Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1916-12-01

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st. Louis. Nov. 27.-"The Mississippi
river-the central artery of the river
system which drains the greater part
of the United States of America
such is the dictionary definition of the
Mississippi But as one man puts it.
the definition is not complete unless
you add AT present loafing on the
job"
The Mississippi has been enjoying a
vacation for some decades. Now all
the river towns, from ST. Paul to st.
Louis. are out to put the mighty
stream back to work again, along with
all its major tributaries, and incident
ally to reap a few benefits in the way
of business and shipping by the pro-
cess. They have formed league for
the purpose and they are attacking
the problem in way that looks as
though they meant business. Their
engineers have already submitted the
first set Of plans and reports.
The story of the Mississippi system
has been one of tremendous ups and
downs. Taking the real Mississippi.
which is the Mississippi Missouri, it is
the longest river in the world. Its big
tributaries such as the upper Missis-
sippi and the Ohio, seem to have been
laid out on the plan of trunk-line Of
communication. Along with the par
ent stream they include more than 49,
900 miles of navigable waterway. They
drain million and quarter square
miles Of the richest and busiest coun-
try in the world. Once they were the
supreme routes of travel in all the
central United States, and some of
the most colorful and picturesque
dramas of American life and history
were played out along their traffic
laden waters. Then came the civil
war;, and the building Of railroads in
the succeeding decades, and the riv-
ers We're practically run out of bust
ness. They continued to flow, but
freights deserted them.
The present campaign has for it's
object the rehabilitation of the river
system as an artery of trafilc. OF
course, the mighty streams can never
rise to the relative Importance that
they held before the days Of railroad
development. but the population and
production of the territory they drain
has increased SO enol mousy in the
same years that they ought to be
buster than they ever were in the days
when they formed almost the sole
means Of TRANSPORT. They can never
hold anything like so large share Of
the traffic as they once. did, but
ch %,.1Q nvry
than ever. In Europe for example.
where railroad development has gone
to the limit. streams like the Rhine
are nevertheless crowded with ship
uing.
These things being the case, why Is
the Mississippi idle or nearly so? The
river and its tributaries are not en-
tirely unproductive. Several modern
boat lines do brisk business in pas
sengers and freights out of st. Louis;
New Orleans has a good river trade.
and streams like the Ohio and the
Tennessee have their boat lines. None
the less. engineers and economists are
agreed that the rivers should do a
great deal more than they are doing.
Their comparative idleness dates back
to the days Of the civil war. when the
coincident paralysis of river trafic and
the new vigor in railroad building
threw the currents Of commerce east
and west instead of north and south,
along the new trunk lines toward New
York instead Of down the streams to-
ward New Orleans The Mississippi
itself helped the change by developing
some obstinate sand.bars near the
mouth that blocked navigation for a
time.
i The war ended, the channel was re-
opened but business continued to flow
along the new lines. Partly this was
inevitable. because with railroad de-
velopment New York became the nat
ural port for great section of the
country. Still. the river cities feel
that they never got back even their
fair share Of traffic: and especially
that they have not gotten what the
ordinary laws of trade movement
should bring them as the country
grows The rivers at their. gates are
assets bringing insufficient returns.
After study of the problem they
have decided that the main thing
needed is system of modern river