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Show TATT ON RIVER IMPROVEMENTS. ! J'rc.siilont Taft has put himself decidedly de-cidedly on tho right' Hide of tho 'Mississippi 'Mis-sissippi rjver improvement proposition. ITo is in Tavor of tho appropriation of .130,000,000 to control tho floods in ; tho great river which were 3o disastrous disas-trous last year, and which are a constant con-stant thruat of destruction, llo informed inform-ed tho National liivova and Haru'ors Congress, iu session at Washington, that the prevention of floods was tho great thing with him, and thnt this miiPt bo put boforo all other considerations, considera-tions, and further, that his endorsement endorse-ment of the improvements would be forthcoming only, if the work were placed iD tho hands of army engineers. So far as other waterway projects wore concerned, he said his approval would be lacking unless their backers could show as good a case and as dire a necessity as could the Mississippi Valley Val-ley States, and he expressed his idea that .50,000,000 was the proper sum to start with in- procuring the needed protection. In thus placing himself at the head of this great propaganda, President Taft has done tho whole country an immonso service. It -will be easy enough to show, as ho aakg to bo shown, that tho improvement of other rivors Tvill be the best and most permanent per-manent means of proventiug tho destructive de-structive floods on the lowor Mississippi. Mississ-ippi. If tho flood waters can be hold back in the Ohio and tho Missouri, and their upper tributaries and m the upper tributaries of the Mississippi itself, it-self, tho floods can be eliminated to such an extont that they will no longer be dangerous, and the. impounding ot the 'flood waters of those tributaries will serve tho further purpose of re-enforcing re-enforcing tho channel later ou in the season, when additional water is desirable de-sirable to make a zood depth of channel for navigation. It is to be expected that this grand proicct must bo the next great enterprise enter-prise undertaken by our National Government. Gov-ernment. That it would be an economic eco-nomic advantage fully justifying ilsch, there can be no doubt, for the destruction de-struction by floods along tho Ohio river every year amounts to millions of dollars, dol-lars, and in some years to tens of millions. mil-lions. The floods in the Ohio and (he lower Mississippi, last spring caused loss well along toward tho sum fixed hy the' President as desirable to expend in the improvement of the Mississippi. But as stated, ir. is not tho Mississippi alone that has to be improved, and, further, thnt improvement improve-ment of the Mississippi will depend for its effectiveness upon tho handliug of the tributary streams above the Ohio, the Missouri, and tho uppor Mississippi. Along tho headwaters of the Ohio river there arc immeusc gorges where the flood waters could bo stored away and held until they are needed later in the season, aud thus tho destruction by spring floods wholly prevented. The same thing is true of the upper Mississippi, Mis-sissippi, and in even greater degree on tho tributaries and headwaters of the Missouri. With the flood waters of that immense area impounded, there would be assured safety from spring floods aud abundance of water to make a good navigable channel in tho main streams at all times when the rivers are froe from ice. it is Tiot too .much to say that the endorsement by President Taft of these great river improvements (for we consider that all must go together in any effective National scheme) will be the stroko of statesmanship for which President Taft's namo will chiefly be honored in later generations. |
