The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1905-07-22
KILLING
GOOSE

GOOSE
The latest report Of the proceed
ing Of the Board OF Mississippi Ie-
wee Commissioners for this District
IS a remarkable commentary upon the
attitude ofthe people Of the District
towards the institution which they
have established and TO which they
primarily look for protection from
the calamity Of overflow.
1t IS becoming more and more the
habit Of land owners and others IN
the Lcvee District to look upon the
Board as "a good thing''-a pigeon
easily picked; concern out OF
which money may be squeezed;
golden goose, like that in the German
story, from which every passerby
tried to snatch feather.
1t is coming, or rather, has already
come to the pass that the man whose
property IS condemned for levee pur-
poses congratulates himself, secure
in the knowledge that he will get
more ont Of it than the land would
bring at legitimate sale The spirit
is akin to that with which people
bring su;,s against a railway company
and such is the force and effect on
the popular mind OF the word cor
poration" that juries can ordinarily be
relied on to support almost any clam
against a body bearing that name or
aspect
Like the cyclone that comes with
out warning and destroys lie, your
houses. fences. etc, the great uncon-
trollable Mississippi changes its cur
rent. eats away your land and endan-
gers your levee TO the former You
look for relief only ont OF your own
pockets. to the latter you hold up the
Levce Board for heavy damages be
cause the river has forced it to move
back its earth defense of tire district
and unfortunately for you, turned ont
your land. The courts have de
cided such lands thrown out are only
entitled to the damage from the dram
age cut off. but through this loop hole
excessive damages are given against
the board by juries. Such decisions
are robbing the levees of dirt-the
bar against high waters, the protect
or Of our homes. our lives and our
wealth 1t is in truth killing the
goose that laid the golden egg.
The Levee Board is corporation.
1t is a corporation, not OF small
circle Of men for the accumulation OF
individual wealth, but a corporation OF
the entire people OF the counties sub
icct TO overflow and protected from 1t
bv this Corporation alone. The
money which offers so tempting
bait to greed is the fund cpon which
theLevcc District is dependant for It's
safety. and without which these lands,
now held at fabulous prices when CON
demned would almost be worthless.
1t is the Levee Board which makes
vour lands valuable 1t IS the Levee
Board which, while destroying few
acres along the river, has made 1t pos
sible to clear and cultivate the whole
magnificent country extending from
one end OF the Bogue Falaya and the
Sunhower river to the other; land
which. without the Levee Board,
would overflow from ten to fifteen
feet deep, and would, in five or six
years. return to the condition of
bowling wilderness, not even worth
two dollars an acre for the timber on
IT,
How short sighted is the policy
that looks upon the Levee Board as a
sheep 10 be sheared, or COW to be
MIXED The fact is that every dollar
unrcasonably wrung from it is dol
lars worth OF dirt taken from the
dixie that stands between you and the
river.
The condition IS becoming danger
ors. The rapidly growing demands
upon the Board cannot continue to
increase without exhausting its re-
sources; and those resources, remem-
her. are the resources OF the people
Of the District-the combined reserve
fund which every man expends for
his own protection and the mainte-
nance Of the value Of his property