The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1912-02-07

"A fat morass bestrewn With fall
en- timber, marsh upon which inc
good growth OF earth seemed to nave
been wrecked and cast away---wherc
fatal maladies seeking whom they
might infect came forth at night .i
misty shapes andecreepine out rpon.
the water haunted tacin EliSe,
7pecterg.
The second paragraph portfays
the condition that exists nov, upon
The Identical ground above referred
10. ana OF which Alfred Teunyson
Dickens, son of Charles DlckcHS,
wrote on December I'd, 1911, TO the.
lIon. George Parsons, mayor o.,
Cairo;
Il think your City stands az
monument to tho great continent OF
,rerica as showing the indcmltablc
perseverance. industry and llncon-
luerable energy OF the American
citizens when they are confronted
| Rith an almost impossible task to ac-
ccnplish--I feel sure that were ny
father alive at the present day ne
would be the first to take off his
hat and confess chat he was wrong,
| How was this marvellous trans-
formation accomplished? BY pro-
lection and drainage. The levees
have prevented overflow in the time
| of high water: the canals have car
ried the water with which the land
| was saturated back 20 the river
channels. The land has been dried
out. malaria has disappeared, and,
almost as if N response to the we've
Of a magician's wand, the Cairo Of
| today is before us. Surely what has
been accomplished IN the instance
above cited, by private enterprises,
can be repeated throughout the
country if the engineering resources
and the financial backing Of the
United States government can be
secured.
Concretely stated, this work mrst
be done, because the land is needed
for homes for those who arc crowd
cd in the tenements Of the cities,
eking out prccarious existence,
some OF them by questionable means.
Take these people away from their
present environments, give them the
| opportunity and they will become
| producers instead of drones, honoru-
bic citizens, q credit to our inst .tu-
tions, incidentally increasing the
production OF foodstuff, thereby
bringing about reduction In the
cost of living. Laying aside the in
crease in productive and taxable
values which will acrue, it is clearly
our duty, from the standpoint OF hui
nanity, to clean out the pest holes
md render those places safe for
habitation.
A precedent was established by
| the national Congress when the
| reclamation bill was passed in 1909,
authorizing the United States gov
ernment to intervene In the reclama
ton Of the arid land of the West
| Undoubtedly, IL the Federal Congress
had the right to authorize the gov
ernment to put water on land that
| was too dry. ii has the right to au-
| thorize the same government 10 take
water off land that is too wet. par,
ticularly when the reclamation OF
| the arid land was rather sectional
| and the redemption of swamp land Is
problem that is national in its
| scope.
There is bill pending in the ma
| tional Congress, constructed along
lines similar to the reclamation bill.
| which. II passed, will authorize Fed
| eral Intervention in the redemption
| to cultivation of our swamps. In Or
der to promote the enactment into
| law of that bill or one similar, there
was organized at Chicago m, De-
cetnber Z, 1911, the National
Drainage Congress This congress is
composed of strong, patriotic citizens
who have no personal ends to furth-
err, no objects to accomplish. except
the Improvement of health condi-
tons, the increasing of our produc-
tive area and the enhancement OF
the real basic wealth of nation, State
and individual.
The second annual congress will
meet in New Orleans, La. April 10.
TO IL, 1912 AT that meeting mat
ters will DO discussed Of such vital