The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-28
CALL ON GOVERNMENT
NATIONAL CONTROL OF LEvEE
 SYSTEM URGED.
President Roosevelt Writes Letter Showing He is in Sympathy With Proposition-Cnnven-
 tion in New Orleans.

New Orleans, La, Oct. N.--Resolved to appeal to the Federal Government for ad- euuate aid to levee both banks of the Mis- sissippi River and to maintain such levees at Maximum grade. thereby making pos sible the reclamation and protection or the alluviai lands and improving navfga- tion, the largest and most influential levee convention yet held in the valley con venea here today when President Charles Scott called the Interstate Mississippi River Improvement and Levee Associa- tion to order.
 The occasion was otherwise notable one for the direct announcement by the President of the United States or ms sympathy with the movement which the convention proposes to inaugurate. The delegates represented eAht to ten states of the Mississippi and Ohio. valleys, ana included Governors. Senators. members or Congress. high railroad officials and rep- resentatives of commercial exchanges on Levee Boards. President Fish, of the H. linois Central Railroad; Vice-President Thorne of the Texas and Pacific. lesser officials of the other trunk lines entering New Orleans; ex-Secretary of the Treas ury Charles s. Fairchild. Secretary of Agriculture. Judge Robert s. Taylor of the Mississippi River Commission; Cover nor Longino of Mississippi, and Governor Heard of Louisiana. Senator Berry of Arr kansas, Senators McEnery and Foster of Louisiana. R. H. Edmonds. editor of The Manufacturers Record, and others were present.
 In calling the convention to order Pres- ident Scott defended the levee system and urged the constituuonality. the expedien- cy and the commercial and military ne- cessity of Government charge of the riv- CT. Mayor Capdevielle and Governor Heard made addresses of welcome.
 Former Congressman Wilkinson of Lou isiana, nominated for temporary chairman of the convention ex-Governor E. O. Stannard of Missouri. In taking the chair Governor Stannard laid great stress on the necessity for such aid to the river as would make it navigabie from It's head waters to the Gulf and Col. J. L.. Vance of Ohio, supplemented the remarks to the chairman with a strong presentation of the claims of the people of the Ohio Val ley for the joint improvement of the Ohio with the Mississippi.
 John NJ. Parker of Louisiana. was ap- pointed chairman of the committee on permanent organization which was re- ported in favor of Charles Scott for per- manent chairman of the convention and John W. Bryant of Louisiana and w. A. Everman of Mississippi, as secretaries, and for a committee on resolutions com posed of two delegates from each State represented, and ten at large.
 Before the convention recessed until night Chairman Parker of the Committee on Arrangements read a letter of sym pathy with the movement from President Roosevelt that aroused much enthusiasm. The President wrote:
 My dear Mir. Parker:
 Permit me through you to express my very great Interest in the work of the Interstate Levee Convention Exactly as I have taken a keen interest in irrigation in the arid regions, so I feel that the movement for thoroughly protecting the Mississippi lowlands by levees is one of importance to the whole country, no less than to the people immediately adjoining the great river. wish all success to your convention and shall follow its pro- ceedings with close attention.
 Sincerely yours,
 "Theodore Roosevelt.''
 When the letter had been read Murray F. Smith of Vicksburg offered the follow- ing resolution. which was unanimously adopted:
 "Resolved. That the thanks of the peo- pie of the Mississippi Valley are hereby rendered to President Roosevelt. through this convention, for his manly and pat riotic letter endorsing the purposes for which t1lS cOnVenIiOn mas Deen Cdileu, to wit: The deepening and improving the channel of the Mississippi river and the protection of the vast area of alluvial and fertile territory along its banks from dew astation by floods; thereby conserving and facilitating the vast and growing in- terstate commerce already transacted through the medium of great railroad sys- tems behind the levees
 Resolved further. That the Chairman and Secretary of this convention .be re- quested to wire these resolutions to the President"
 The convention then took a recess until D. m.
 At the opening of the night session .Judge N C. Blanchard of Louisiana spoke, urging government control of the levees,
 Secretary of Agriculture Wilson arrived here today and tonight addressed the levee convention. The Secretary Is on his way to Texas. He will spend Thursday at Crowley, La, where he will inspect the Crowley canal system and study the pro- duction and marketing of rice at the cen fer of nroduction of the most important rice milling center in America. During the day the Secretary visited the cotton exchange and became quickly the center of both bulls and bears.
 Secretary of Agriculture Wilson, follow ing Judge Blanchard was welcomed with great cordiality. He said the question of Government control of the levees was a new one to him. It interested him deeply and the people of the lower valley had his deepest sympathy in pushing it. II was A source of qualification, too, that there was a man in the White House broad