190 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



April 



"Every winter and spring the peo- 

 ple of the Ohio valley suffer the most 

 destructive of floods, and they bow 

 their heads and mutter theii equivalent 

 for Kismet. They think it fate. 



"But it isn't. The floods are our 

 fault. The science that prevents yel- 

 low fever and is conquering the white 

 plague knows the remedy for the Ohio 

 floods." 



The financial loss and the deaths 

 from pneumonia, says the Journal, are 

 due to an ill as surely curable as the 

 toothache. The U. S. Geological Sur- 

 vey has laid out a system of reservoirs 

 which can be installed if the Appala- 

 chian National Forests are established. 



"These reservoirs would hold back 

 the flood waters and let them out in the 

 dry seasons. 



"The whole system of forests and 

 reservoirs might cost the Government 

 $100,000,000. A single flood has done 

 damage to that amount. During the 

 recent flood, while the people of the 

 Ohio valley were suffering untold pri- 

 vations and losses. Congress was busy 

 — doing what? Considering the Ap- 

 palachian forest bill? Oh, no! That 

 useful body was getting up the cam- 

 paign books for 1908. So much more 

 important than flood prevention ! 



"And then it had to put the motto 

 back on the coin. 



"The projected reservoirs on the 

 Ohio headwaters would take 402,000.- 

 000 gallons out of the floods. This 

 would, by letting it out through gates. 

 Sfive the Ohio twelve feet of water 

 through the dry season, clear to Pitts- 

 burg. Low water is as curable as 

 flood. Cure the one and you cure the 

 other. And in damming back this wa- 

 ter, the Government would create 

 more power on the Monongahela and 

 Great Kanawha alone, than is to be 

 got out of Niagara, without spoiling 

 the falls — nearly 400,000 horsepower. 

 and capable of being raised to more 

 than 1,000.000. 



"The power would make the pro- 

 ject a paying one. The forest would 

 pay alone. Deep water in the Ohio 

 would amply pay the whole cost. The 



prevention of floods would pay it every 

 year. 



"How would it do for Congress to 

 let up on p!r.ying politics for a while 

 and take up the real practical prob- 

 lems of this wonderful age^ 



"The Ohio Valley should know the 

 answer?" 



"Silent Ob- f P;^"^^"^K-°^ 1^' ^PP^- 

 struction" lachian bill, the Frovi- 



dence Journal of March 

 14 suggests that Speaker Cannon may 

 like "to play the public buildings bill" 

 against the Appalachian bill, and con- 

 tinues : 



"As between the pork barrel and the 

 Appalachians, the former makes the 

 more direct appeal to many Congress- 

 men. Despite such ineffable consider- 

 ations, it is difficult to see how Con- 

 gress wall be able to save its face if it 

 rejects this important measure, or 

 even permits it to slumber in commit- 

 tee. Silent obstruction may prove ef- 

 fective for the time being, but the ob- 

 structionists will need be deaf as well 

 if they expect to escape the righteous 

 indignation of the advocates of the 

 measure and the important public in- 

 terests which these represent." 



The 



Political 



Advantage 



The pressure from both 

 North and South is so 

 great upon Congress for 

 the passage of the imperatively needed 

 act that it can be defeated only by ex- 

 traordinary means. That all the mem- 

 bers of that body have not made haste 

 to endorse the measure and secure all 

 the political benefits of such a popular 

 stand is astonishing. 



If Congress intends to strangle the 

 measure in secret, what is the motive? 

 And whatever the motive, how can it 

 be sufficiently strong to overcome the 

 determination of the people of at least 

 twenty-two States that it shall pass? 

 — Providence Bulletin. 



But a year has witnessed a remark- 

 able change in the presence of public 

 opinion. Uncle Joe now is almost 

 readv to acknowledge this fact. "I 

 really begin to believe that the people 



