The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1883-06-13
The CLARION.
The Lsvee Question.
INDIAN BAYOU, SUSFLowER Co,
Miss, May 26, 1888.

Miss, May III, 1888.
EDITORS CLARION: Deer Sirs: Since
my disconnectipn with the west Point
Echo" two years since, ! have been
planting in the Mississippi Delta, better
understood as the overflow district" |
arrived here in 1882, just when the tide
of destruction began its fearful work;
another this spring has just passed away
it seems that they are to become annual,
their horrors are better known to you
than / can describe them, in fact 10 pen
can describe, no brush portray them.
No country within my knowledge save
this could have withstood the floods
which for three months submerged it,
its powers of recuperation saved the peO-
pie from want while other countries sim
ilarly situated would have starved its
inhabitants, for crops could not have
been planted and matured after the
water passed away. It's powers OF re-
cuperation can be compared to other
sections of the country as the strong
vigorous constitution of the young man,
to that Of the old and infirm. Mr.. Edi-
tor, am deeply interested in the future
welfare Of the Mississippi Delta, and
think that every man in Mississippi
should be. 1t il in fact the Egypt Of
America, the pride and boast of our
sunny cline; its fertility Of soil, its vast
and luxuriant range for all kinds Of
stock are no where to be cqualled on the
face of the earth There are no laad
which respond to muscle so cheerful!
and so literally as do these of the Delta
lam reliably informed that not more
than ten miles from this place a gentle
man on Jones Bayou made last year or
land not overhowcd eighty bales of cot
ton upon fifty acres of land, Should
not such lands as these be protected fo
the toiling sons of mississippi Are no
the entire people of Mississippi inter
ested for the sake Of their posterity il
not surrendering these lands tothc food
and the wild beasts of the forestsG L
there man in Mississippi, Is there
legislator who would consent to- it
Then for the sake Of the living anc
those who htc to como atteBlet the love,
upon the great Missiaippiib e Missiksip
/ pi's nobIcst and nostfitting monttnent
A broad liberal minded legislator can
not have his intellectual capacitylant
development more beautifully and sub
stantially expressed than having hi
name inscribed as the prime moverlant
champion Of this thog greatest and MOBILES
of Mississippi's works; posterity will SIN
'yivi laI champion Ny FLEA of tn
duty Of State representative is coordi
nate with:thst,of a national representa-
tive, while. it Is his duty to, look spec
tally after his LOCAL interests, he is sur
posed to haveaan eye single to the ger
3eral welfare al the nations OFT State il
his respective capacity. Then in thi
particulars, hc'owcs aydutyto citizens c
his State who are not of bis county, an
by subscribing their Interests, he at tn
same time scryes his own constituent
with fidelity by liberal legislation whic
will protect the most valuable portion {
Mississippi's domain, from utter d
structon and abandonment, saving I
his immediate CONSTITUENCIES its propo
tionate tax of the abandoned, or if II,
entirely abandoned, the deprecated Deit
If these floods are not checked it will |
abandoned almost entirely in less tina
three years, then the tax which we no
pay to the State will have to be paid |
the hill counties, whose narrow mind,
representatives and editors advi
against aiding US in the rebuilding
the levees. | have written these cru
lines in view of an early session of t
Legislature which is now being agitate
and trust that the Governor in his W
dom may see. fit to call it, and in t
event OF its meeting that these, lines IN,
meet the eye of some progressive liber
minded legislator who will formula
them into some practical benefit to ii
section and thereby the State We j
cerely trust Chat the Representatives,
the eastern part of the State will me
those of the Delta upon some bro
nagnanimous principle which will sa
to us our lands and our homes, and
the State wealth of revenue viii
would Cypress her were she deprived
it. We first recognize this, levee qu
ton as a national one, next State qu
ton, never entirely local one, then
the nation has abandoned us in The We
throes of destruction, we hold thatit
the duty of the State to render su
aid, as is necessary to save us as a ps