The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-29
AN INADEQUATE REMEDY.

The people of the Lower Mississippi
eminent to the construction and main
tenance of complete system of levees
along the banks of that river. In con-
vention assembled they have decided to
unite their forces for this object, and
1t is not impossible that they should
be successful. Uncle Sans strong box
is seldom proof against the concerted
action of any section of the country
that has large representation in con-
gress and in the electoral college.
. The government has already been
carried farther than should have been
permitted toward the building and
maintenance of levees on the Lower
must be admitted that the people of
those states also have done their share
without murmuring. They have Gre
ated levee districts in which heavy
taxes were levied, and have not at
tempted to shirk the responsibility. At
the same time they long ago made an
entering wedge by securing appropria-
tons for river Improvement" sup
posedly in the interests of navigation,
but really to repair old levees and en-
large or construct new ones.
The worse feature about this is not
merely its commitment of the federal
government to another source of un-
limited expenditure, but the fact that
the money is being and will be ex-
pended on method scientifically in
correct, incomplete and injurious. A
levee is not an adequate protection
against floods. Except temporarily, it
is not protection at all. It aggra-
Yates the very evil that it is meant to
cure, and belongs away back in the
ages when people had no knowledge Of
nature and her laws
If river is at flood and the banks
are raised to keep it within them, this
lifts the surface level of the stream
between the levees. acting in effect as
two lateral dams. This decreases the
slope of the rivers surface and so di-
minishes it's current and lessons it's
velocity. The moment that velocity
grows less, more sediment is deposited
The bottom of the river is, therefore.
being continually built up higher and
higher, and the banks must be raised
correspondingly to keep it within
bounds. After sufficiently long term
the levee system could end only in
creating country through which the
water courses flowed at the top of
great mounds, raised out of sight at
their SUBMITS and wide enough at
their bases to sustain the enormous
weight and pressure from above.
OF course this beyond the skill and
resources of man, and so everywhere
nature relieves herself by breaking
through the levees. thus lowering the
food level, increasing the current.
securing out the bed of the river and
making the remnants of the dykes eff
receive. Nature points out the way,
only man has not had sense enough to
follow. The only system for control of
great stream like the Mississippi that
would ever be effective is a system in
which the levee and the outlet are
scientifically combined.
Where the country admits it, this
surplus water might well be collected
In great lakes or lagoons, as has been
suggested, allowed to stand until its
sediment has been deposited and thus
fertillze enormous areas, as is done in
the valley of the Nile. Where this is
not feasible. the excess water should
be conducted through separate cham