The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-29
LEVEE RESOLUTIONS
ADJoURNs AFTER
 THEIR ADOPTION.
A Reference by President Scott to Ex-President Cleveland Without Mention of Name Wild
 ly Applauded.

Ex-President Cleveland Without
 Mention of Name Wild
 ly Applauded.
 New Orleans, Oct &.-The Interstate Mississippi River Improvement and Levee Association concluded its session tonight after adopting a series of resolutions in favor of government Jurisdiction of the levee or adequate appropriations for their speedy construction if government control Is not advisable and indorsing the pro- posed waterway from the great Lakes to the Gulf and the Chicago sanitary canal as part of that project. The feature of the morning session was Judge Robert s. Taylor's appeal against the proposed movement for government ownership. Judge Taylor urged the convention not to sacrifice the assurance of increased ap- propriations for the river by an attempt to reach the unattainable. At the after noon session a reference of President Scott to ex-President Cleveland. without mention of his name, aroused a great burst of enthusiasm.
 Tulane hall was again crowded today when the second days session of the levee convention was called to order by President Scott
 Secretary Brandt in summing up the delegate situation, said that 167 cities and incorporated municipalities of twenty vention. Of the Eastern States Massa- chusetts and New York are represented. Lynn sending a good-sized delegation. There are three delegates from New York City, four from Philadelphia and others from Pittsburg. California, Washington, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Illinois and Indiana have very large dele gations All the States along the river have delegates.
 It was anneinced that the delegates would go on trolley ride today and a river ride tomorrow after the adjourn ment of the convention.
 Chairman Catchings called the resolu- tions committee together today and it is expected strong draft embodying the appeal of the convention to the Federal government will be ready for presenta- ton at the forenoon session tomorrow.
 President Scott introduced Judge Rob- ert s. Taylor. of Fort Wayne, Ind, mem Der of the Mississippi river commission, as the first speaker today. Judge Taylor, in the course of an address on the Open ing and Development of the Levee Sys- tem." said:
 '"The records of the past establish with substantial certainty that the great floods on the Mississippi river do not occur an- nually. They come in groups of two or three in immediate succession or near to- gether, with intervals of several years of low stages. not reaching the overflow line. These variations of volume are un- doubtedly due to periodical variations of rainfall-the same variations which cause the we'll established oscillations of level in the great lakes. It is entirely safe to assume that great floods do not and will not ocur in the lower Mississippi oftener than two years out of five upon an aver age. If the levees always would do as we'll as they have done this year and nev- CT any better they would protect, on an average, taking all the years together, 90 per cent of all the lands capable of such protection. People could live and wealth accumulate and civilization advance un- der those conditions.
 'In my opinion, our experience will be something like that in the future. We shall never be able to build unbreakable levees, but We can makes crevasses so few that the general experience of the people will be one of immunity from over flow and disaster the rare exception-so rare that the sum of 1t distributed over the years and the area will represent a small per cent of the whole"
 Judge Taylor in winding up his remarks created considerable of a stir by saying Uc IelL IL HIS DOuuueH dS u uelc6dle to oppose the proposition that had been advanced by some of the delegates, that the federal government should take over the control of the levees and complete them.
 'I am opposed to this proposition be- cause 1t cannot be carried out" he said. Judge Taylor said there should continue to be cooperation between the federal, the state. the district and county govern ments. But he added, "I hope that the great convention will not throw away its chance for increased help from the national government by asking for some- thing that is beyond reach. What we want are larger appropriations along the old line of cooperation. We can get this. but 1t would be impossible to carry out the idea of the federal ownership of levees even if the federal government was ready and willing to acquiesce."
 Senator J. H. Berry, of Arkansas. fol- lowed Judge Taylor in a brief address.
 "As to the objection offered by Judge Taylor to the Federal government own ing and controlling the levees." said Sen ator Berry, "let us not cross that bridge until we get to 1t. What we want is more money for the completion of our levees. We want money from the Fed eral government, and we want 1t right away. Let us try to get a united in- fluence sufficient to secure this increased appropriation, and we will let the govern ment ownership question alone until the time is ripe that we should take 1t up and consider it.
 At the opening of the afternoon session Chairman T. c. Catchings presented and read the report of the Committee on Resolutions. The resolutions were pre- ceded by an elaborate preamble in which the levee system is defended as the only reasonable and scientific protection against overflow by the river and in which the great burden which the people of the lower valley have had to sustain in guard ing against annual inundation Is pointed out. The resolutions follow:
 Resolved, That in the judgment of this convention the protection of the Missis- sippi Valley from floods is of such national importance as not only to justify but to make it the duty of the general government to undertake 1t and press 1t to the spediest possible completion. If for any reason the exercises of sole juris- diction at this time by the general gov renment should not be deemed advisable then this convention urges most earnest ly that Congress make at It's approach ing session such appropriations as are recommended by the Mississippi River