New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-04-12
FLOOD CONTROL
Systems Of Holland and Hungary Ap-
piled to the Mississippi Problem.
/, tho Editor of The Tribune.

To tho Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Reading in The Tribune this morn
ing the toll Of lives and property destroyed
by the floods OF the Mississippi, feel not
only sorrow but shame and humiliation
that such state Of affairs should be per-
mttcd in the United States in 1912.
My mind reverts to experiences in Ho-
land and Hungary I'm tho summer OF 1911.
Hungary first IT Budapest visited the
wonderful Museum of the Hungarian De-
partment Of Agriculture. one of the most
advanced departments Of any civilized ma
ton. There ] saw the plans, in relief, OF
tho food control Of the Danube at the
Iron Gates, where the great river passes
through tho mountains on its way TO the
Black Sea
I'm former days the spring floods from
the upper reaches Of the river became
blocked at this point and the backed up
water Hooded the agricultural lands, as does
In" Mississippi. CARRYING death and great
monetary loss In its path. Count Szechenyi
uncle Of the man of the same name who
married the little Vanderbilt Elrl-a man
whose public services we'll merit the bronze
statues and tablets erected in his memory
by his grateful countrymen-devised the
scheme which has ended forever this UNI
necessary loss.
BY a system ~ return canals. through
which food waters were turned back into
great reservoirs when a certain height was
reached, these waters were stored until
the food was past. As the river falls they
are allowed TO return 10 the regular chan
nels. through the same canals, or they
can be used for irrigation in dry seasons, II
such disposItion IL thought more sdyan-
tageous.
Such food storage reservoirs should ne
applied 10 the Allegheny and Mononga-
hela rivers, 80 avoiding the foods "nlcn
nearly every year do millions OF damage
10 the neighborhood Of Pittsburgh such
control would also prevent floods from tHe
Ohio meeting foods from tho Missouri and
upper Mississippi in the valley OF our
Father OF Waters"
The solution Is even easier in Its dealing
with the Missouri food waters. For nun
dreds OF miles that river flows through
country where adjoining lands could have
no better use than as reservoirs for Hood
waters These, properly impounded' would
become centres for irrigation Of untold
value. and their control would forever elm
mate dangers OF food in Tennessee Ken
lucky, Mississippi. Arkansas, Alabama
and louisiana The application Of scientific
methods to the upper Missouri and upper
Ohio would he insurance that the lower
Mississippi would never vary in height
more than IS inches or feet
This condition would make possible the
security Of feeling the Dutch have behind
their dlkes. IN July. 1911, while sitting IN
his rose garden behind the residence OF my
friend 4 Hollander living at Boskoop, in
the little Boskoop polder Of 800 acres
which supports a population OF 5000 people
by its nurseries. / watched an excursion
steamer pass through the canal within hfty
feet OF US. with the deck OF the steamer
about twenty feet above our heads, gong
TO The Hague Her wash was surglns
against the banks II the canal doing no
harm. In Holland there Is not stone Die
enough 10 throw at a barking dog Yet this
canal 10 prevent the waves iniurlng tho
hanks had its sides paved with granite
blocks brought from Belgium. And IN little
Holland. with only about the population or
greater New York and fewer people than
the population Of London. there are 2lOO
miles 81 service canals for the internal com
merce.
We may he told the food control NJ the
Ohio ard Missouri would cost a lot OF
money Surprising II does! Shall we let
destruction continue?
Rotterdam, a city Of 10000 people, built
IT'S sea level ship canal TO the Hook or
Holland. 1000 feet wide. with water for
the largest ocean steamers, at a cost OF
SIS. 10000 In twenty years its population
increased to $4,000. and the shipping at It's
docks would remind an American Of the
harbor of New York before 1851, though the
vessels are many times larger.
Resides this great work, contemplate the
North Holland Canal. connecting Amster-
dam with the Helder; tho North Sea Canal.
between Amsterdam and tho North Sea.
tho pumping out Of the Harlemmer Nicer.
making farming country Of seventy-one
square miles IN the great polder OF the
same name, over which the Dutch navy
sailed to relieve the siege of Leydenl
And shall the government of the United
States sit idly by to see its most valuable
lands and it's worthy citizens destroyed by
food because Il would cost money to save
them7 Would not this be conservation
worthy Of any national party?
SPENCER BORDEN.
Fall River, Mass, April g. 1912.