Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1884-01-10
REooMlrENpAT1oNs.

In regard to future legislation the Com
mission recommend that provisions be
made by law for condemnation by suitable
proceedings of material for any work on
the Mississippi Improvement undertaken
by the Government. The report says with
in the past year some serious incOnven-
fence has been suffered from eXOrbltant
demands made by land owners for brush
and poles. These materials IN most cases
were worth little or nothing TO the oWnerS
and unstable to any buyer except the
Government at any price, but at the prices
some owners asked they make a long item
of COST 1t is not believed there viii be
frequent occasion to resort TO condemna@
ton of private property II such proceed
ings are authorized, as IN mosG cases Uhe
existence of power will be a sufficient pre-
ventive of extOrtion, although cases may
arise in which possession and exercise OF
power will be highly important. 1t IS
highly desirable also that Congress pre-
scribe by law the extent to which material
found on islands and bars in the river
NAV be used without payment OF
damages. 1t is believed the supreme right
of control and Improvement OF the rivers
nayigable for Interstate commerce vested
in the United States carries with it the right
to use in the works of Improvement with
out the consent of any individual owner,
all such materials found within the limits
OF the river itself. 1t is recommended,
also, that provision be made by law for re-
tanning control by the Government OF land
built UP by deposits induced by the work OF
Improvement placed in the river-bed. This
amounts in some instances to hundreds or
acres, and in some localities riparian own
eers may he disposed to claim possession, al
though to the detriment of Improvement.
1t is expected IN most such cases 1t Will be
found desirable to encourage the growth
of trees upon newly made banks and oc-
cupy them in that way many years, per-
hapS permanently.
1t is regarded important also that law
be enacted for the punishment Of any per-
l.r,Il off oil
or point on the Mississippi River. The his
tory of the river indicates a tendency to
recurring cycles of change. A cutoff is
followed by a sudden increase of velocity
of the current in its vicinity and by rapid
CaVing above and below. These are likely
to cause other cut-OffS, one after another,
and then results widely extended, long
continued disturbance of the regimen of
the river. During the continuance of such
period works OF Improvement OF the chan
mel will be attended with the greatest diff
Guilty. No great cutoff has occurred since
that at Vicksburg III 1876, and the present
conditions of the river in that respect are
regarded as favorable. But conditions are
also existing for the Introduction Of q cycle
of changes by making single cutoff of in.
furious consequences, which it is impOsSi-
BILE to estimate. Such events have hap
pened in the past through the lawless acts
of individuals, and against these stringent
penalties should be provided.
Statements accompanying the report give
estimates of funds required for the fiscal
year ending June so, 1884. Improvement
of the Mississippi River below Cairo,
S0,OOO,OUO. For the fiscal year ending June
30, 1889: Work at New Madrid reach,
$1,O0O,OO0; work at Memphis reach, 1850, 900;
salaries and expenses of the Commission
for the next fiscal year, $20O,OO0. OF the
appropriation for improving the river by
the act of August 2, 1882, the balance on
hand December =, 1882, was S2,3SS,6 %;
amount expended to November l, 1889, in
Guiding outstanding Liabilities estimated to
January l, 1884, 81, lS7, 133; balance availa-
bic unpledged January !, 1881, but which
will be required from care of property and
maintenance Of organization the remainder
of the fiscal year, $780, 1863; balance avaiIa-
bic of the appropriation for New Orleans
harbOr November l, 1888, S1O9,31S; improv-
ing the mouth OF Red River, $3S, 81; Natchez
harbOr, 1881.
The members of the Commission signing
the report are Major G. k. Su5er, Henry
Mitchell, B. M. Harrod, ROb't. S. Taylor
and S. w. Ferguson.
A minority report was submitted by
General G. B. COmsJOck. He says the APP
preparation of the Sl1 ,443,7I0 mentioned by
the Commission is too small for any ade-
quate system of levees intended to prevent
destructive floods Except intervals of
fifteen or twenty years., to secure the
property of Inhabitants behind them from
danger of destruction. AS stated by the
Commission, a thorough study of the SUBJ
ject of levees has not yet been made: I'm
til then accurate estimates are impossible,
and the heights above flood of two or
three feet at Columbus, ten feet at Full
ton, four feet at Helena, and ten feet at
Lake Providence are only approxi-
mates. Such as they are, they make it i'm
possible to concur in the estimate of SILL
443,71O as the cost of general system Of
leVees from Commerce, Mo-, to the Forts,
adequate to preserve that country from de-
structive floods.
General q. A. Gilmore concurS in the re-
port of the Commission with a single quail
ificatiOn that the value of levees as a factor
in the problem of channel improvement, in
preventing wide dispersion of food waters,
is not affirmed in the report in sufficiently
positive terms and that clearness and
prominence to which in his Judgment it is
entitled.