The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1916-11-23

81 LOOIS, NON. IL Inc MISSES
ippi 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 here puts
it, the definition is not complete unless
you add ''At presnet loafing on the job. "
The Mississippi has been enjoying
vacation for some decades. Now all
the river towns, from St. Paul to New
Orleans, are out to put the mighty
stream to work again, along with all
its major tributaries, and incidentally to
reap few benefits in the way of bust
ness and shipping by the process. They
have formed a 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 re-
ports.
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. It's big
tributaries such as the upper Mississippi
and the Ohio, seem to have been laid
out on the plan of turk com
munication. Along with the parent
stream they include more than 5000
miles of navIgable waterway, They
drain million and a quarter square
miles of the richest and busiest country
in the world. Once they were the su-
preme 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 traflic-laden waters.
Then came the Civil War, and the
building of railroads in the succeeding
decades, and the rivers were practically
run out of business. They continued to
flow, but freights deserted them.
The present campaign has for its OBJ
ject the rehabilitation of the river
system as an artery Of traffic. 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 enormously 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 tran
sport. They can never hold anything like
so large share of the traffic as they once
did, but they should carry more traffic
now than eyer. In Europe for example |
where railroad development has gone
practically to the limit, streams like the
Rhine are nevertheless crowded with
shipping.
These things being the case, why is
the Mississippi idle or nearly so? The
river and its tributaries are not entirely
unproductive. Several modern boat
lines do brisk business in passengers
and freights out of st. Louis; New Or
leans has good river trade, and
streams like the Ohio and the Tennes-
see have their boat lines. None the
less, engineers and economists are
agreed that the rivers should do great
deal more than they are doing. Their
comparative idleness dates back to the
days of the Civil War, when the coinci-
dent paralysis of river traffic and the
new Yigor in railroad building threw
the currents of commerce east and west
instead of north and south, along the
new trunk lines toward New York in
stead of down the streams toward New
Orleans. The Mississippi itself helped
the change by developing some obsti-
nate sandbars near the mouth that
blocked navigation for time.
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
natural port for great section of the
country. Still, the river cities feel that
they have 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 river
at their gates are assets bringing in
sufficient returns.
After study of the problem they
have decided that the main thing need
ed is system of modern river ter
minals; an adequate terminal at every