Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1907-03-22

tlon abreast cf production. There ap-
pears TO be burt one complete reme
dy-the development of a compile
mentary sgStem of transportation by
water. The present congestion af-
feets chiefly people of the Mississippi
valley and they demand relief. When
the congestion, of which they com-
plain, is relieved, the whole nation
will share the good results.
4" While rivers are natural resources
of the first rank, they are also liable
to become obstructive agencies en-
dangering life and property and some
of our most notable engineering en-
terprises have grown out of efforts t.,
control thcm. 1t was computed by
Generals Humphrey and Abbctt half
a century ago g,rat The Mississippi
alone sweeps into Its lcwer reaches
and the gulf 4O0,O00,00O tors of float
ing sediment each year (a'5out twice
the amount of material to be excavat-
ed in opening the Panama csnaD be
sides enormous but unmeasured
amount Of eartllsal.s ard soil matter
carried in solution. Lis vast load
net only causes It's channels to clog
and flood the lowlanGB Of the lower
river, but renders The flow capricious
and difficult ito control.
I" Furthermore the greater part of
the sediment and soil matter is COM
posed Of the most fertile material of
the fields and pastures drained by
the smaller and larger tributaries.
Any plan for utilizing our INLAND wa
terways should consider floods and
their control by forests and other
means; the protection of bottom lands
from injury by overfows, and up
lands from loss by soil-waslA; the
physics of sediment charged waters
and the physical OF other ways OF
purifying them; the construction of
dams and locks, not only to facili-
tate navigation but to control tine
character and movement of the waters
and should look to the full use Of
the control cf cur running waters
and the complete authorization of
our Waterways for lie benefit of our
people as a whole.
"It is net possible properly to
frame so large a plan as 'th;s for the
comtrcl Of our rivers withoat taking
account of ,le orderly development Of
ohcc natural resources. Therefore
l ask that the inland waterways
commission shall consider the rela-
tions of the stream to the ice of all
tire great permanent natural resources
and their conversation for the making
and maintenance of prosperous homes.
"Any plan for utilizing our in
Land waterways, to he feasible, should
re3ogrize the means of executing If
already IN existence, both in t}le fed
eral departments of the war, interior,
agriculture and commerce and labor,
and in the states and in their sub
divisions; and it must not involve
unduly burdensome expenditures from
the national treasury. The cost Will
necessarily be large in proportion to
tie magnitude of the benefits to be
conferred, but 1T Will be small in
ccrnpari1on with tile seventeen billion
dollars of capital now invested in
stream railroads in the United States
an amount that would have seemed
enormous and incredible half cen
tury ago. Yet the investment has
been "a constant source of profit to
the people and without cur industrial
progress would have been impossi-
bic.
"The questions which WEI come be-
fore the inland waterways commits
sion must necessarily relate to every
part of the United States and effect
every interest within its borders. Its
plans should be considered in the
light of the widest good of the coun-
try and its people and from the most
divers points of view. Accordingly
when its work Is sufficiently advanced,
| shall add to the commission certain
consulting members with whom, ]
shall ask, that ats recommendations
shall be fully discussed before they
are submitted to me- The reprcsen-
tatives Of the commission should in
clude both a general statement of the
problems and recommendations as to
the manner and means of attacking
il"