The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1901-11-23
IEyEt LEADERS CONFER
ENCE.

Va IEVEE LEADERS, CONFER
ENCE.
r The Daily States of Friday las
in an editorial on the successful ant
: largely attended levee meeting hei'
in New Orleans, says:
Gan important conference of thu
renresentatives of the levee INTEREST
along the Mississippi river was heit
in this city to-day. The interstate
Mississippi River Improvement anc
Levee Association was organized
with a view to perfect a genera
scheme for levee improvement, and
to strengthen the sentiment IN favor
of Government, State and local aid
in protecting the vast section OF
country subject to inundatiop by
the Mississippi floods. In order to
properly impress upon Congress the
necessity for making adequate pro
visions for this great work, 1t is
thought proper to have permanent
representative Of the association at
Washington, whose efforts shall be
directed exclusively to looking after
the interests of river improvement,
to keep track of all legislation look
ing to this end, and to be prepared
to furnish such information, statistl
cal and otherwise, that may be need
ed in pushing forward this great
work.
There are few questions of larger
moment TO Louisiana, Mississippi,
Arkansas and Tennessee than the
great problem of combining the
waters of the Mississippi river with
in its channel at all seasons Of the
year; and while the States and levee
districts have done much in this
direction, the task has been entirely
too great for them. The entire
country is coming to recognize the
Importance of the subject, and one
of the purposes of such meetings as
was in session at the st. Charles
Hotel today is to still further pro-
mote the sentiment in this direction.
The people living in that mighty
basin between the Rocky and ALLIE
gheny mountains and the great lakes
and the Gulf are vitality interested,
not only in the protection OF the
rich alluvial lands lying in that
rich basin; but also in keeping the
channel of the river open for navi-
cation, and the best engineering au-
thorities agree that this can best be
done by combining the water within
the natural channel of the river,
thereby enabling the current of the
river to accomplish that dredging
of the channel which would other
wise have to be done at great expense
by machinery.
In these days of great railway
combinations and the arbitrary for
cling up of freight tariffs by rail.
road agreements, the necessity for
having free and unobstructed great
natural highway, which remains for.
ever open to all the people, and
over which the power of the great
trusts can never secure control, be.
comes more and more obvious. The
great body of the people of the Mis-
sissippi basin have in the MISSISSIPPI
pi natural regulator of freight
tariffs, an insurmountable barrier to |
the extortions of railway trusts;
and so long as they see to it that
it runs free and unobstructed to toe
sea they can never be seriously i'm
posed upon by the great combina-
tons of capital being formed to con-
troll the transportation of the coun-
try. The meeting to-day was to
make forever sure to the people this
great highway of the commerce of
the richest portion of the world. 1t
is to perfect the system with this as
its end, and to arouse the people
of this whole section to the import
ance of the great work that is being
undertaken in their behalf.
The last Congress was most fa-
vorably disposed in this direction,
but the bill making provisions for
the work was talked to death by SEN
ator Carter. 1t is desired that no
such fate shall befall the bill which
will be presented in the next Con-
gress; these meetings. therefore,
will serve to rally the people to the
support of river improvement until
the sentiment shall become so strong
that no future Carriers IN the Senate
will dare to obstruct the passage of
measures having that end in view"