Democratic Sentinel, Volume 21, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 September 1897 — THE MISSISSIPPI. [ARTICLE]

THE MISSISSIPPI.

Treniendoua Coat of frying to Control ■ ——- — ■ J Curren t. The Mississippi River is our greatesat national eikglueerlng problem. The spring floods of a few inontlie ago are almost forgotten, but they will recur from year to year. Engineers do not agree how It la beat to control the great stream. Clearly there are but three ways In which overflows can be prevented. We must deepen the channel; or raise and strengthen the banks; or diminish the volume of the stream. Of course there may be several methods of carrying out each of these plans, or two of them may be combined. But the engineer, no matter how he proceeds, will be seeking to give the waters more room by outlets, or a deeper channel, or higher banks. The idea of deepening the river by dredging has not found favor with the engineers in recent years. Aside from the difficulty and expense of the operation, it is held that the result can be best accompMslied by forcing the water Itself to do the work. The theory of the levee method Is that by strengthening and raising the natural banks the increased volume of water in flood-times Is forced through the channel with such velocity as to scour and clear out the bottom. It was on this principle that Mr. Eads proceeded when he dammed two of the passes tn the delta and so made the waters his servant in deepening the third. The advocates of the outlet plan believe that the overflows which are now feared as a calamity may be made welcome and beneficent. They would use the deposit which the river now wastes on the bottom of the gulf to reclaim the submerged lowlands and swamps along Its course. They contemplate a system similar to that which has prevailed In the valley of the Nile for centuries. Indeed, by this very process the rich bottom lands of the Gulf States were built up out of the sea in prehistoric times. In considering the relative merits of the levee and the outlet, It Is Important to remember what the attitude of Congress toward tlie question of river Improvement has been. Strict constructionists have held that the national government can make expenditures on the Mississippi only to improve It as an avenue of commerce. Money has been appropriated for levees, not so inucb to protect the nelghltorlng lands and cltlea as to preserve the channel. On the other hand it Is contended that outlets tend directly to diniliHab tire value of the main stream as an agent of transportation, both by lessening its volume and by increasing the deposits on the bottom. Congress, however, has not yet. declared its intention of taking the Mississippi under its care. The people of the Mississippi basin themselves have borne the burden, practically unaided; and they have relied upon the levee almost entirely. The only experiments in the direction of outlets have been the work of nature, which formed the bayous of Louisiana before men came to interfere with its rule. Paper money was first Issued by the notorious John Law. His issues' exceeded 120,000,000 pounds.