The Monticellonian., 1898-10-07
STATE SHOULD TAKE HO[D
With Convict Labor Our Rivers Could Be Made Navigable
 At Small Cost.
LOCAL SECTIONS SHOULD LEND 4 HAND.

Rich Mineral Lands, Vast Forests md
 Coal oil Fields Would Be Put in Touch
 With the Hand of Commerce, Manu-
 factories Would Be Established and
 General Prosperity Follow.
 New York built the Erie canal for the purpose of tapping trade in what was then called the northwest. The work was conepleted almost 75 years ago. It tconneeted Lake Erie with the Atlantic seacoast and was the means of exT and ing trade in vast area of what is now the industrial center of the union. 1t sowed the seed which will never be up rooted. Low freight rate was obtained from Lake Erie to tide water. The Erie canal was the connecting link be- tween the lake regions and the Atlantic seaboard, It proved a stepping stone as it were, to increased facilities of transportation and the instigator of rapid transit.
 Considering the resources of New York at the time the canal was project ed, and comparing the condition of the state at that time with the resources of Arkansas today, the scheme was a gigantic one. Arkansas could put all of its navigable streams in boating con dition with less expense than the Erie canal was constructed, even if the work were to be accomplished by means of paid labor. The scheme of damming and locking navigable streams,at points where navigation is broken by shoals does not involve the cost of construc tion by contract at prices paid for such work. It is proposed that the bulk of the labor shall be performed by convicts under direction of the state. Even this plan will involve some eX. pense to be met by the state. In order, however, to bring the cost of construc- tion down to a minimum, it is suggested that counties in which locks and dams are constructed shall bear the expense of feeding and guarding prisoners who perform the work. Localities in which such improvement is made will be di- rectly benefited and will doubtless cheerfully bear the cost of boarding and guarding the conviets. It is pre- sumed that people who guarantee right of way for railroads, donate sites for de- pots, contribute ties and money to ob tain outlets by rail, will not hesitate to hnr fn a n improvement of rivers, especially when the benefits are carefully presented to them. But without the volunteer aid anticipated, the state can enter up on policy of river improvement in the lines suggested without incurring the expense or the risk which attended the construction of the Erie canal.
 The annexation of Hawaii and the probable acquisition of the Philippine islands render the Nicaragua canal a commercial as well as military neees sity, and when it is dug the mouth of
 he Mississippi will discharge cargoes
 the Pacific as well as the Atlantic ocean Space need not be expended in citing the changes necessary to meet the demands of new conditions With its natural resources brought under the influence of organized industrial enter prise. Arkansas will become one of the great powers in the contest of agricul- tural and art production.
 In Missouri and Kansas half the farm ,,,f,,+ rra JaI,t hoe boo,, ai bor rDaiJ orr refunded at lower rate of interest with in the past two years. This is due largely to transportation facilities, though in part to diyersifcation of crops With the mines of Arkansas thrown open and mills and manufac- tories established where nature has provided sites for them, diversity of industries will spring into being and these will call for diversified farming. An adjustment of economic inequalities will follow as night follows day, and the problem how to bring prosperity will solve itself. With river improve ment on right lines and carried to com pletion. such impulse will be im parted to manufacturing interests and railroad construction as to leave no doubt about the future. The state can then look forward to a grand realiza tion. But the prospective changes are contingent upon wise and energetic administration. This assured, the peo- pie of Arkansas may safely anticipate the high degree of prosperity their fathers dreamed of but never realized.
 All the region tributary to White river is pregnant with resources. Much of it is as fine grain producing region as can be found anywhere in the same latitude
 In addition to vast forests of timber, including many varties of commercial importance, such as cedar, walnut, ash, cherry, hickory and several varieties of oak, there are minerals in these regions which writers have described so often as to become tedious tale But to all these may be added coal oil. A certain section of the Boston mountain region was long ago split by volcanic action. This Assure extends a distance of twen- ty-fve or thirty miles through the zinc and copper district, and in places where the walls of the opening are clearly de- fined the rocks are stained with coal oil and visible traces of the liquid are found elsewhere throughout that re- Al T