Page images
PDF
EPUB

MISSISSIPPI RIVER LEVEES.

COMMITTEE ON RIVERS AND HARBORS,
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Friday, January 23, 1914.

AFTER RECESS.

The committee reassembled, pursuant to the taking of recess, at 2.30 o'clock p. m.

The CHAIRMAN. This meeting was called this afternoon for the consideration of the report on the survey rendered at the last regular session of Congress of the Mississippi River between mouth of the Ohio and Rock Island, Ill.

Mr. RAINEY. Mr. Chairman, the Speaker of the House is the first gentleman whom we desire to have address the committee on this subject.

STATEMENT OF HON. CHAMP CLARK, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

The SPEAKER. Mr. Chairman, I will not have very much to say on this subject. Mr. Rainey and Mr. Worthington are here and are much more familiar with the details of this subject than I am.

Mr. Rainey and I own the section of the Mississippi River up there between Cape Girardeau and Rock Island. [Laughter.] His district is on one side of the river and mine is on the other side.

Last year we came before the committee and made a strong plea, and they treated us very handsomely so far as the improvement from Cape Girardeau to Rock Island is concerned.

Now, at that time Col. Glenn, who is now the Journal Clerk of the House, stated that the cost of the entire project would amount to $6,000,000. That was guesswork, but he guessed with marvelous accuracy, because the engineer's report puts the cost at $6,200,000.

They substantiate another proposition, that levees that are built up in that part of the Mississippi River do not go to pieces as do the levees farther down. It is a more tenacious kind of soil, and if they are once built, they can be maintained with very little attention from time to time.

In the big district over in Illinois, which is opposite mine, the people have built the levees, they have bonded the land, and done everything that they know how to do.

I understand-my understanding has always been that the committee really wanted to help those who were helping themselves, and those people have done their full part.

I do not know that there is anything more I can say on this subject at this time. I will turn the whole matter over to Mr. Rainey, as he knows more about it than I do.

The CHAIRMAN. We are very glad to have heard from the Speaker. STATEMENT OF HON. HENRY T. RAINEY, A MEMBER OF CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.

Mr. RAINEY. Mr. Chairman. What we desire to present to the committee this afternoon-I am not going to take up much of your timeis the question of Government aid for levees on the river between Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Rock Island, Ill.

We presented this matter about a year ago, and in the river and harbor act of 1913 you put a clause, which was modified in the Senate, but the final result of it was that we got an appropriation of $200,000 for the purpose of making a survey from Cape Girardeau to Rock Island, and for the purpose of aiding the levee districts along the river.

The report of the survey has been made; the Mississippi River Commission have made their report, and they have expended $10,000 in making the survey, leaving $190,000, which they have suggested should be apportioned to certain sections of the river, mentioning those sections from Rock Island to Cape Girardeau.

In this section of the Mississippi River there are something like 50 levee districts-perhaps a few more than that, and, I think, in 26 of the districts there have been built levees. Eight or ten are now building levees.

There are 782,000 acres comprised in these districts that can be reclaimed and cultivated.

They cultivate at intervals, now, when the river permits them to cultivate. If this entire area were properly protected by levees there could be raised on it-and every acre of it would raise corn-there could be raised on it every year 60,000,000 bushels of corn, and at the present price of corn in that locality along the river, that much corn would be worth over $40,000,000. Of course, they raise other things on this 782,000 acres besides corn. They raise all the cereals. They raise potatoes, and, I think, it is safe to say if this amount of acreage were protected against the encroachment of the river, so that the farmers could be encouraged and know that they had a chance to make a crop every year in response to their labors, they would buy the necessary machinery and make the necessary improvements, and it is safe to say that this stretch along the river could produce every year in foodstuffs on an average, at the very least, an amount of foodstuffs worth $35,000,000.

We think the upper Mississippi River is just as important as the lower portion of the river, and we think corn is just as valuable a crop as sugar or cotton, and it is certainly just as valuable at the present time when everybody is trying to devise means to raise all the foodstuffs they can to prevent the bringing in of supplies from the Argentine Republic, we will be able to prevent the bringing in of supplies from that country if we are able to raise all we can raise on this area.

Some of these districts are of considerable size, and between Quincy and St. Louis, or Alton on the Illinois side of the river is a district

known as the Sky District, which comprises 110,000 acres of land. The report of the Mississippi River Commission has been approved by the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, and by the Chief of Engineers, and all that we ask in this bill is that the upper river be treated just as well as the lower river is and as the original organic act contemplated. We are only asking for the usual clause in this bill, with the limitation you always put in, instructing the engineers to expend whatever you give us in this bill for the upper river, having in view the improvement of navigation and the promotion of commerce.

The report of the Mississippi River Commission, copies of which are before the committee, and which was made under this clause of the bill, and which is more than you had before, when you gave us an appropriation of $200,000 in the act of 1913, fully sustains our claim for aid for these levee districts in the northern part of this river.

The item in the bill of 1913 appears on page 19 of the act and reads as follows:

The Mississippi River Commission shall make an examination of the Mississippi River from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to Rock Island, Illinois, with a view to such improvements as will at the same time promote navigation, promote water power, and protect property adjacent to said river from damage by floods; and in making such examination consideration shall be given and recommendations made as to plans for cooperation by the localities affected; for the purpose of such examination and for the building of such levees between said points on the river in aid of navigation as may be found necessary or desirable by the commission and approved by the Chief of Engineers, the sum of $200,000 is hereby appropriated.

Mr. KENNEDY. Is it your idea that the entire river shall be considered as a unit for levee purposes?

Mr. RAINEY. I think that was within the scope of the original act, and since then you have recognized the river all the way to the mouth of the Ohio River, and recently you extended that area to Cape Girardeau, Mo., and now we are asking that it be extended not to the headwaters of the river, but to Rock Island, Ill. That does not reach the northern boundary of Illinois, but it takes in part of Missouri, part of Illinois, and part of the State of Iowa.

Mr. KENNEDY. What I had reference to more particularly was the appropriation. Suppose the committee should make an appropriation to aid in the construction of levees. Heretofore the reach has been from Cape Girardeau to Rock Island. Would it be your idea to incorporate the entire river to Rock Island and let the Mississippi River Commission expend the money under their authority?

Mr. RAINEY. That is my idea exactly-from Cape Girardeau to Rock Island.

The CHAIRMAN. Congress has not yet adopted a project there, except possibly to the extent of authorizing the expenditure of $200,000, at least a part of which was for a survey, but if any is adopted it should start from the mouth of the Ohio. We undertook that in the House bill last year, but the Senate changed it, and we afterwards accepted that change in conference. It provided for a survey and appropriated $200,000 " for the purpose of such examination and for the building of such levees between said points upon the river in aid of navigation as may be found necessary or desirable by the commission and approved by the Chief of Engineers."

« PreviousContinue »