The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-04-30

phosphates and lime, the latter COM
Ing largely from the shells of minute
crustaceans including crabs and craw
iish. which live in the swamps. and, dy-
ing. have their shells there in such
quantities that they have permeanted
the mud with phosphate of lime This
rich stuff is found in all of the swamps,
and there are great quantities of II in
the delta of the Mississippi.
In the Delta
And what mighty delta the Missis
sippf has! It is one of the greatest on
earth. You could lose that of the Nile
within 1t and it's lands would make a
second Egypt. 1t is bigger than the
delta OF the Gauges. 1t is many miles
wide and is as long as from New York
to Cleveland. The swamps in 1t COM
prise altogether over twenty million
acres. and they are so rich that any
forty acres would make n good farm.
The lower part of the delta has mil
lions of acres which will raise sugar and
rice. North of them are millions that
could he devoted TO cotton. and still
farther north are millions lifted for
corn. We all know what Holland has
done BY diking the sandhills Of the
North Sea. This land might be diked
the same way. but II would be walling
in hotbeds. rather than sand.
The government geographers have
already made topographic maps of a
great part of the lower AIissIssippi
They have gone over the swamps on
foot. on horse back and In boats, and
have charted it section by section.
have before me. as ] write. one OF
their ma ps, which covers an area per-
haps the size OF a township in n levee
district of the State of louisiana 1t
is about the size of mans pocket
handkerchief and It is peppered with
figures each one of which shows the
height of land or depth of water on the
spot which IL marks. 1t gives every
stream. and the character of every
hill and hollow The bayous are drawn
TO scale, and the whole marshy dis
trict is shown in such way hat
CIVIL engineer could make working
plans for its drainage. IT is this sort
of work that is being done throughout
tho Mississippi delta 10 NJ 1t for pri-
vate drainage enterprises. or for the
time when the States or the national
government may adopt some plan TO
reclaim the lands.
4 Job for tncic sam.
And jus, here ] would say that the
draining Of the swamp lands OF tho
United states should be in the hands
of Uncle Sam. indeed. II will need to
be so controlled before the work can
he done for the good of the country.
AS it is now, 95 per cent or these
lands are in the hands of private
parties. They were relinquished by
the general government 10 the States
about fifty years ago on the under
standing that the States would In
auguratc works to reclaim them. Tho
States sold them out to individuals on
the same understanding, and as re-
suit tens of thousands and millions OF
acres passed away from the govern
ment for few cents per acre.
And now IL is found that the work
is necessarily national one. Take
his matter of the lower Mississippf
The swamps act as great reservoirs
which regulate tine flow of the river.
They become nlied at the times OF
the foods and seep out gradually into
tie main current. II the swamps are
. cut of the water must he all thrown
back into the main channel, and this
"ill nccessltatc raising the levees OF
diEcs which arc now along both sides
of Inc Mississippi and other rivers
and which have cost the government
and the States tens Of millions OF dol
lars. There are more than 1.3OO miles
IF levens along tho Mississippi alone.
ihc Yazoo basin has an unbroken dixie.
and there Is great dam around tho
basin of the ST. Francis The govern
mcnt. national and state, has srcnt
s34,O0G.00o within the last generation
to cage the waters Of the mississippi.
And the swamps will have to be han
died carefully TO keep the cages In
tact
Moreover, no state Will allow q sister
state TO drain it's surplus food waters
INTO its own territory and the farmers
VIII Kick against receiving surplus
| water from their neighbors These arc
some of the problems which confront
me drainage proposition and make
u Impossible except through co -oper-
alton and national supervision II IS
an interstate and pational question,
am tod by Senator Newlands TINT he
hag treated OF this matter In his new
MI Tor III. MANAGEMENT OF the water
%aya Of the Union
Drainage by Stntcr.
some 81 the states have already au-
ihnrIzHf the drainage OF the swamps
ann hons have granted concessions to