The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-04-24
STARTLING ARRAY OF FACTS.

Almost every day for the past month
the dispatches have given brief accounts
of the floods in the lower Mississippi
river, but we have seen nothing in print
so graphic in description of the situation
there as the following from Gen. Jno.
! II. Rice written from Natchez. Miss, to
the Fort Scott Monitor. The situation is
awful in the extreme:
1t does seem to me that if the people of
the Mississippi and Missouri valley could
witness the heroic battle the people of
Mississippi and Louisiana are today
waging against the water of the Missis-
sippi river. it would excite not only adj
miratiOn but pity. And they would
unite as one man and demand that con-
gresS come to the relief of this grand
country with millions for Ievees that
would protect it.
Today hundreds of thousands of square
miles Of the finest farms in the world,
with crops growing, may be ruined for
this year in an hour. The water is stand
ing from NicksbuTg to New Orleans. from
four to fourteen feet above the level of
these farms, and for many miles of levee
the top Is only from two inches to eight
inches. today, above the water
The waves from passing steamer splash
over the tops: and the water viii rise to-
day, at least another inch. as it has done
every day for month. Slowly, but as
surely as death it comes creeping up, and
these two inches of dirt are all that inter
venes between the mighty flood of water
and the homes of these people. Not
WithStanding this. they are hopeful. and
their courage and energy in battling
back the water would excite the admira-
ton and sympathy of even a nissan
thrope.
Thousands of men, day and night in
sunshine and rain, in mud and water
the whites as well Is the blackS-aTe up
on these levees, one gang driving stakes,
another reyettlng banks with plank, an
other wheeling dirt, anothertlling sacks
with sand, and another filling as best
they can, Crawtsh holes. Mile upon mile
OF levee (where the water Is above the
top Is held by the building on top with
sacks filed with sand and laid along on
the water side, and piled up and up as
the water rises. And this Is the only
protection, at this hour. for thousands of
farms and thousands of families, their /
crops. their stock, their subsistence. And .
all this loss. this suffering and agony
Is simply for the want of money. With +
money this river can be made a safe as
the MarmatOn at Fort Scott. All this .
flood Of water comes not from Mississippi I.
and Louisiana, but from twenty-seven Z
other states; a great deal of 1t comes from I.
Kansas. II i from the accommodating
waters of other states that these people .
are flooded and drowned out, and only 4
justice would demand that the people Of .
those states should require Of their repre- 1
seuJauves IN congress the care Of this ma
ticnal river. and the protection Of the al (
lUvIal lands of these inundated states. 4
which, when protected against this water, 4
VIII be the richest farming country upon .
this earth.
rs stated. all that Is necessary Is }
money. These people have taxed them .
selves GENEROUSLY for levees. The country I
Is divided on each side of the river INTO .
levee districts. governed by levee .
board. Thus board Is q corporation. and /
mas almost auJocTatIc power IN collect .
ing levee taxes. They levee q tax Of from .
, 20 II cents an acre on land and % cents .
a bale ON cotton. for levee purposes. and .
Issue bonds 10 raise money IN case If .
The present leTees have I
been almost entirely built IN TINS way. +
had the millions that these people have 4
raised IN tins way for the past ten years .
been duplicated by a ike amount from +
the government II would have enabled +.
the building II the levees with sufficient .
slope and height 20 have held every drop
Of the present food II the channel II the
river.
Tie government must take hold q
this work. Il Is lust a. legitimate for
the government "a DO a. Il l. 70 build
LEhthou@es- Tie people Of these states
cannot dc l. 4 million each year fg-
Mississippi and the same amount for
louisiana and Arkansas from the gov
s-IllncLt. added 20 the taxes raised b.