Evening star., 1927-05-15
NATION FACES HUGE TASK
In REPAIRING FLOOD LOSS
Rehabilitation of Farms Complicated
by Problem of Supplying Credit,
Labor and Live Stock.

main, with supplies of hay and grain,
| or are being taken to various stock
| and cattle centers as rapidly IS pos
| sible. The replacement of these ami
mails on the farms from which they
! came will be an almost hopeless task
| in most cases. How they are to be re-
distributed is one of the questions now
| puzzlingsrelief authorities. but it is no
| more perturbing than the problem of
where are to be gotten the animals
| urgently needed to take the places of
| those altogether lost.
The two perpleXing problems of most
concern to the Government in it's re-
| habilitation program are those OF re-
pairing the agricultural damage of the
present flood and safeguarding the
Mississippi Valley--in fact, the whole
country, for the entire Nation is af-
fected--from future watery disaster.
Under the forceful guidance of Sec
retary Hoover and Secretary of War
Dwight Davis, both of these gigantic
tasks are being tackled in a do-or-die
manner that augurs we'll for their sue.
cessful completion before great
many months have passed.
Credit Aid Offered.
Hoover has taken the whip hand in
organizing a chain of State reha bilita.
tion committees, charged with form
ing farm finance corporations in Ar
kansas. Mississippi, Louisiana and
other States most seriously affected
from an agricultural standpoint. The
Government has offered the assistance
of the intermediate credit banks to
these emergency finance organiza.
tions. which are being capitalized usu.
ally at half a million dollars, with loan
facilities several times the capitaliza-
ton figure.
Davis, with the assistance OF Mai.
Gen. Edgar Jadwin, chief of engineers,
is concerned with the vital question
of how to prevent recurrence of an
other such cata strophe. The War De
partment is seeking the cooperation
of the Mississippi River Commission,
the Spillway Board at New Orleans
and the various levee organizations in
arriving at a plan for future control
of the Mississippi. The plan, accord
and Gen. Jadwin, is certain to involve
higher. wider and better levees," with
a possibility of spillway projects in the
vicinity of New Orleans.
Secretaries Hoover and Davis are
convinced that the Harvesting of the
Mississippi is a duty for the United
States Government to assume.
Great Trough Dangerous.
They point out that there is a great,
rambling elevated trough of dirt, filled
with the accumulated waters Of 30
States and constituting a constant
menace to thousands of square miles
of Americas most fertile crop land
and the inhabitants thereof. The
trough is no stronger than its weakest
point. for when a section of levee
which forms its side gives way, inun-
dation Of vast areas of low-lying ter
ritory. below the level Of the river,
cannot be averted.
In the past the 1evee system has
been jointly developed by Federal and
State agencies. The United States a.!
ready has put more than $S5,000, 900
into these earthen embankments, in
Guiding some SIS, 100000 of cash con-
tributed by local organizations. Besides
all this, the States themselves have
spent more than that amount again.
Even these vast expenditures have
been insufficient to curb the mighty
river at flood time.
This is no fault of the levee system,
as a general factor in flood control,
in the opinion of Government en-
gineers. They believe that levees, in
fact. are the only hope of the Missis.
sippi Valley. But the giant trough
must be raised higher and its sides
must be made thicker and stronger.
they believe. At New Orleans, where
it would be almost impracticable to
raise the levees. however, artificial
crevasses or spillways may be neces-
sary to shunt the excess water
through detours to the Gulf of Mexico
Speed Is Big Factor.
Speed in this program for throttling
the Mississippi is the factor impelling
two of the Governments cabinet Off.
GERS and it's engineering leaders to
visit the food area and confer with
river authorities on the spot.
"Our only fear is that much time
may be wasted in discussion of food
control propositions which are not
feasible" Secretary Hoover declares.
Reservoirs, reforestation and other
proposals should not be allowed to de-
lay the important program of levee
improvement. so essential to the coun-
try at the present time, Hoover con-
tends.
The Mississippi problem is Amer
ica's problem, he points out, and the
sooner America realizes it and takes
definite action to solve it, the better
for the Nations prosperity.