Evening star., 1936-04-27
NEED FOR CONTROL
OF FLOODS VOICED
President Terms Problem
One Demanding National
Treatment.

President Roosevelt today termed
food control "a problem Of such vital
import to the well being OF the Ma
ton" that 1t should be dealt with ON
y national basis"
The Chief Executives views were
contained in a message read to the
National Rivers and Harbors Con-
gress. Earlier, Senator Robinson the
Democratic leader, advocated creation
Of national agency to formulate
Nationwide fiood-control program.
Mr.. Roosevelt's message said:
THE recent devastating floods have
given tragic emphasis to the problem
which faces all those agencies dealing
with the control and conservation Of
the Nations water resources.
The entire problem is a national
one and should be dealt with en- a
national basis.
Hopes for Progress.
Il have every hope and expectation
that progress toward its solution will
be advanced as a result of the forth
coming deliberation of the thirty
first annual meeting of the National
Rivers and Harbors Congress.
Il send the congress my hearty
Fluctuations with all good wishes for
the success Of its deIiberation on a
problem Of such vital import 10 the
well being of the Nation"
In another address before the con-
gress, which is holding a two-day
session at the Mayfiower, Secretary
Of Agriculture Wallace blamed land
abuse for much food damage and ad-
vocated steps to stop the "savagely
excessive" run-of of water from rich
farm lands.
Cites Consequences.
The consequences OF carelessness or
deliberate abuse in the treatment Of
land have been serious and can be
worse, Wallace warned. adding:
We have looted the subsoil and the
underlying rock layers with careless
and wasteful mining We have pol
luted cur streams with factory waste.
We have farmed rather carelessly and
wastefully. Land misuse has helped
to muddy our rivers. to raise their
flood stages year by year and to make
work for dredges in our rivers and
harbors."
States and municipalities should be
willing to bear the cost Of food control
progress, the congress was told by
Senator Copeland Of New York. If
the United States authorizes s350,000.-
900 for flood control works, he said,
localities should put up at least
500, ,000,0o0 The Senator expressed
conviction that the omnibus food con-
troll bill about to be considered BY the
Senate will establish national policy
on the subject.
Senator Overton of Louisiana pro-
posed the Federal Government provide
a system of spillways or diversion
channels in the lower Mississippi River
Valley to sluice of food waters when
the pressure on levees reaches a dan
gerous point
AH$ 0AOAAOOll plOeAdHl CdHCu IUI
addresses by Maj. Gen. Edward
M. Markham. chief of Army En-
gineers; DR.. James Monroe Smith,
president of Louisiana State Univer-
sity; Mai. Gen. T. @. Ashburn, presi-
dent, Inland Waterways Corp; Rep
resentative Wilson of Louisiana, Chief
Forester F. A. Silcox. Representative
Mansfield of Texas and DR.. W. B.
Bell, chief of the Division of Wild Life
Research, Biological Survey.
The two-day conventions sessions
tomorrow will be devoted principally
to reports and conferences.
A plan for a $500 ,000, 900 permanent
food control program to replace the
system Of projects financed by work
relief allotments was to be presented
by Representative Driver Of Arka nsas,
chairman of the Projects Committee.
Driver contends relief financing is
"wasteful."