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The National Geographic Magazine 



foremost American humorist in his book, 

 "Life on the Mississippi," written twenty- 

 five years ago. Models of boats have not 

 been improved ; towns have been shut off 

 from connections by railway tracks ; facil- 

 ities for loading and unloading are 

 scarcely better than in De Soto's day ; 

 but with the increase of transportation 

 and the recognition of the inadequacy of 

 present agencies and facilities there is no 

 doubt that the time has come when an 

 effort must be made to restore this river 

 to the position it once occupied as a great 

 artery of commerce. And it is perhaps 

 not too bold a conjecture to foretell that 

 the question whether transportation shall 

 be more and more conducted by rail, or 

 whether the rivers of the country shall 

 bear an increasingly important part, will 

 be worked out by trial upon the" Missis- 

 sippi River and its chief tributary, the 

 Ohio. 



PREVENTION OF FLOODS BY RESERVOIRS 



Another subject which will arouse 

 attention with reference to the Missis- 

 sippi is the prevention of the enormous 

 floods which create such devastation year 

 by year. Great progress has been made 

 in this regard. The method most relied 

 upon has been that of building levees. 

 In this connection I may say that of late 

 a claim has been made that by the im- 

 pounding of the waters in the upper por- 

 tion of the Mississippi and in its tribu- 

 taries the force of these inundations may 

 be broken. This plan was dismissed as 

 chimerical by the engineers of fifty years 

 ago, but it is again worthy of careful 

 consideration at this time, since topo- 

 graphical surveys now give a better 

 knowledge of the subject. That which 

 seemed entirely impossible in the nine- 

 teenth century may be very easy of 

 achievement in the twentieth. 



Again, while it may be in part a dream 

 at present, effort should be made for the 

 clarification of the waters of the Mis- 

 sissippi. The chief contributor that 

 makes it a muddy stream is the Missouri, 

 and it has been estimated that each year 

 four hundred million tons of silt are car- 



ried along the bed of the river toward the 

 sea — a quantity comparable with and per- 

 haps even greater than the amount of 

 excavation required for the construction 

 of the Panama Canal. Not in a day, nor 

 yet in a year, but in the generations to 

 come, we may hope that this river will 

 be so bettered by the protection of banks 

 and by treatment of soil in the adjacent 

 lands as to remove its present quality of 

 muddiness. 



Another problem is the preservation of 

 forests, not only for the sake of the tim- 

 ber supply, but for the moderation of the 

 discharge of waters into the river. Still 

 another, pertaining to many portions of 

 the basin, will be the conservation of 

 waters so that the lands where rainfall 

 does not now exist may be so supplied by 

 irrigation as to open up hundreds of mil- 

 lions of acres for settlement. With great 

 rapidity the resources of this country 

 have been exhausted. It is now time to 

 encourage the practice of economy and 

 conservation. The marvelous wealth of 

 this valley should be preserved for future 

 generations, and provision should be 

 made with great care for the maintenance 

 of that equal opportunity which ought to 

 be the birthright of every citizen of the 

 Republic, but which monopolization at 

 present threatens. 



I congratulate this Society for the in- 

 terest displayed this evening in the con- 

 servation and utilization of our resources. 

 I am glad to hear a note of warning 

 sounded, and I hope that by your activ- 

 ities you may exert a beneficent influence 

 in this direction equal to that which you 

 have exerted in other branches of en- 

 deavor. 



THE TOASTMASTER 



In creating the Inland Water Ways 

 Commission for the purpose of studying 

 this great project for the improvement 

 of the Mississippi, the President honored 

 this Society by selecting for the Secretary 

 of that organization one who for years 

 has been one of the most active workers 

 in this institution. I will introduce Dr 

 W J McGee to say a few words. 



