, 1913-05-03

cattle, horses, and hogs were destroyed in
large numbers, and the wild animal lite taken
by the f ,ols cannot be coMputAd. Health
problems of dangerous Importance We're ere
'ated, and HE injury to business an com
marce aggregated hundreds Of millions Of
dollars. In order that the suffering bv hu-
man beings night be reduced, the Federal
Government promptly arp opriatea $4,000,
coo for the purchase of food an for the re-
pair Of broken leveeS. But not one cent was
appropriated for the solution of The monster
economic problem involved, or for the cor
rectiou of the fundamental evil hut has been
created through the changes wrought by
man in the watershed of the n ttion'5 great
est drainage system.
In January, 1913, u single tributary, the
ONO, rose, and Il oods in the valley OF that
river did great damage between Pittsburgh
and Cr:ro, ml SO sweIle the waters Of the
Mississippi betW cen Cairo AMI the Gulf as to
cause the breaking Of the Beulth levee, IN
the State of Mississippi, Il second time with
IN tw I've m NTH thereby flooding the cot
ton plantations Of four most fertile cOun-
ties.
wees built on the lower Mississippi will
not prevent great and destructive floods IN
the Chic and the Missouri Il vors, and these
floods. forming W thout check q, a result OF
accelerate run-1tf from denuled mountain
sides, tile druiued Ilrm5 and generally I'M
proved drainage, gather enough forca hy the
time they reach the NJ s,isslppj River to
destroy the Ievees anI turn farms into reser-
voirs. In this way much valuable property
i, destroyed, nayjgabIe channels are SIP pIled,
power and needed water are wasted, amt all
because the Nation has been 50 poor III pur-
pose that it has not seen fl TO tUrn q Ma
tloual agency of waste and destruction INTO
a National agency of prosperity
The valleys of the Mississippi Ri er and
its tributaries ctunot be permanently pro
tected from floods unless four things are
done;
First The Mississippi River must be
treated as Il unit, with all its tributaries,
from source to mplth.
Second The levoe system must he
brought up to standard for its entire length,
and thereafter maintained by the Federal
Government.
Third. The levee system must be supple
menteJ by adequate revotments that will
protect caving bank, aud
Fourth. The levee system must be further
supplem .nted by sonrce-strealn control,
which will lower the crest OF the floods III
the Mississippi V lley and thereby relieve
pressure on he leVee.
Source-5t cam control will m AN food
waters conserved for use IN the irrl8ttlpn OF
dry lands, for the development OF hydro
electric power, and for the experimenting OF
the dry season flow for the purposes Of nNvl-
cation.
Bauk revetnent4 viii mean prevention Of
soil erosion, Of soil waste, and Of the torna-
ton Of navigation-impedln9 sand bars.
The building of staud ri leNee4 by the
Federal Government, fully justified by the
fact that the necessity therefor arises from
the increasing volume of flood flow III the
dtainage of many states, will mean uniform
ity, economy, and systematic protection IN
80 far as levees can be mace to protect the
low country.
The treating of the Mississippi watershed
as a unit from the mouths of streams TO their
sources will mean the co Ortlratlon OF the
work Of the Federal engineers, of the Re
e,amation Service, of the Forestry Bureau OF
the Division of soils, of the Geodetlc Survey:
of the Mississippi River Commlss'on, and OF
the National effort to turn floods into power,
arid regions into gardens, aud marshes into
farms. Al this might be done by one act OF
the Federal Congress. We caH llft the NV
ers oat of politics by enacting a single ade-
quate measure. establishing a policy, ana