The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-03-21
SATURDAY. MARCH al. 1885.
FLOODS AND TAXES
"a scRIPPs-HowARD NEWSPAPER

XX7HILE the floods still are raging we read eStl-
w mates OF property damages.
AS the waters go down, the estimates go up
s150000 600 5000 00O s25o0o00oo OF course they
are rough estimates. We understand they pertain
only to improvements real estate-homes store
buildings, factories bridges and wharves washed OUT
Add to them the wage losses of those who were
driven from their jobs by the foods Add the loss IN
income on the money invested Add the losses OF
soil ut is estimated that year in and year out
an average Of $500 600 worth of soil washed or
blown away. That is a destruction OF national
asset And it doesn't include what it added to the
liability side Of the national ledger where the soil
comes to rest as sediment in the lowands and silt
in the river beds)
TINE Red Cross and government relief agencies,
a. providing they get adequate funds can do much
to minimize the human suffering, starvation and
disease which trail these floods. They can help
the 200 900 made homeless
But what of these things that should be done to
minimize future floods?
The people of Cairo ILL.,, for example might re-
sent Pennsylvania after OVERLOOKING their property
and leaving deposits of Pennsylvania mud. But no
court can give them redress by declaring this trans
erosion on property rights to be unconstitutional
Neither can the Illinois Governor the Illinois
Legislature protect them. Even the Liberty League
can't help them; it can't persuade farmers on Penn
sylvania hsides to re-sod and re-orest their lands
and build reservoirs to hold the water where 1t falls
ONLY the Federal government can do those things
~ which need to be done to guard the people
of Wheeling and of Marietta and of Cairo and of
Memphis and of New Orleans against future Penn
svlvania foodwaters and Pennsylvania mud The
Federal government can go up the .headwaters of
The Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, and there
carry out the soil and water conservation improve
ments that are needed to restore orderly drain
age of that area 1t do what it is already doing
in the watershed of the Tennessee River. Another
tributary of the Ohio River another segment OF
the great Mississippi basin.
And it can do likewise in the Green Mountains
of Vermont for the protection of the people in the
lowlands of Connecticut and in the upands OF West
Virginia for the protection of the people in the
Potomac Valley.
< The present national Administration is the first
even to recognize this national responsibility OF hs-
banding soil and water resources. 1t has begun In
q small way For the next fiscal year. it has budget
ed an expenditure of $28,0O0,000 for straight soil
conservation work, and similar amount Tor the
forestry service Conservation is the avowed and
lone-range objective of the 44O000000 farm pro-
gram although the immediate purpose is to balance
crop production and sustain farm income. The
CCC. budgeted to spend 1920 100000 next year. al
ready has made major contributions to the conser
walton program
People who in the last few days have seen muddy
aoodwaters swirling around their homes and fac
tories will not think these expenditures waste of
the taxpayers money.