The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-25
Complete Federal Control Is Urged by Several
 Speakers
PARKER FAVORS
 NEWLANDS' BILL
Declares Treatment of Problem as a Unit by the Government Is Only Practical Method of Solving
 Flood Situation

Memphis, September 24.-That the
 construction and maintenance of an
 adeauate system of levees along the
 Mississippi river as the only means
 of holding the waterway within bounds
 is primarily national problem was
 agreed by speakers at the first session
 today of the annual convention of the
 Interstate I.evee association. Complete
 federal control was urged by several
 and this suggestion found favor with
 probably the greater number of the
 delegates.
 President Taft sent a message arg-
 ing the necessity of cooperation by
 the federal government and the states,
 and suggesting that the needs of the
 Mississippi valley during the next few
 years would be so great as to require
 .'all of the funds that can be spared
 from both the national and state treas
 uries."
 The convention will continue in ses-
 sion tomorrow and Thursday. It is
 planned to bring about the merger of
 the s5 minor levee associations of the
 states bordering the Mississippi and
 combined efforts toward securing larger
 federal appropriations.
 Insist on Federal Control
 Congressman J. T. Robinson govern
 or-elect of Arkansas. and Representa-
 tive K. D. McKillar of Tennessee. in
 sisted that federal control was the only
 solution of the levee problem.
 United States Senator-elect Jospeh E.
 Ransden of Louisiana, president of the
 National Rivers and Harsors Congress, and Representative Ben c. Humphries i of Mississippi, however. were of the
 opinion tbat the states should continus | 10 have d part in the caring for the levee and insisted that the present plan of securing aid of Congress is the only plan likely to meet with success at this lime
 John NJ. Parker of New Orleans urged that the question of levees is only pert of the problem and sug- gestec that tite conxention 30 on record in approval of the New1ands bill now pending in Congress. which provides Tor the reclamation of lands subject 10 overflow, the building of reservoirs and other general plans.
 The resolutions committed appointed today will probably report Thursday. Joseph T. Robinson. recently elected | governor of Arkansas. in an address before the levee convention here to- day urged Improvement of existing levees construction of flood water reservoirs and building of parallel levees as the most practical methods of flood prevention in the Mississippi val ley.
 Three Plans
 MT Robinson said in part: Three general plans have been pro noted. First improving and strenSthen- ing of the levee system. Second, con struction of vast reservoirs for the flood waters, thereby relieving the levees of the extraordinary strain occasoned by the unusual rises of the lower river. Third construction of parallel levees ere atlng artincial channels designed to act as spillways for the diversion of hgn uoou waters.
 Much expense would be incurred by all three plans. For the present, however, we must depend on strengthening and ex- tending the evee line as the safest means of hood prevention. There must be a re- newed activity in construction and main taining levees. The importance of the subject can hardly be conceived. It can not be unwise.
 The Mississippi river and it's tributaries drain approximately fl per cent of the iCtAl area e1 the United States. This rep resents two-thirds of the economIc or pro- ducing value of the entire country. The Mississippi basin contains nearly 1,25O,U0 square miles. Of this, nearly 3o,voo square miles, or 1s,100,U0 acres, are subject to overflow. only 20 per cent of this over flow area is now In cultivated area Local levee districts have been organized in 2s,500 square miles of territory under the laws ot the various states in which the lands are situated.
 "Formerly the whole eyee system was discredited in some of the districts. This was due in some instances to graft amt incompetence in the boards of control Many also doubted the wisdom of the levee plan for controlling the flood waters. The last 10 years has witnessed a change for the better in all of these par tlculars The people have come to know that the existing Ievees do, in fact con trol all ordinary floods, and that in- stances of serious failures in the levees are growing rarer,
 Parker Advocates Federal Control John NJ. Parker, whose extensive plan tatI0ns were inundated result of the Dogtail crevasse last spring, in a briei and pointed address before the Interstate Levee association today, advocated the treatment of the rivers and streams of the Mississippi river watershed as unit by the federal government as the only practical method of permanently solving the flood and overflow problem.
 The topic assigned me is, Why should
 the Government Maintain the Levees.
 said Mir Parker. The topic should have
 been, Why the Government Should
 Maintain the Lefees.
 Since the building of the first levee at
 New Orleans in 1717. floods and overfiows
 have cost the people of the United States
 in direct losses more than all the wars
 the country has ever engaged in and all
 the pensions it has paid.
 Politics plays q great part in state
 levee work. and the patronage is choice
 political plum.
 State Funds Insufficient
 .The low land states. with their limited means and limited sphere of control, can
 not prevent the formation of floods in the
 states higher up. but the federal gov
 ernment, with it's great resources of
 money and skilled engineers. and with its
 splendid Panama canal equipment, can
 control the source streams, minimize the formation of floods, utilize now wasted
 waters by turning them into power, dry
 season navigation and irrigation, and
 thereby reduce the volume of the floods k 10 that the pressure will not break strong
 levees built and maintaind by the federal
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