The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-09-24
Frederick Haskln's Letter
corrss.nndennn The
The Flood Problem.

Washington, D. c., Sept. 23.-Rs
peatedly during the past summer
the front pages of the papers have
been filed with the news of f1oot
disasters. Hundreds of lives have
, been lost and millions of dollars
worth of property destroyed. TVS
good-sized American cities have
seen foods tear the hearts out OF
their business districts, many
smaller places have been damaged
and countless farms have been
f1ood-swept
sineering problem faces the coun-
try. Leaving out the question of
human life needlessly destroyed.
the loss of property is enormous.
The floods of 1913 are estimated to
have done damage to the amount of
$163, 546.793. In Dayton alone the
damage done amounted to $73, 249,-
940. Between 1900 and 1908 the
damage done by foods in the Unit
ed States, as estimated by the Geo
logical survey, varied from a mini
mum of about s45 100000 to a max
imum of about $237 900, 900. Plain
ly enough such losses are intoler-
able, and large expenditures for
fo0d prevention would be an econ
omy.
The facts of this large loss and
of the need for doing something
about it are generally recognized.
Wide publicity has been given to
both. The house of representa-
tlves has recently created spe-
clal committee on food control,
which may be taken as reliable evil
dence Of the popular demand for
some action ii the matter. Mil
lions of Americans have had the
food menace impressed upon them.
not only by publicity but by actua
experience. The number OF Amer |
lean cities that have been flood /
swept at one time or another is !.
surprising. |
Adequate action is of course de-
pendent upon this public recogni-i
ton of the need for it. The trouble
seems to be that a great deal of
sisinformation has been dissemin-,
7ted as to the cause of floods and
he means of preventing them. with
he result that there has been no
public demand for a really sound
method of flood control. /
A Public Illusion.
Briefly. the public has been led
o believe that foods have been
N the increase for some years past
nd that this increase is due to de-
orestation of the land, and to meth
IDS of cultivating it. Hence it is
believed that reforesta-
m nd
is are the real methods of flood j
II
AS q matter of fact studies of
oGds made by scientific men both !
n this country and in Europe seem
0 prove conclusively that neither
he size nor tho frequency of foods
as generally increased with de- +
1Testation and the cultivation Of {
inds: that our flood disasters are [
ne to the fact that we built our s
tiles on flood plains without ade- 7
uate protection. and that the only t
0lurOn of the problem is to pro f
ect these cities by adequate engin-
sring works for flood prevention. S
It seems clear that forest con-
srvationists have contributed a L
reat deal to the popular misunder- f
anding. Their sincerity is not to .
: challenged. Neither. is the i'm p
of conserving the forests b
e have and of planting others to f
! questioned. But the condition \
the forests does not have the T
scisive effect on floods which the L
Iblic has been led to believe. This is
ems to be established by all the Il
,iantifc studies that have been P
ade of the matter. b
Fairly complete flood records for
e Mississippi river at st. Louis g
i've been studied from 1880 to d
10, with some earlier records. es
lring all that period the whole in
ississippi Basin was being defor- ia
ted. Yet the greatest floods oc- W
rred in 1874 and 1855. and a dia- n
am shows that great floods have W
CURED at regular intervals since 81
e beginning of the observations, ii
tn no general increase or de- pr