1904.] HAUPT— THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER PROBLEM. 71 



THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER PROBLEM. 



BY LEWIS M. HAUPT. 



{Read February 19, 190 4..) 



In the economic development of the Federal Domain, ihe fos- 

 tering care of a paternal Government has been liberally extended, 

 by Congress, to the granting of homesteads to actual settlers ; to the 

 reclamation of arid lands by irrigation ; to the donation of swamp 

 lands to States for educational purposes ; to the subsidizing of the 

 •overland railroads by extensive land grants and to the setting aside 

 of large tracts for the Indian tribes for ranges, and in many other 

 ways has it stimulated the enormous traffic and wealth of the 

 country. 



Still there are waste places which may be made to blossom for a 

 relatively small sum of money, but which cannot be rendered 

 habitable at the expense of the individual settler, and undevel- 

 oped communities are likewise unable to reclaim extensive tracts 

 from a foe which may attack them from all sides. General defen- 

 sive works are of paramount importance to protect property and 

 encourage the settlement of the richest land in the world, and it is 

 manifest that the burden of this reclamation should be borne by 

 those who derive the benefits from the increased yield, namely, the 

 consumers as well as the producers. 



But there are great and honest differences of opinion as to the 

 methods which should be followed to secure these results. 



The local owners and settlers firmly adhere to the reclamation of 

 their land by levees to exclude the water, regardless of the ultimate 

 consequences from confining the floods to a greatly congested bed 

 They fail to realize that if the fertilizing silt is excluded from the 

 plains it must be dropped in the bed of the river and cause it to 

 rise, and impair navigation as well as increase the menace to 

 property. 



The great necessity for reclamation and protection works seems 

 to have beclouded the issue, and undue stress is laid upon that par- 

 ticular phase of the problem, whereas the intention of the Govern- 

 ment, as originally proposed, was to open the channel and control 

 the stream for navigation. 



These two purposes are so distinct in character as to claim sep- 

 arate jurisdiction under different departments of the Government, 



