Is, 1888.
NEW BANKS FOR THE MISSISSIPPI.
To the Editor Of the Evening Post;
SIR-When your correspondent, &c. D."
states that nowhere along the Mississippi
any natural banks OF rock can be found, he
unconsciously suggests the best and only
remedy for the overflow Of that river. Sup
ply artificial banks OF stone 10 the shape OF
heavy heaps OF broken rocks, thrown down
rip-rap style, and you secure permanent
banks which no rush OF water can carry
away. The channel between such artificial
banks will cut itself deeper and deeper every
year, as has happened to our own East river
ever since ii has had artificial banks of wood
and stone crib-work, until its depth at its
narrowest part has become enormous. be-
lieve that ii the Mississippi river was en-
cased in artificial banks OF rip.rap rock, or
wood crib-work filled with broken rock, the
channel would soon become go deep that it
would carry off all the water, even 10 high
water time, with but little if any overflow.
The expense would be large, of course, but
the work would be permanent; it would be
on the same principle OF macadamizing
road, which, you must own, has subdued
muddy roads, prevented washing away of
road beds, and made a good track in all
weathers and seasons. The rock needed
could easily be qIarried from the hills on
the river below St. Louis, which are solid
rock, and foated down the river cheaply in
barges. Depend upon it that this is the
only plan III 1t effers any guarantee of suc-
GEES and permauence. l have travelled over
the ground, and know just what the shifting,
soft Mississippi mud requires to keep it 10
proper order. q. H.
INV YORK. January 10, 1885,
"Moiher Goose Answers "Garth" and
Proves Herself tue WOrkingman's
Friend.
To the Editors of the Appeal:
There is nothing like clear conscience
for carrying one triumphantly through
fiery ordeal, such as the writer was unex-
pectedly called upon TO pass through in the
perusal OF your letter in the APPEAL of the
18th. As general thing answering back"
in print is poor taste and poorer policy, but
as on this occasion the reverse might leave
an impression detrimental to the writer in
more ways than one, she departs from
long-established rule to prove that she has
been hurt "by the same weapons"
That mother Goose" should have ever
expressed herself so awkwsrdly as to convey
the impression that she regarded any class of
burden-bearer lacking in the innate re6ne-
ment which makes one appreciate and crave
the beautiful, even when the hard conditions
of toll and poverty place it out of ones
reach, is unfortunate for her, but, happily,
does not derogate from the dignity or peace
full serenity of many a laborer's home which
for genuine good taste rivals its palstial
neighbors.
That she should SO have stultifed the sem
timents OF a lifetime as to underrate the dig
niiy of labor, or to mislead anyone into
thinking that she could see anything but the
"guinea's stamp" in the broadcloth coat of
the man whose accidental conditions have
preserved him from all necessity for "hard
licks,n is again unfortunate for her, but in
no wise reflects upon the man, who lis man
for a. that"
That, through her own clumsiness, she
should have placed it in apyone's power TO
"place" her upon that undesirable latitude"
which would seem TO dim her perception of
the beauty and the brightness that iIlumine
the records OF so many of our self-m ade
men, obliterating from memory the story oil
lives and deeds tina. have often touched her
envious fancy to the quick, ia trebly her
misfortune. No, "Gartb," she has not lost
sight of the shining exemplars cited by you.
She holds them everyone in admiring and
Ieverential recollection.
That she cannot bring TO the understanding
of every honest artisan of this land how en-
tirely she is in accord with the spirit which
upholds man in doing whatever his hands
find to do, with-s-might and manly indie
pendence which makes him the peer of the
highest in the land Ia spirit which, however
common it may be in the South, certsinly
was not very general in the South before the
"wah'') is another one of her misfortunes
That she has Incurred the wrath OF one
who Yields a weapon SO admirably we'll
adapted to "prick," is a misfortune only
ameliorated by the fact that in The iusignif-
cant item Of a sou6riquet she has met ap-
prevail from "Garth." MOTHER GOOSE.