The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1913-06-21

Prevention has fallen almost entirely
upon the inhabitants of the stricken
territory. There are nearly 10000
square miles of territory subject to
damage and destruction by floods, and
the people owning these lands have
provided $60,OOO,0O0 towards construct
ing the levess prescribed by the Mis-
sissippi River Commission, but as will
be seen by the leVee cross section
sketch, they have not completed more
than 60 per cent of the necessary work,
although they have been striving stead
lily toward that end. e,
The heavy shaded portion of the
sketch shows cross section Of a typi.
cal levee in the present system which,
with the exception of five crevasses,
aggregating about five miles, with.
stood the unprecedented food of 1913.
The full section shown by the dotted
surface or lightly shaded area repre-
sents cross section of levee In the
perfected system to which the United
States Mississippi River Commission
has been working, and which it de-
clares will withstand all future foods.
The Mississippi River Commission
estimates that 2O0,OOO,OO0 cubic yards
of earth are yet to be put in place on
the entire 1888 miles of levees paral-
leling the river before the system will
be completed, and fixes its cost at $685..
100000.
In view of the fact that the levee
system has never been completed &C.
cording to the plans of this commits
sion, it is not fair to say that few
crevasses demonstrate the complete
inefficiency of the levee system. The
Scientific American puts the case very
clearly as follows:
"That the few weak places in the
levees failed in last years food and in
this years is no fault of the levee sys-
tenn, but it is due to the fact that the
levees have been built, not to the
height, width and strength that engi-
neers knew to be advisable, but to
such dimensions as the land owners
along the river were willing to tax
themselves for. 1t is doubtless too
much to expect that the general public,
deceived as it is apt to be by the
pseudo-scientists of the newspapers,
will form correct opinions Of such mat
tiers as river regulation and food con-
troll for a long time to come. 1t may
be hoped, however, that the public
will learn to rely In such matters on
the opinion of expert engineers"
This main outlet for the flood waters
Of nearly half of the whole nation
should be treated as a national prob
lem, just as the Panama Canal was,
and the government should provide
large part of the funds necessary to
protect the inhabited portion Of the
Mississippi Delta from overflow and to
reclaim the larger portion now lying
waste and unproductive.
A bill has been introduced into Con
gress, known as the Ransdell- Humph-
reys bill, to complete the levee system
as originally projected by the Missis-
sippi River Commission. Under it the
affected territory must contribute to
this work, and If this bill is passed the
cost of the levee system when COM
pleted will have been borne equally by
the national government and the states
affected, and the enormous losses from
overflow of the now inhabited portion,
nearly as large as the State Of Mary
land, will be prevented, and new
trade territory as large as the States
Of Massachusetts, New Jersey and
Connecticut combined, will be opened
up to the commerce of the whole coun-
try.