The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1907-02-23

M. Chairman: / would like to be /
heard on this paragraph for few
minutes
Mr.. Burton OF Ohio. Does the
gentleman from Mississippi object to
the amendment?
Mr. Humphreys OF Mississippi.
No; not at all simply desire to
make a few observations on the par
agraph as amended. | think the
amendment very proper one. There
is an increase carried IN the para
graph Tor the lower Mississippi for
the ensuing year, the amount, as you
will observe, being 100000 instead
Of 100000, which IS usually pro
vided While the wordin- Of the
paragraph Is Identical with that here
rofore employed, IT is the intention
Of the Mississippi River Commission
so spend this extra million in the
prosecution of bank revetment
The policy Of reveting the banks,
primarily t. prevent levec lines from
caving into the river. has not been
favored by the commission. This
policy. i'm fact, was indefinitely reject
ed a number Of years ago, and reso-
luton to that effect was formally
adopted by the commission. Time
and experience however. have con
WINGED the engineers that a hard and
fast rule could not be adhered to, and
Their has been OF late some relaxa
ton 1t is not the intention of the
commission now to embark upon the
general policy OF reveting the banks
OF the entire Mississippi. nor IS il
the desire of expectation OF this com
mittee that this appropriation be ex-
pended to that end There IS, how
ever. middle ground TO which
events have forced the advocates of
both extremes, and this extra mil
lion will be expended in furtherancc
Of this resultant plan.
The Government has spent good
deal OF moneys in the building of
levecs on the lower Mississippi We
have proceeded upon the thought that
the riparian owners Of the overflow
ID lands. which were thus protected
from devastating hoods. would CON
tribute in fair proportion to the ex-
ense OF the work This has been
done IN the particular district which
I represent We have under State
law, organized taxing districts for
the purpose. and in the past twenty
i've years we have paid into our leyee
boards more than sig 100000. Dur
ing the same peri II Government
has expended less than $4,000 ooo
along the same reach al the rive
OF course when we began the rebuild
ing Of levceS after the series OF de-
structive floods Of 1882. 1888. ard
1894 we did not realize the tremend-
ous proportions Of the system We
were To Hnder5ele + sc had known
then What the ultimate grade and
section would hev9 to be, perhaps
there would have Been more shrink
ing from the task wh1ch has since
proven hcrculean indeed To get an
idea of our stnatiop. let me relate
m incident II the lower adoo dis
trict. which has frontage along the
river OF $50 miles. after paying the
most burdensone taxes Tor thirteen
years, each high water demonstrating
that the levees must be built still
higher. we cast up accounts i1nmedi-
ately after the flood OF 1907. and as
certaned then that We had approxi-
natcly 100000 yards OF dirt in the
levee line. 1t was painfully apparent.
however. that we were not ont of the
woods, and as the levees grew higher
the cost dumping yard OF dirt on
top Of them likewise grew higher
When that flood subsidized we went at
II again, and III the next six years we
put another 2o,o0o,ooo yards of dirt
on them In other words. we did in
the next SIX years as much as we had
done IN the previous thirteen. Then
the Hood OF 1908 came-in many re-
spects the biggest of them all-and
when it had come and gone with its
lessons our engineer made another
report in which he announced that It
could be fairly accurately told then
what the ultimate grade and section
In ~ he "a
was that still another 20. 100000 Yards
would be required That was an APP
palng announcements. Mr.. Chairman.
and one that would have broken the
spirr OF people less determined.
More than 90 per cent of all our
taxes had gone into those levees for
twenty years, and still the end seem
ed no nearer than before There was
no high-soundipg motto OF Nulla
Vestigia Retrorsufn on our arms for
TIC very Geal I'D prosv reason
that our was a battle OF shovels. not
shields. But the situation was there.
full of ominious meaning. and we
knew our only pathway lay in front
OF us The legislature authorized us
10 issue million more bonds. which
we did at once.
As | have said before. Mr.. Chair
theory OF contributions by local in
ferssfs III the building Of our levees
and this particular district has Ger
fairsiy kept the faith. We have con-
tributed more. in fact, than our just
share Few people had ever taxed
themselves as we had for the con-
quest Of peace and we had found that
her victories were not only no less
renowned than wars. but were also
hardly less c0stiy
At this Juacture. Mr. Chairman, IL
developed that the Mississippi River.
pursuant TO its own sweet and tickle
win, had begun to cave its banks to
such an extent that the levee at
Iongusnod was about to go into the
river This was one of the largest
sectors in the entire line of the sys-
tenn, ard if h were lost. new line
would have to be built At cost, M
Gliding rights Of way, Of $7so,ooo.
As remarked moment axo. ii the
IL natttr Of local participation ne had
done our part We had kept tbs