AMERICAN FOBESTBY 



(lrain ill the country that it passes through, whether the district author- 



like the result or n't. *"ch a benefit to the lower region must be paid 



,v ,!. people -f the district. In other words, they must be assessed for 

 N-n.-iit.- to laud* in which they have no immediate interest. 



illicit illustrate a score or more of conditions of similar purport, 

 ull of which JT..V.- substantially that logically, ethically, and financially, the 

 ,1,-aina-e ..f a swamp should comprise all the lands in a particular basin. 

 There should ! participation in the expense by every land owner, or there 

 will |,,- an ine.|tiital>lr distribution of expense. Is it not evident, then, that 

 a l.ig ail'air, to be planned and executed on a broad basis and to 

 I,,- linaii. ed in a \\-ay iliat will ensure success? Drainage is no "peanut-stand" 

 proposition, ami it is just as absurd, just as foolish, to try to divide a great 

 swamp up into unrelated districts as it would be to divide a great trunk 

 railv. Tin into a collection of unrelated county or municipal units. But 

 up to tin- present time our drainage work has largely been on a "peanut- 

 Mand" l>a-N ami many of the propositions for future development are con- 

 . i-.| with no more breadth of view. 



Then- is only one drainage project from Cape Girardeau to the Gulf; 

 only oi, ( - in the valley of the Red River of the North; one in the Tombigbee 

 valley; out- on the Apalachicola; one on the Kankakee of Indiana; and one 

 on the Suuanm-e of Florida. I know that good men say that such a con- 

 ri-ption i> too large and impracticable, but I am persuaded that this can 



; >e true. It is my opinion that the problems involved in the drainage 



of all the swamp lands in the United States combined do not encounter the 



real diflirulties and the untried engineering questions that are comprised in 



i.tion of the Catskill water-supply tunnel of New York, or the 



in-ta!lation of the new water supply of the city of Los Angeles. 



THE SCOPE OF A DRAINAGE SYSTEM 



have Mi-Lasted in a brief and incomplete way that which seems to me 



t.e t! <sary scope of a drainage system, and have tried to show that 



are certain immutable laws of nature that must govern every drainage 



of course it is not intended to imply that every drainage scheme 



he outset provide for the immediate reclamation of every part of a 



nip nren. however great. That which is insisted upon without any reser- 



iHoever is, that no drainage scheme should be carried forward 



the entire basin within which lies the part immediately to 



that every piece of work done, both interior and exterior, 



iih due regard for the necessities of every other part of 



'!< it may be necessary or expedient in certain cases to drain 



"ii in small progressive units, the tendency should ever 



H-r and more comprehensive work, bearing in mind that the 



one should strive is the inclusion of all swamp lands 



'" "ne region at least, of which I have personal 



-plo, having started out on a broad and comprehensive basis 



vi'le up the original area into several independent 



< real retrogression, and I can conceive of no greater drain- 

 age folly. 



