Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-01-05
BY CHARLES STEWART
washington Correspondent for
The Herald

The Herald
WASHINGTON. Jan. 4. - Levees
VIII hold the Mississippi, or any
otner stream, of course, il they are
oniit far enough ~back-nearly as far
as the stream can possibly get. at
ITS highest.
However. naturally, the idea Is to
Duild them as close 10 low water
mark as practicable, so as to save a
maximum amount of land. As close
as practicable!-but il mustn't be
o~verdone, or il will be undone as
often as there is a sufficient rise.
The right point for the levees
having been determined, on this
OASIS, the question may present it
self.
Reservoir Suggested
Can't some Of the strain be taken
I eli these entertainments in flood time
ny a reservoir system mot a sys-
n I'm as big as the biggest flood, but
t1equate to direct and regulate drain
E&se, TO a certain xtent?-besides
al 'nlshing a vast deal of valuable
IN YER, as e b~y-product?
4 I 10, the dikes can be built cor
Y pondingly closer to the main chan
. Few river experts pay much at
~ention to the afforestated suggestion
too slow-the land can't be spared
from torn and wheat, for trees
We had floods before our streams
headwaters were deforested, anyway.
Still, the forestry folk are clamor-
Gus. Their representations at least
will have TO be listened TO.
Spillways are a sensitive subject
Where they promise immunity from
inundation to one community, they
usually promise 1t at the cost Of
flooding another community, and pos
sibly at the risk Of some third COM
munity Of not as much water as
it wants.
Plans to Divert Water
As a flood regulative, the spill
way is a device which calls for mueh
weighing and balancing of conflict
ing rights and interests.
Dwarfing every other project IN
der consideration Is the rather hazy
proposal to divert the waters of
the upper Missouri valley from their
present s~outheasterly flow to tne
more directly ~southerly, into the
Gulf of California, the Rio Grande
and the Gulf of Mexico, through
TIC AAlQ vi aAAa
southwestern United States.
Assuming that q plan of such mag
ritude could be carried cut, would
IL give the desired results!
Would it leave moisture enough In
the Mississippi valley?
Would it benefit the southwest
according to calculations
Egypt tried something Of the sort
an the Nile-on a relatively small
scc,a. but tremendous in proportion
80 previous reckonings-and while
proved a wonderful engineering
triumph. its effects on Nile valley
agriculture have been disastrous.
All science is set at naught by ",
but it simply happened.
m-adyised human "monkeylng
With nature!-is the verdit OF Nah
moud Samy Pasha, expert Nile river
engineer and present Egyptian MN
istar in Washington.
Another question
will what is saved be worth what
IL costs to save it,
Is Ii Justified ~
perhaps il can be done, but Will
toa return equal the expenditure
Later. maybe-when our population
begins to press upon our subsistence
limit. But now? with more farm
land than we can make profitable!
Congress will be wrestling with
this issue all winter-whether to
study il, which will take years-or
TO 20 ahead and do something about
il.
Finally
Who's going to pay for it?-for do.
ing something, or even for studying
Is il a navigation problem that's
federal. Does it touch interstate
commerce, or the movement Of the
mails, or national defense or the
whole country's food supplies? II
YES. to any one of these queries, it's
\ national issue, and the whole
United States is bound to help foot
the bill for dealing with It..
Or is it solely the funeral OF the
states whose lands are endangered
bv flood waters? In that event it's
up to the individual states to pay
the undertaken.
A billion is the smallest sum that's
even been limited at.