The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1913-04-05

tells Cairo and other industrial com
muaities to protect themselves with
higher Levers and the fact that the
loss in this city alone would amount
10 more in life and money than
would the total in1ndation of every
inch of farming land between tn 2
| junction of the Chic and Mississippi
rivers is not consideration.
Uncle sam asks Us TO attain 2
levee heign, that is rapidly nearing
the impossible, bat it is a case Of
life ar death with us and We are
hound 20 keep up the pace a. long
as we can At the present rate Of
levee building. Cairo would, in years
10 come, be surrounded by . wall
so high that the entire city would
almost be within its shadow, except
at high noon. The same would be
true of other cities along the Ohio
and Mississippi river.
The government cannot accuse us
OF negligence Our city was estab-
lishcd on a swamp and we have'
| filled IL in to the depth of Is feet
We also have erected levee of sc
feet in height That IL is not high
enough now is due 10 the lack o.
proper and timely investigation or
the part of the government. n We
are inundated, we can point to Uncle
Sam and say: There is our slayer:
he killed us with his carelessne IS and
indifference,
The idea of walling in forming
land is all wrong. While IL must
be admitted that the farmer is en-
titled to as much protection as the
city man. ii mus. also be conceded
tGat The building of levee pro actiou
sho"ld be based on the tht ory OF
giving the absolute maximum q
protection. For instance. the city
of Cairo would be damaged approx
matelv sis.a0a 600 in the evont OF
inundation at this time The flood
| Ing OF the entire agricultural land
between here and the gulf wo, Id not
cause damage in excess OF III sum.
nor would the possible loss OF life be-
as great The flooding of Cair0
would mean almost complete loss
OF the city. while the flooding Of th@
farming land would probably mem
| nothing more than the los OF 4
crop. and the chances are that the
farming land would be beneG ed bv
the new land that the river wonld
deposit upon it,
With the money the COVE nment
has spent on levees in the l. st few
wears, it could build a mound of an
acre 100 feet in the air on every
farm between Cairo and New Or
leans. During food seasons. the
farmer, with his home and stock on
this mound. would suffer no fncor-
veuienee or damage other than the
possible loss of crop and tsmpor-
airy isolation With high lefees he
would not have an absolute fuaran-
tee OF safety.
hy removing the levees already
built around farming communities,
congestion in the channel vt the
Mississippi would be relieved ana
the ultimate result would be tlat in
dustrial communities, where flood ;
mean death and destruction. would
forever be safe even with their pres
ent levees. To make the Sd ETY. II
the cities absolutely certain. sew
erai Of the Ohio and Mississippi river
tributaries should be diverted into
the gulf by some other route.
Engineers. who have made study
of the problem, have been quoted as
stating that the Cumberland and the
Tennessee could be diverted from the
Ohio river. They also declare that
tributaries OF the Missouri and Mis-
sissippi could also be thrown off In
another direction.
The views expressed herein do net
represent the opinion OF an expert
| IL Is not for the layman TO say that
the problem of food prevention does
not present difficulties. but Cairo's
past and present experiences plainly
indicate that our trouble has been
due to an overabundance of high
ieyees in the lower valley. No bet
ter illustration could be cited than
in the Reelfoot levee. II tho hand
protected by this levee should be
opened TO the river, relief would be
obtained at Cairo within a few
hours The government recently
completed the task OF rebuilding ana
strengthening the Reelfoot leyee,
which broke under the pressure Of
last years food.
The federal government mgst be.
gin, at once, systematic study of
the flood problem. which is OF a
thousand times more Importance to
the people of this nation than the
b,tflHfnp nF tha