The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1897-05-15
FutiIity of the Levee System.

From the Kansas City Times.
The passage of Senator Vests reSolu.
ton with reference TO the Mississippi
floods is inviting Il wide diversity %
newspaper comment with reference tC
the proper plan to be pursued i'll order
to prevent permanently the destruction
caused by the foundations of the mighty
river. Some of these commentators be
lieve that the old plan, with important
notifications IN the methods of con-
struction, and by building the levees
higher, broader and of more durable
material, affords the proper solution /;
while others take the ground that the
levee system is n failure, and should be
abandoned for one more in conso-
nance with the laws of nature, which
would TAXI into its scheme of operation
the construction of reservoirs, the
opening of outlets and the building of
mounds in the lowlands where the
farmers could secure safety for them
selves and their live stock in times of
an extraordinary rise. Among the adj
herents of the latter plan is the Florida
Citizen.
In a recent article on the subject it
institutes II comparison between the
method pursued by the Egyptian in
treating the inundation of the Nile and
those followed by the American IN his
effort to prevent the overlooking of the
Mississippi. 1.-The American" says the
Citizen, 'sattempted to conline within
set bounds one of the most erratIc as
well as powerful forces of nature-to
control a convulSion-to fetter a storm.
Dl,o IN,,ot;an Cn,oht ny1v IN liE,,,t tha
same power to his uses-to disarm its
terrors and make of a CONFUSION his
servant-tO use the force he could not
always control. The American, even if
his plan could be successful, would
force the Mississippi to carry tons upon
IONS of fertilized soil 10 be buried under
the waves of the Gulf, or become an OBJ
struction to his commerce, while he
bought artificial manures TO replace
what the river carried of in solution.
The Egyptian planned, first, that an
ordinary inundatIon should be Il bless
ing, not a curse. He provided places of
for his cattle, and then he saw
the fertilizing waters spread " all his
farm, where they would leave a deposit
of rejuvenating mud when they retired.
If the river rose above the crosses set
for marks at close intervals, all down
the bands, floodgates were opened, and
surplus water drained into reser-
to be used for irrigation when
needed.
How different was the plan con-
by the American mind, and how
different has been the result. For gen.
erations we have built levees to ~confine
he Mississippi to a channel-to make
it a canal. During the summer the
silt raised the bed of the river, and then
raised the levees higher for the next
eason The purse of the government
vas called in to continue the system far
nut into the Gulf, and the purse of the
Individual replaced the wasted f%ertiliz-
ng material by drawing upon the fac
cries of the east and the phosphate
mines of Carolina or Florida.
The money spent upon the levees
md jetties of the Mississippi would
ave made of the great river one of the
blessings of nature, and a never-failIng
provision against the ravages of time
nd use of the land. 1t would have
constructed ~reveryoirs, provided flood
.ates, and given man power to tame a
Onvulsion he cannot control.
Perhaps, before there was history to
ell of his struggles, the Egyptian
earned the same lesson by the same
ard experience. 1