Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-05-18
TEXAS DAILY PRESS LEAGUE
The Flood Control Bill

when President Coolidge signed the Mississippi
flood control bill Tuesday he definitely committed the
federal government to a project Of indefinite msgni-
tude, a project which doubtless will eclipse the Panama
canal in magnitudeand cost. The bill calls for the
expenditure Of s25OoolOOO but engineers are tecIdea-
ly ~sksptical as to the sufficieney OF this fund, inti-
mating that the government will doubtless expend
double or treble that amount before the Mississippi Il
safely curbed.
In all essential features the plan proposed by the
government engineers is similar to that employed rs
the Lower Rio Grande Valley to curbe the floods OF
the border stream. Three f~loodways are to be pro-
vided. taking the water from the stream far above
the delta country, and in addition river leyees will he
raised and strengthened at all danger points as an
added precautoin.
One handicap TO this plan, a handicap with which
the Valley counties have had experience, is that as
soon as the Designations for floodways ald levees arc
made the value of the land they will traverse Is sud-
denly enhanced in the minds of some owners. II the
government 10 compelled to spend its millions in the
requirement Of rights-of-way the flood relief plans
will prove of no avail. In the Lower Rio Grande Val
ley the great majority OF property owners took a sane
view Of the situation and right-of-way were don ted,
but the few who refused the necessary land have
proved the greatest ~handicaps with which the counties
have had to contend.
Considerable opposition to the Mississippi food
control program was generated IN the East, inc opfo-
nents asserting that the measure was "socialistic;
that il committed the government to E project which
was purely sectional. and that II would impose an al
just burden upon all other parts Of the country. For
tunately. both congress and the president took a
broader view 81 the project, and in committing ts
government to flood control have definitely assured
the elimination Of the major handicap to economic and
industrial development Of a vast region in the heart
Of the United States.
One Of the most important functions u goverame 4
is to utilize its taxing powers in the elimination Of
economic loss to the nation. That the country as a
whole has felt the effects of the Mississippi floods is
generally conceded, the loss in 1927 running into tie
hundreds Of millions. For over a year he producing
and purchasing powers Of millions have been curtailod
~ . direct result Of the 1927 flood, and every industry
and individual in the United States has been directly
or indirectly affected thereby.
The various states which will benefit directly ~
the curbing Of the Mississippi could not finance such
a program as the federal government proposes. and
which j. the only program that will assure relief from
the river menace. And If they were able to finance
this work il would be unjust for the country 10 expect
ID Of them, as every individual will profit directly or
indirectly by reason Of the new industrial activity and
the greater wealth production the %curbing Of the Mis-
sissippi will assure.