The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1910-04-17
them and the city at large as a me.
Der of the city council.
BURToN'S NEW ATTACK.

Senator Burton's attack upon the
Mi sissippi river Improvement project
lis merely a continuation of his water
way obstructiveness of the past few
Years. He calls the riverway bill an
exemplification of a 'dribhling pol
licy,' which. he says, has character
tized our work in this line during re-
Leent times. Likewise he declares
Hhat the amount of money expended
by the general governme nt on the
Il tretch of FOG NJ miles khetweeil the
Missouri and the mouth ofsthe Ohio
"for the twenty years ending il. 1907
exceeded the amount expended by
the governmentsof Germany in the I'M
provement of the Rhinssfrom stras-
burg to the frontier of Holland ia
distance of $50 miles; yet the
amount of tonnage handled uron this
portion of the Mississippi in 1913 was
2Ti,O93 tons, while that On the Rhine
In the same yeG was hetwecl
90 100000 and lo.ooo,0o3 tons. an
amount 50 to lo7 lines as great
The points Of criticism are mot
very convincing. The way to end the
",lrihbiing policy" is fer Congress 10
ADOPT comprehensive scheme OF
Mississippi river improvement, and
Mr.. Furton, himself. in the house and
In the senate. has used his inference
against anything OF this sort. There
are several reasons why an expennl.
tire OF money on the Improvement OF
the Rhine has yielded more in profits
than the same amount has done on
the Mississippi between the mouth .:
the Missouri and that of the Ohio.
The region traversed by the Rhi7e as
more thiekly settled than IS that
along the borders of the Mississippi.
Owing to the low prices for labor in
Germany, dollar there viii so far
Their than it win here in getting work
OF any sort done.
Germany's law makers are a little
mere alert than ours in the utili7a- j
ton of their natural resources.
waterway like the Mississippi, If mi
Germany, would have been improved !
long ago and rendered adequate for
modern demands, Though the region
along the border OF the Mississippi is |
far les. thickly settled than Is the
country along the Rhine. 1t vii grow ,
rapidly in the future. The Mississir-
pi the main stream in sys~
TEN OF 10000 miles of naviga /,
Bile waters. The rive of TWEEN !
tw four states drain into the MIS-
sissippi. These states have SIS per-
cent of the country's population
They produce rs per cent of the
c0,Intrys wheat. 81 per cent Of its
corn, 43 per cent of its minerals, G6 |
per cent OF its cotton and 40 per cent
Of its manufactures. These are facts
which Senator Burton probably haas I
overlooked In every one of these !
items the. United States stands first |
ameung the countries of the world. |
The centers of population, Of manu-
features and of food supply are in /
the Mississippi Valley. When Uncle
Sans enumerators finish the count
Of inhabitants which they began yes
will he found that the popu |
Iation center. which was near Colum |
bus, InL., in 1900, has made a further |
long stride toward the banks of the
The social as well as the |
Industrial center Of the country is in
the big valley. One of the country's
largest assets is the Mississippi river, |
but apparently nobody has told any
of these things to Senator Burton
Globe-Democrat.