The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-09-26
CONTROL
OF WATER SHEDS
TO STAY FLOODS
Roosevelt Urges National
Regulation of Waters to
Prevent River Damage.
P|ECEMEAl POLICY WORTHLESS
SWElL As PR0D|GAlLY WAsTEFUl
Government Should Get Facts upon
Which Future Course Is to he Base,
and then Pursue that Course a an
Entire Whole.

and then Pursue that Course a an
Entire Whole.
Memphis. Tenn, Sept. 26.-Theo-
dore Roosevelt declared in a speech
here today before the interstate leyee
convention that development Of prop
er control Of the waters in the Mis-
sfssfppi basin was a national and not
a state problem.
The former president citing the dis
astrous floods last spring as ian aw-
full lesson" asserted that prospects of
relief were no brighter than they had
been before. This, he said. was true
"in spite Of the fact that congress
was in session for five months after
the beginning Of the last flood disas-
ter, that the house, which originates
bills. was in control of
democrats. mainly southern men. dur
ing all that time, and yet not one
measure Of permanent relief or last
ing help was enacted in your behalf" /"
"As long as the habit of doing
things piecemeal. sometimes known
as the states rights doctrine. stands
in the way, nothing effective will be
DONE" he continued.
Mr.. Roosevelt further criticised
congress for failure to act favorably
on recommendations for inland wa
terway improvement contained in a
report Of the inland waterways COM
mission which he transmitted to the
congress in February. 1908, urging
that adequate funds be appropriated
for waterway Improvement and for.
est conservation.
Congress, however. not only failed
to act favorably on these recommen-
dations," Mr.. Roosevelt. declared,
'but it passed law which attempted
to make 1t impossible to continue the
work Of commissions Of this kind.
The republican and democratic par
ties alike were content to trifle with
the vital needs Of our people. The
Information necessary to
an adequate, we'll consider
ed, and thoroughly complete plan for
dealing with the Mississippi is not yet
fully at hand. We have been spend
ing large sunns Of money in the Mis-
sissippi valley, but instead Of using
1t, or part Of 1t. to get the physical
facts upon which sound general
plan Of development must be based,
that money has been spent in the
Of small and disconnected
schemes which never could measure
up to problem so large and so i'm
portant."
Mr.. Roosevelt further DISCUSSING
the "haphazard and piecemeal fash
ion" Of treating the waterway prob
lens Of the nation in the past, pre-
dicted that such method would mo
longer commend itself to the national
State Borders Disappearing.
More and more we are growing to
think nationally" he said. More
and more we are growing to realize
that many Of our problems are by
their very nature such that they can
be dealt with only as a whole and
only by the exercise Of the national
power. Half the states in the union
have a vital concern in the treatment
Its tributaries, and a portion of the
great basin drained by these waters
ls outside our own limits. within
those Of Canada.
ut is evident that no state can so
much as make an efficient beginning
In the endeavor to grapple with this
subject. Fortunately the matter has
become one Of prime and pressing i'm
portance at the very time when this
nation has learned by actual experi-
once that 1t is amply able to under
take the most colossal engineering
Job and has. as an incident thereto.
the plant with which it can
undertake another job of the same
'ize. The Panama canal is now near
ng completion and the skill and
:rained ability and the machinery
Used In its construction are available
M IN 81
a proper control of the
waters Of the Mississippi basin in
heir entirety"
1t was contended by Colonel Roos-
welt that 1t would be useless to 60
nto the matter Of waterway develop
nent and improvement "unless we
90 into 1t on a broad scale and on
thoroughly sound basis"
I'm dealing with the Mississippi"
le continued, I'VE ought not to think
II levee work along the lower course
ls our only end. The problem Ia
much greater than keeping the wa
er off the lands of any one set Of
nen. 1t really concerns changing the
conditions under which half the con-
inent Is drained and turning our gi-
mt internal river system into one OF
he greatest of national assets. The
problem is national one, not for the
tate. because what threatens each
tate with ruin is often not anything
which can be made beneficial to that
tate. The federal government
hould harness the waters Of the Mis-
issippi river drainage basin. No
me state can do even small part |
4 the work in first class fashion, |
Take Louisiana. for instance: al
hough the great drainage ditch Of
he Mississippi flows right through
louisiana. the drainage OF Louisiana |
lerself does not flow into this ditch.
ut into the gulf. Louisiana spends
Millions to keep the drainage of other
tates of her fertile cane and rice
nd vegetable plantations. She even
maintains a great levee line wholly
'ithin the state Of Arkansas as a
ecessary link in her protection Yet
here the floods form. Only the fed
raj government has such control:
nd the federal government must not
hirk its duty. 1t must keep the
rainage ditch in order and prevent
he formation of the tremendous
oods which threaten ruin to our en-
ire region. In thus keeping 1t in or
er 1t is clearly good business policy
, turn 1t into an asset Of navigation,
{ power. Of irrigation. and to make
pay huge dividends to all the peo-
lie In the shape of a permanent
I do not ask that the fed
raj government confine itself to
uil}ling lcvees from Cairo to the gulf.