The Forrest City times., 1898-10-07
STATE should TAKE HOLD
With Convict Labor Our Rivers
Gould Be Made Navigabls
At Small Cost.
LOCAL SECTIONS SHOULD LEND A HAND.


Coal OIL Fields Would BE Put In Touch
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 completed almost rs years ago.
1t connected Lake Erie with the Atlantic
seacoast and was the means of exr and
ing trade in a vast area of what is now
the industrial center of the union. It
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. 1t proved a stepping stone.
- 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
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 streamsat points
where navigation is broken by shoals
does not involve the cost of construc-
ton by contract at prices paid
for such work. 1t is proposed that
the bulk of the labor shall be performed
by convicts under direction Of the state.
Even this plaR will involve some ex-
pense to be met by the state. In order
however, to bring the cost of construc-
tion down to 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 convicts 1t is pre-
sumed that people who guarantee right
Of way for railroads, donate sites for de-
pots, contribute ties and money to OBJ
tain outlets by rail, will not hesitate to
tax themselves to ensure permanent
Improvement of rivers, especially when
the benefits are carefully presented
TO them. But without the volunteer
aid anticipated, the state can enter up
on a 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 neces-
sity, and when it is dug the mouth of
the Mississippi will discharge cargoes
for 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
mortgage debt has been either paid or
refunded at lower rate of interest with.
In the past two years. This is due
largely to transportation facilities,
though in part to diversifcation 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 i'm
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 a grain producing region as
can be found anywhere in the same
latitude.
In addition to vast forests of timber,
including many varities of commercial
Importance, such as cedar, walnut, ash,