The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1912-06-16
. t4iN+ :. ii aA Z afs
Economic Aspects Of Flood.
Nv Walter Parker.

II
the surface soil, is washed from the
lands of the Mississippi River water
shed int. the Gulf, Of Mexico each
and every year. This is waste inso-
far as everybody now living is con-
SEEMED, and the farmsrss and land
owners of the Ohio and Missouri VAL
leys are. paying the bill.
Water enough passes down the
Mississippi when In food stage to
irrigate .fifteen or / twenty million
acres of the dry plains or bench
lands in the upper watershed of that
river. 81
More than eonugh water goes to
waste down the Ohio river each 7bd
season. to supply dry season nayiga-
ton and millions of electrical horse
power. units. The same, thing is true
of the upper Mississippi river.
All of this water, concentrated
| int III raging shcpafrqlled torrent,
combines at Cairo, and, on its mad
, rush ID ithe seq, carries waste and
sdestrntticn in l1s wake in the shape
OF broken levees, devastated farms,
homeless terror-striclsen people. and
retarded development
Conserve the Floods.
Reverse the picture, Harness the
source streams. Conserve the rfreshet
waters for dry season navigation.
Draw power from dams and reser4
voirs Turn, the floods. of the upper
Missouri out over the dry bench
lands. Build strong levees from
Cairo to the Gulf that will hold the
partially controlled foods fixa thu
lower river. And what viii be the
result?
/, Theareseryoirs will supplement- the
SKINNER flow and thereby HevidS at
all times an adequate supply OF
water for the system of locks and
dams so that there will always be
a navigable stage in the Ohio on
which to float out to tide water the
coal, the iron, the steel and the
manufactured products OF that por-
ton of the country. while the power
developed will go long way toward
increasing the economy of manufac-
tire.
In the upper Missouri river coun
try hay will grow on millions Of
acresYof land now devoted to grazing
and the production of cattle that will
then thrive on that land will be in
creased tenfold. In addition, sum
mer seepage will return enough
water to the river TO supply nav1-
gable stage Throughout the dry sea-
Bon.N 0ta"
The upper Mississippi will enjoy
all the year navigation and an
abundance of power.
From Cairo to the Gulf the foods
viii, not then climb anywhere near
SO high as they have done in the
spring Of 1912, and with a compiet
and weli-constructed levee system
on both sides of the river the farm
ers and planters will no longer fear
creyasses and overfows and limit
their investments for Improvements
accordingly. %cs
The silt waste will be checked be-
cause no adequate system of food
controlfcan ignore soil erosion. Then
the farms of the north and middle
west will not annually lose in fer
tility, and there will be fewer bars
and mud Jumps in the lower river toll
check the flow and obstruct navi-.
CATION. t1@ta
Development Unrestrained.
With foods and overflows abated,
development in the Mississippi Val
ley will start on anew scale, and
gather Roadway every year because
there will then be no periodical dis
aster to check and hamper it. ~
With such development, the tens
of millions of acres of lowlands
which are not now cultivated will
be brought under the plow, and the
food produced thereon will appre-
ciably reduce the cost of living, aid
In maintaining the national trade
balance on the right side of the
ledger and greatly assist In remov-
ingtthe cause OF theasociai unrest in
the factory towns by supplying De-
sirable homes to the underfed and
.s .sat t