The Cairo bulletin., 1911-02-07

Springfield, Ill.,, Feb. G.-Condi-
tions quite as bad as those along the
Lake Michigan coast Line and alons
the Chicago river regarding land grab
bling are found throughout Illinois,
according to additional disclosures
made today In the report Of the CGir-
erfield commission.
TIE report deals specifically with
the Calumet river, ,ac Fox river at
Elgin, the Illinois river, the river
fronts at East st. Louis and Cairo,
the DespaincS river the Mississippi
river and the Onio and Wabash rivers.
The commission finds that S,CS1
acres have been filled in aloag the
Illinois river alone The greatest part
OF this lies in Tazewell county, oppo-
site Peoria
As near as can he estimated, ma e
lands from acretions amount to 30
acres per nile on the Illinois, except
in Tazewell county, and are nearly
uniformly distributed.
The action of the war department,
through the United States engineers
office, in granting permission to mails
fills in the different rivers, Us severe
ly criticised by the commission. which
holds that suca permission is used
merely as preteXt and a shield by
those scaling to fill in navigable
streams. The commission maintains
that the granting of these permits is
clearly an assumption of power which
does not belong to the war depart
nent.
A brief summary Of the main fea-
lures contained in tho separate re-
ports of the different streams - co1-
taineJ in part in The following:
Illinois River
Notable ern"oachments Onrrr a;
Marseilcs, Ottawa, Peoria and Pekin,
wherel valuable land Dps been illegal
" taken At pekin the railroad and
distilencs have been particularly
tive
The rive"'s importance as water.
way is second only to its value as a
fishing ground. Erhfoachments upon
the bed arc a trespass on the rights
of the public. or in violation Of laws
of the state, and should be vigorously
dealt with.
River Front, East st. Louis.
This portion of the commission s
finding is of sensational character.
The condition which exists at East
st. Lows are represented as wholly
and .irely into!erable, calling for
most aggressive action. The revoca-
tion 4 the Virgins Ferry Company's S
charter Is favored if necessary, to put
East ST. Louis, as far as the public
Is concerned, actually on the river.
The commission does not believe that
any litigation that has taken place
so far Is conclusive against the state.
1882 Acres at Cairo.
Without taking into account any
artificial filing which may have oc-
CURED along the river at Cairo, 1882
acres of made land have formed
along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers
within the limits of the city.
Mississippi River.
Lack of sufficient appropriation
prevented taorough investigation
on this point Numerous large bars
have been formed aud below Alton
in township number ,, nearly 1000
acres have been addcl to the area oI
Illinois since 1916 Township num-
ber ! is composed entirely of acrea-
tions.
At East St Loris more than $50
acres OF acreations nave occurred. A
portion of this area has been artifi.
cially formed b ythe construction of
piers and other work.
AS a reason for this in its volumin.
Gus reports the commission says.
Unless conclusions and deductions
are preserved and set forth in this
way, II would require as much eff6et
on the part OF others wno may
ceed to our work or lesire to inv
tigate, TO draw these deductions as II
was upon our part to make the origi
nal investigation, and for that reason
we have fe't impe!lcd to neglect nc
phase or aspect of this question, and
thus we have gone into the matter
more thoroughly than we should Other
wi3e have done mad we not heen thus
impressed with the necessity for TAX
ing action IN the matter"
Sixty Per Ger. in Chicago.
Sixty per cent of the alleged ag
Gressions, or l,0S7 acres, lie in Chi
cago. From the bed Of the Chicago
river The report finds twenty-five
acres have been taken without war
rant, while on the Calumet river iiv'
and a half miles Of survey by Eugi
neer ". ". Hcilbrnn disclosed sixty
five acres of cncroacnments.
Severe criticisms are aimed at 'he
city Of Chicago AMI the Lincoln Part
board for Indifference" and regli
gence. Separate treatment is givcr
Streeterville. the Connery-Corbet
tract, the Illinois Central and en-