Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 72, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 March 1912 — DRAINAGE NEEDED ON BOTH SIDES OF KANKAKEE. [ARTICLE]

DRAINAGE NEEDED ON BOTH SIDES OF KANKAKEE.

Mere Swamp Land North Than South of River—Assessments Based on Benefits Derived. X;. ' Two weeks ago The Republican copted an article from the Crown Point Star which stated that Attorney Otto J. Bruce was preparing a brief for the supreme court for the remonstrators in the Kankakee river or Marble ditch case. The Star’s article went to say “all the land north of the Kapkakee river in Lake and Pbrter counties within a distance two miles has been assessed to drain the marsh over in Jasper county and these land owners feel that'll is a case* of Peter to pay Paul, especially after the great marsh on this side has been drained at the expense of the north side farm owners, and they have reasons to have a ‘grouch’ when aslpdEto assist the neighbors on the othei ® de -” ' That was the falsifying burden of the ill-informed editor, who evidently sought to show his affection for the Browns and Pinney and a few other large land owners and did not take the pains to - tell the truth to the readers wf his paper to do it. The Republican copied the article without comment, feeling certain that it would not pass without some reader taking it up. Today we received a letter from R. H. Morehouse & Son, who live north of Wheatfield, and who probably know the Kankakee river section, so far as it refates to Jasper. Starke, Porter, Lake -And Newton counties, as well as any men living, not excepting the expert mlsrepresen tative on the Crown Point Star. Mr. Morehead writes as lonows: “We were disappo’nted that you did not comment on the article recently copied from the Crown Point Register, which so badly falsified the status of the land on both sides of the river. We figured that the reason for your failure to reply to the Article, was because you were not familiar with the north side of the river. There is more land to be drained in Laporte county than there is in Starke county, while in Porter county there are two vast pieces of marshy land running back fourteen miles from the river. In Porter county, all along the river there is an average of about four miles of land to be reclaimed by the drainage of the Kankakee river. Porter county has five large dredge ditches from five to eigljt miles long and one, in particular is 15 miles long, but they do not take care of the water along the north side of the Kankakee river and which can only be reclaimed by the construction of the proposed Marble ditch. As to Newton county on the south and Lake county on the north, both will be vastly benefited by the ditch. Lake county has thousands of acres of marshy land running back from the river on an average of about five miles.

The watershed or division of the flow of water in Porter county is 14 miles from the river, while the watershed on this side is only 7 miles frow the river. This being the case, and if is so proven by every fair survey ant by all unbiased people who have investigated it, don’t you think that the north side should help do this irainage? Survey shows that it is lowjr on the north side through Porter and Lake counties than it is on the north side through Jasper and Newton and the Star’s statement that the north side is objecting to helping the south side do the drainage is as foolish as it is false, for drainage commissioners have equitably fixed the basis of asses&ment and the court has passed upon their report with a few modifications." Mr. Morehead does not enter any further into the discussion, but it can be depended upon that he has said exactly what is true. Any person who has made a trip through the Kankakee country knows that there is vastly more waste land north of the river than there is south and that the dykes and ditches that have been build on the north side have failed to reclaim the land. Any person who knows anything about law and justice knows that it would be impossible for a court to assess land for the construction of this ditch on any other basis than the improvement it would receive, and the statement of the Crown Point editor that Lake and Porter counties were being assessed for a drainage scheme that would help only the lands on the south side of the river is inexcusable idiocy. There was just one question to be determined of importance and that was the feasibility of the ditch as it related to the possible benefits in comparison to the construction cost. This was afirmatlvely decided and later the equity of the assessments were passed upon. The construction of this ditch means so much to land owners in the valley that we are surprised that the Browns and Pinney have fought ft at all, and it would ordinarily be surprising to see a newspaper opposing the improvement, but in the case of the Crown Point Star, Jong regarded as the exponent of sleepy hollow journalism, there is little wonder. The wholly false state-

ment shows a ready willingness to misrepresent the condition in an effort to play the part of a sycophant to a couple of rich land owners who are trying to find some legal loophole to forestall a great reclamation project started in Jasper county. The supreme court will doubtless give the briefs the most thorough consideration and if that is done, the decision of Judges Hanley and Marvin will be sustained and the ditch constructed and the great Kankakee valley will be made to blossom as a rose.