The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-06-14
FLOOD STORAGE
IS RECOMMENDED
Secretary of irrigation ASSo-
citation Talks
BRISTOW IS UNFRIENDLY
Assistant Postmaster General Holds
Up Establishment of Rural Free
Delivery Routes--News
of Washington.
BRISTOW is UNFRIENDLY
BY wATTERsoN sTEALEY.


Washington. June 13-(special)- )-Ac-
cording to Guy H. Mitchell, secretary OF
the National Irrigation association, stor-
age reservoirs at the headwpters of the
Mississippi and Missouri rivers would
cause dimunition Of such floods as the
present one. The high-water mark at st.
Louis has reached over seven feet above
the danger line, which means an enor-
nous volume of water going by every
minute, and 1t may well be questioned
whether in a hundred years could reser-
voirs be built with sufficient capacity
to appreciably mitigate this evil.
"A feature Of this flood storage said
Mr.. Mitchell today. might be termed
secondary storage The water storage
proposition applied to the Missouri and
its great tributaries involves the ques-
tion Of the irrigation of the vast arid do
irrigation storage reservoirs were con-
structed on these rivers, 1t is estimated
that as much as thlrty-fve million acres
of present desert land would be re-
claimed. The principal season for grow
ing crops In this area would be April,
May, June, July and August, and the rea-
sons that the lands are not irrigated at
present is that while there is plenty OF
water In the first three months, during
July and August, when water Is abso-
lutely necessary to mature the crops,
these streams are reduced to mere
threads. If the storage reservoirs were
btfl1 fa
land during July and August, during the
three preceding months the water for
this great area of land would be drawn
directly from the streams themselves.
By means of canals and bitches almost
incalculable quantities of the flood wa
ters coming down during April, May and
June which cannot be stored in the
reservoirs, would be taken out of the
rivers and spread upon this land, which
would take 1t up like a SPONGE water
which would go down the Missouri river,
and down the Platte river, and down the
Arkansas river into the Mississippi. and
thus add to the flow Of the torrent there.
Under such a system OF irrigation the
effect would be the same as though 1t
had been possible last week to spread
out the great flood of the Missouri the
Arkansas and the Platte and flood mil
lions Of acres of farming land In Wyom-
ing. Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and the
Dakotas, thus reducing the flow Of the
lower reaches of the Missouri below the
danger point.
THE combined volume of the water
impounded in storage reservoirs at the
headwaters of these great rivers and
their tributaries and that contained In
network Of hundreds of miles of irriga-
tion canals and bitches. coupled with
that absorbed by millions Of acres of
arid lands. would have gone a long way
toward palliating or preventing what
will be known as the flood OF 1903 "
In the opinion of Representative Living
ston, of Georgia, Fourth Assistant POST
master General Bristow is unfriendly to
the rural free delivery service. and his or
der holding up the establishment Of
routes until the end of the fiscal year is
unjustihable In that the public lis being
punished for the thievery In the postal
service.
IF Mr.. Bristow is permitted to do so,
he will seriously cripple the service" said
Mr. Livingston tonight. Ills every move
since he has been given control tends In
that direction. His idea of reform and
economy seems to be that the rural routes
should be dependent upon the star route
system for vitality, and that the delivery
of rural mail should be under the contract
system tne same as tne star route- lie
forgets that the declared purpose of con-
gress has been and will be TO reach the
rural classes with daily mail.
Congress did not expect the system to
be self-sustaining for while. The sys-
tenn was an experiment for several years,
but has passed that stage. and no action
by the postoffice department can turn
the hands on the dial backwards. Con-
gress will see to that.
1T Is an outrage on the masses of our
cifizana u.I1o-1i1te in The rural dlafrlcfs To