The Cairo bulletin., 1914-02-03
The Mississippi.


such falsiflers after all when the
soothed the greedy Spaniards int.
lustful friendship by declaring thai
"far to the west there flowed a river
whose bed was lined with gold"
The gold was there and is thori
still. We are no less stupid than
the blinded explorers, whc
failed to recognize it because Tiers
was no glitter.
John Law beheld, understood, and
dreamed France into bankruptcy,
not because his scheme was wholly
fallacious, but because the rollick-
ing regent wanted the gold without
work.
The Mississippi is mighty force,
but 1t can not be dreamed into use
fulness. 1t is the right arm Of
Americas domestic commerce, but it
be guided and controlled by human
intelligence.
More powerful than the Nile, more
abailable that the Amazon, it IS
waiting for that electrifying th:i,l
of thought which shall make it an
active agent in humanity's behalf.
Properly developed, it should be-
come the nations backbone of en-
ergy, rather than constantly
threatening factor Of destruction.
Instead of sapping the great cen
trail interior of the United States
and pouring its vitality into the
Gulf of Mexico, it should be made TO
lferHlize and irrigate millions Of
acres of what is now worthless land,
to turn innumerable wheels and
spindles, to carry the goods and pro-
ducts of a great people upon its rest
less tides, and to distribute the now
wasted energies of nature moro
equally throughout the country.
Only once during American his
tory have the people appeared to
realize the importance of the Mis-
sissippi, and that was in the dark
and tragic days of the civil war. Its
possession was then seen to be the
key to tho situation, and thousands
of good men now rest beside Il
because of the bitter struggle for It's
mastery.
If the Mississippi was SUCH val
liable asset in time of war, wherein
does it lose it's worth in time OF
peace?
If it is justifable for the two
sections of this country to sacrifice
the flower of their chivalry to gain
its control when the land was rent
with discord, how comes it that they
should neglect to develop its mighty
resources now that the nation is al
peace?
If it were expedient for the fed
eral government to construct the
Panama Canal to facilitate COM
merce between coast ports, wherein
would 1t not be eXpedient for the
fedora, government to develop the
Mississippi system in the interest OF
domestic trade?
For the past century the American
people have sat idly down on the
bank of the giant stream and ;ts
tributaries. dabbling in its waters
and dreaming of its latent power,
except ut such times as it boiled
over and sent them scampering for
refuge to the high spots. Occasion
ally spasmodic effort has been
made by some more or less local cen
ter. to do something in the way of
taking advantage of its manifest
benefits, but so far it has been
blessed with little cooperative sup
port from the people or the govern
ment.
The time has arrived whom the
Mississippi should be considered
with that seriousness and bread
minded intelligence which Us
grandeur, dimensions and stupen
dous energy deserves, 1t is not g
stream to be damned by schoolboy.
or to be leveed by the dreams o.
childhood.
1t is one of natures most master
full creations, and it must be con
trolled in masterful ways Ever
such a power as that vested in tn
federal government will find tn
handling of the Mississippi no cas-
task, and if this great river systel
is TO be developed to the futile.
measure of its usefulness the Amer
can people have neither time, abb
fly or intelligence to wastc.---lIop'
ton (Texasl Chronicle.