The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1898-06-11

i, 400, 0OO.UO more lnan ~ noo
received. There has gone into
permanent levee building, that Is,
into actual dirt upon the levees,
of this amount, the sum of S22l,-
574.4S. That is, more than three
dollars of revenue has to be raised
by taxation in order that one dol,
airs worth OF dirt may be placed
on the levees.
It Is not the object of this :" IL
Gle to critioise the management, 81
the levee board, or to charge that
the expenditure of such a large
part Of its revenues in other ways
than in actual dirt is not necessl-
tated by surrounding conditions.
It is the condition resulting there
from with which we have to deal,
and by which the people OF this
district are confronted.
Owing to the extraordinary
crop Of last year, the revenues OF
the district for the past two years
may be said 20 have reached high
water marx with the greatest rev
enue we can hope for from q taxa
ton which cannot be materially
| Increased without making it oner-
Gus to the point of conhscAt!onr
during the psst two years the dis
ltrict, from its own resources has
only been able to put little over
1900, 100000 per snnum into the
actual strengthening of its levees-
only little more than past expe'
rience shows is required annually
to replace levees that have caveC
away; much less than was required
| to repair the breaks from las
years food, which were repaired
by the government at q cost o;
over $150,000.00. Think wha
that means. Withoutgovernmen
aid the money expended by tn
board would not only not hsv'
added a yard of dirt to strengthen
the levees proven 80 weak by las
years food, but actually woul,
mot have closed the gaps througI
which that food poured, A
shown by t.hlS report OF Capt. +
tC. Newcomer, the government e2
pended on our levees from Octobe
III, 1896 to May l, 1898, S643
,il44.03. Without that expendltur
the people Of this district wouI
have been as helpless in defense c
themselves against the food {
i1s9S as if their hands had bee
] tied to their sides-and with thei
2 hopes destroyed, their leve'
0 shattered, their fields covered b
the triumphant waters, they migl
> we'll have thought that the end hs
come in disaster and defeat to tt
+ good fight they had fought 30 Ion
t throughout the weary years.
I'll So this district stands-with II
millions gathered by taxation e.
pended, no part of its line has y
Q attained the point of absolu
: safety; the enlargement now belr
done with government money 9
tends only half way down it; all
l. the line requires enlargement; ha
of it is utterly incapable of wit
standing any unusual water; t
o revenues barely suffice
d maintain the system at its prese
2. condition, even with the burden
1t building broken levees borne
II the government.
The failure to obtain COVER
ment aid for a single year, wi
a hlgh-Water means destruction
ot the system, and thereafter sta
,r gering EDWARDS under burd
i Of increased taxation such as 0
people have never dreamed OF.
u the abandonment of that lar
area of the Delta, the develo
ment of which has been predicat
W upon the security of our lev
le system.
m Government aid a necessity
= the securing Of it rendered II
nitely more precarious under t
&c inevitable retrenchment that "
r follow from such an enormo
Or amount Of government mon
n being expended in the conduct
= the war-a retrenchment INC
~ which those improvements and
to preparations which are deemed
d. least important, or which are
b. Tended with the least zeal or al
20 lity. will certainly be sacrificed.
Brains, leadership, recognize
y position, that influence which
the slow growth of years, all
needed now to wiring from I
government that aid without VIII
we must perish. Yet we are ask
D. to entertain the idea of retiri
)r from his post that man who Is n
D. ognized throughout the length a
~ breadth Of this country as the
ponent and bulwark of the lev
10 system in congress and throu
IT. whose efforts the district has
ceived for levee and revetmC
le purposes, exclusive of the mon
j. expended on the Yicksburg a
ID Greenvir harbors, over two mi
h ion doll. i, and who seems slm'
10 lin rec f the goal for which