Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-15
ROMNEY MARSH AGAIN.


Editor Morning Ne,gs: 1 noticed and
read carefully your editorial, ETC., which
appeared in Tuesdays MORNING NEWS
on the relative merits of the proposed cut
beng made through ROmney Marsh or
Understands creek. You seem to be
thoroughly convinced that for every rea-
son possible Understands creek should
be used instead of the marsh. Now, sir,
as have always found the columns of
your progressive journal open to dis
passionate discussion of any subject IN
which the public are interested, L have
thought it proper, instead of seeking the
courtesy of other newspapers, to ask you
to allow me to discuss this
important matter in your own
columns, and / hope that you viii extend
that kindness to me. | am firmly con-
WINGED that not the slightest injury Will
be done to the commerce of the city OF
Savannah by completing the cut through
the marsh" there being only about one
third of the way yet remaining unfinished,
and beside this, by having this cut com
pleted, we will secure for our citizens
that lOng-needed ''desideratum"-ab beau
tiful. safe and healthful summer resort on
that lovely island, Warsaw. Being de-
sirOus of securing this boon to our cltl-
zens, and l understand that it can only
be had by it being made through Romney
marsh, on which cut $4,000 have already
been expended by the government, l beg
to answer the following questions,
pledging myself, in case they
are answered in convincing
manner that l abandon my advocacy of
the ROmney marsh cut and use my en-
deavor to have the cut established through
Understands creek.
l. How much longer is the proposed cut
through ROmney marsh than that through
Understands creek?
,. What is the relative depth of water
i'm the streams at the beginning and end
of these proposed cuts? And how much
more will it cost to make the cut through
Understands creek than it Will cost to
finish the One-third of the cut already
commenced thrOu. h ROmney marsh?
3. Would the opening of the cut through
Understands creek compensate the people
of Savannah for the loss of a summer re-
sort? If so to what extent and hOWY
1. II YOU did not own Little Tybee
Island, and were not interested in Great
Tybee Island, would not the cut through
ROmney suit you. as well as that through
Understands creekf
). If you were the owner OF warsaw
Island would you not advocate and favor
the cut being made through Romney
marsh?
6. How many more miles would the
travel be increased by cutting through
Romney marsh than by using cut
through Understands creek?
:. Do you not know that every man,
woman and child in the city OF savannah,
except those who are interested in Tybee
Island. are in favor of, and therefore in
terested in having the cut made through
ROp1uov m arch instead of through HaDer-
sham's creek?
8. To what extent would the commerce
of the city of Savannah be injured by
ROmney marsh being cut through instead
of Habersham's creek.
Answer these and convince me that
am wrong and l wiz be converted to your
plan. ALPHA.
The correspondent, whose letter we pub
lish above, is apparently seeking infor-
mation-we hope he is-but he has evil
IDENTIFY had a talk with the gentleman who
writes communications under many sig
natures-an old trick, to make the public
believe that there are several men of one
mind. There are only two parties inter-
ested in Warsaw cut. One is the owner
of the island and the other the writer OF
the several communications defending
that route and attacking the motives of
those who oppose it. alpha" however,
is not so smart as "Pro Bono PublicO."
ae gives us the information that
the $4,000 already used was eX-
pended for the purpose of securing
to our "citiZens beautiful, safe
and healthful summer resort" This lets
the cat out of the bag, The popular idea
is that appropriations made for the i'm
movement of harbOrs and rivers are for
the benefit of commerce. The money CIV
en- is for business purposes, not that one
man shall use it for the purpose OF Sc
curing access to a proposed summer re-
sort. The idea of spending $4,000 of the
peoples money to get to an island that
cost the owner about $1,000! 1t will be
news for members of Congress to know
that they gave $4,000 to assist summer
resort.
As tie writer of the communication has
asked several questions, we will answer
them as he has numbered them:
1. The route known as No. l, by way of
Understands cut, is 3 q miles shorter than
route No. 4, by way of Warsaw Island.
,. Gen. Gilmore. in his report, says:
1.-The route No. / would connect the
deem water of ROmney marsh creek with
OdingselPs river, by way of Understands
cut. 1t is remarkably straight, with suf-
fcient depth and width OF water" Ac-
cording to the estimate of the engineer,
Habersham's cut route would have cost
IS. 44S less than the Warsaw route. As it
is the purpose of the government at some
future time to make the improvement
twice the present proposed width, we can
put the ultimate saving in using Haber-
sham's cut instead OF Warsaw creek at
twice that amount, namely, Sl6.S From
this deduct the amount already used on
Warsaw creek. $4,000, from the above
sum. and we have a saving of S. 500 in ia
vor of Understands cut.
3. We cannot estimate the loss to the
people of Savannah in not having War
saw Island made a summer resort. The
present inhabitants of that island are two
darkies. servants Of the owner of that
property. The purpose of improving
the navigation of Romney marsh is to BEN
eft the commerce of Savannah by giving
q more expeditions route to the coast
country south of US.