The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-05-19
TIE MISSISSIPPI FLOODS.

| From the Globe-Democrat
The Maker of the universe never Gre
ated but one thing which He could not
control, said the distinguished orator,
! Sergeant S. Prentiss, land that was the
Mississippi river He made it, turned it
| loose, and let it rip" This graphic view
| is practically confirmed by the annual
| floods like the one that is now devastat-
ing the southern portion of the country.
The situation is worse in some respects
! than has been known for several years,
and the result must be a loss of property
and an interruption of industry that
| will seriously retard the prosperity and
welfare OF thousands of citizens. 1t
seems to be impossible TO provide ade
quate and reliable means of protection
against these terrible disasters, The
great river has way of turning the
calculations Of science TO mockery, and
brushing aside the most formidable de-
fenses that engineering skill has yet been
able TO devise There are contingencies in
its scheme of operations that can not be
| for5een. The experience of one year is
not always safe guide for the next one.
owing to the Intervention OF new sources
of danger and new methods of attack and
destruction. Those who live it the dis
tricts biect to overflow are never certain
| that they will be permitted TO raise
crop or to remain in their homes. They
are at the mercy of force that may
| ruin them in day, and their efforts 70
aAert the calamity count tor little or
nothing as a general rule.
1t is insisted by those who are best ac-
quainted with the conditions of the
problem that the levee system is the
only feasible plan of protection; but it
proves TO be a disappointment when put
to a severe test. New breaks occur
every year at points where perfect secu-
rity had previously been felt, and it is
by no means sure that anv form of en-
bankment viii resist the flood under all
circumstances. A large amount Of
money has been expended in the con-
structiOn Of such works, and competent
engineers have declared the most impor-
ant of them to be lmpregnable, but the
river still repeats its disasters year after
year in spite of all SUCH appliances. Pos
sibly the system would be effective if
the expenditures had been larger.
There is Il good deal of force in the sug-
gestion that it is not to be expected that
defenses erected at a few points
will stand the strain of such
volume of water as the Mississippi now
contains when other points are left I'M
protected. This Is to say, levee system
of local sort does not give assurance
of safety because it takes account only
of Immediate facts, when in reality
the distant considerations are the gov
erning ones. If the whole country adj
joining the river from st. Paul to New
Orleans could be provided with levees,
these annual foundations would pr ba-
bly, be prevented. The cost of such
system would be enormous, of course,
but the interests involved are also enor-
nous, and the necessary outlay could be
justified as easily as some others that
have been made from time to time under
the general welfare clause of the con-
stitutiOn. Ii is certain, at any rate, that
the task of protecting the fertile and
valuable lands along the river against
the floods that are now SO damaging to
their owners should be assumed by the
government, and that the work should
be done in comprehensive and practi-
cal manner.