The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1900-03-24

WON 40
80 let that be his birthday Amen
said the clerk"
-
Last Saturday our city was hor
ored by a visit of the Mississippi
river commission comprised c
Gen. Geo. l.. Gillespie, Pres
b. M. Harold, civil engineer
Judge Robt. l. Taylor, Lieut.. Col
Amos Stickney, Thos. H Hand
burg and Henry L. Mandarin o
coast survey and j. A. Ockersol
civil engineer.
They are now out on an inspec
ton OF the new levees. Owing
to the fact their being here wa
known only by a few citizens, theil
welcome was not what it would
have been, had it been known by
our big hearted people. Mayor
Yerger in company with few
members of the council and sever.
al of our most prominent citizens
boarded the boat and for the few
minutes their boat stopped at oul
whalf they spent a pleasant time.
The boat left for points south.
From the Dispatch we get the be-
low information and give it to our
readers concerning the commits
sion.
The members of the commission
are appointed by the president Of
the United States, and the term OF
office is for life or during good be
havlor. While it IS not in the
law, it has been the rule since the
creation of the commission that
three of the members snail be civ
illians, three members of the war
department and one q member OF
the coast survey. Among the
civilians two are civil engineers
and one a lawyer, The original
commission was composed of Gen.
Gilmore and Comstock and MAJOR
Suter, of the army; Prof.
Henry Mitcheal, of the coast sur
vey, and Henjamin Harrison, af-
terward president of the United
States; B. M. Harold and James
B. Ends, of jetty fame. Mr., Har-
rold is still a member of the COM
Mr.. Eads died and Mr..
Harrison was elevated to the pres
idency, thus leaving two vacancies,
which were filled by appointment.
The civilians receive salary OF
S3, 900 per year, but army officers
get only their regular salaries, and
receive their assignment from
Washington.
The secretary of the commission
Capt. Mason M. Patrick, has his
office in the Fullerton building St.
Louis, where the records of the
commission are kept. The Miss
isslppl river is divided into four
districts of approximately equal
ength, with officers and corps of
engineering IN charge of each.
The executive officer of the dis
riot carries out the plan of the
and distributes the
,unds which are allotted to his dis
riot. While there are districts,
here are only three executive
officers. The first and second dis
riot are combined and are in
,harge of Capt, E. E. Winslow, |
whose headquarters are in Mem
ohis. The headquarters of the
bird district are also in Memphis,
n charge of Col. Potter, and the
ourth district headquarters are at
(ew Orleans, in charge of Col.
Derby. All three of the officers
n charge of the engineering work
ay service in the recent war.
)apt. Winslow was at Santiago,
'ol. Derby was also there, and
aimed considerable mention by
ssendlng in d balloon before San
lago to locate the enemy's posi-
ions, and Col. Potter war chief of
be engineering staff for Gen. OTIS
1 the Philippines. The engineer
orps have charge of the channel
nd levee work, and the secretary
as charge of the survey work
nd the dredging.