Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-09-22
The Flood Problem.
by Frederic ). HaskIn

Washington, y. G.. sept Pre-
peatedly during the past summer the
front pages OF the papers have been
| fllled with the news Of flood dis
asters. Hundreds Of lives have been
lost and millions Of dollars worth OF
property destroyed. Two good sized
American cities have seen floods tear
the hearts out Of their business dis.
tricts, many smaller places have beer
damaged and countless farms have
been fiood-swept.
Anyone can see that great en-.
gineering problem faces the country
Leaving out the question OF human
life needlessly destroyed. the loss oi
property is enormous. The floods oi
1913 are estimated to have done dam.
age to the amount Of $163.546. .793. In
Dayton alone the damage done
amounted to s73,249,040. Between
1900 and 1903 the damage done by
floods in the United States. as estimat-
ed by the Geological Survey. varied
from a minimum Of about s45 900 .O0f
20 a maximum Of about s237, 900. 600
Plainly enough such losses are in
toierabie, and large expenditures for
flood prevention would be an economy
The facts Of this large loss and OF
the need for doing something about Il
arc generally recognized. Wide pub.
licity has been given to both. The
| House Of Representatives has recent
ly created special committee on flood
control. which may be taken as re.
/ liable evidence OF the popular demand
for some action in the matter. Mil
lions Of Americans have had the flood
menace impressed upon them, not
only by publicity but by actual ex-
perience. The number OF American
cities that have been flood swept al
one time or another is surprising.
Adequate action is of course depend.
ent upon this public recognition OF the
need Of It. The trouble seems TO be
mat great deal Of misinformatlon
has been disseminated as to the cause
OF floods and the means OF preventing
them, with the result that there has
! been no public demand for a really
sound method Of food control
A Public Illusion.
! Briefly, the public has been led to be-
l!eve that floods have been on tho in
crease for some years past, and that
| this Increase is due to deforcstaflon
Of the land, and to methods Of cult.
waiting It. Hence IL is generally be-
] heved that reforestation and proper
agricultural methods are the rea,
methods Of food prevention.
As a matter Of fact studies Of foods
made by scientific men both In this
country and in Europe seem to prove
| conclusively that neither the size nor
/ the frequency OF floods has generally
/ increased with deforestatiOn and the
/ cultivation OF lands; that our food dis.
asters are due 20 the fact that we built
our cities on flood plains without ade-
( quate protection, and that the Oniy
solution Of the problem is 10 proteci
/ these cities by adequate engineering
/ works for flood prevention.
It seems clear that forest conserva-
tionists have contributed a great dea'
/ to the popular Misunderstanding Theii
sincerity Is not 10 be challenged
! Neither is the importance Of conserv-
! ing the forests we have and OF plant
/ ing others to be questioned. But the
! condition OF the forests does not have
/ the decisive effect on floods which the
| public has been led TO believe. This
seems 10 be established by all the
| scientific studies that have been made
OF the matter.
| Fairly complete food records for
I the Mississippi River at st. Louis have
been studied from 1880 70 1910. with
some earlier records. During all that
/ period the whole Mississippi Basir
was being deforested. Yet the great
est floods occurred in 1874 and 17S5
and a diagram shows that great floods
have occurred at regular intervals
since the beginning Of the observa.
tions, with no general increase or de-