^^1 
 
CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE 
 
 HEARINGS 
 
 ON 
 
 H. R. 8189 
 
 A BILL TO ESTABLISH A FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE FUND AND TO 
 
 PROVIDE FOR THE PROTECTION, DRAINAGE, AND RECLAMATION OF THE 
 
 OVERFLOWED AND SWAMP LANDS IN THE UNITED STATES, IN THE 
 
 PROMOTION OF THE GENERAL WELFARE, IN PREVENTION OF 
 
 THE DISSEMINATION OF MALARIA AND OTHER DISEASES 
 
 AMONG THE SEVERAL STATES, AND TO PROMOTE 
 
 INTERSTATE COMMERCE BY NAVIGATION 
 
 HELD BEFORE THE ' 
 
 COMMITTEE ON RIVERS AND HARBORS 
 
 HOUSE OF EEPRESENTATIVES 
 
 SIXTY-THIRD CONGRESS 
 
 CONSISTING OF 
 
 STEPHEN M. SFARKMAN, Florida, Chairman. 
 GEORGE F. BURGESS, Texas. WILLIAM F. MURRAY, Massachusetts. 
 
 BENJAMIN G. HUMPHREYS, Mississippi. CHARLES LIEB, Indiana. 
 GEORGE W. TAYLOR, Alabama. WILLIAM KETTNBR, California. 
 
 CHARLES G. EDWARDS, Georgia. WILLIAM B. HUMPHREY, Washington. 
 
 JOHN H. SMALL, North Carolina. CHARLES A. KENNEDY, Iowa. 
 
 CHARLES P. BOOHER, Missouri. ANDREW^ J. BARCHPELD, Pennsylyanla. 
 
 THOMAS GALLAGHER, Illinois. JAMES A. HUGHES, West Virginia. 
 
 DANIEL A. DRISCOLL, New York. ROBERT M. SWITZER, Ohio. 
 
 'MICHAEL DONOHOE, Pennsylvania. CALEB POWERS, Kentucky. 
 
 ^THOMAS J. SCULLY, New Jersey. ALLEN T. TREADWAY, Massachusetts. 
 
 William C. Brookbb, Cleric. 
 Joseph H. McGann, Assistar^^MIsrJt. - 
 
 Uty'jiJ^J- 
 
 ,'--I^\SiT'J 
 
 APRIL 28, 1914 
 
 IIIEAR^ 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
 1914 ' 
 
we 
 
 A IX. 
 
 ciaobvc 
 
FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 
 
 House of Representatives, 
 Committee on Eivees and Harbors, 
 
 Tuesday, April 28, 191k- 
 
 The committee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. George F. Burgess 
 presiding. 
 
 Mr. BtJEGESs. The committee has met this morning for a hearing on 
 the bill (H. R. 8189) to establish a flood-protection and drainage 
 fund and to provide for the protection, drainage, and reclamation of 
 the overflowed and swamp lands in the United States, in promotion 
 of the general welfare, in prevention of the dissemination of malaria 
 and other diseases among the several States, and to promote interstate 
 commerce by navigation. 
 
 Mr. Edwards. Mr. Chairman, it gives me great pleasure to present 
 to the committee Mr. Edmund T. Perkins, of Chicago, who is directly 
 and prominently interested in drainage and reclamation work. Until 
 recently Mr. Perkins was president of the National Drainage Con- 
 gress. 
 
 The National Drainage Congress has been in session in Savannah, 
 Ga., and has just adjourned. I have here several newspaper clip- 
 pings containing items in regard to the proceedings of the congress 
 and editorials commenting on the work of the congress, and I would 
 like to have those inserted in the record of this hearing, if there is 
 no objection. 
 
 Mr. Burgess. If there is no objection, that will be done, and they 
 may be inserted at this point. 
 
 av 
 6 
 
 The matter referred to is as follows:) 
 
 Senator Aiken Asked to Address Congress — Has Done Much to Advance 
 
 Drainage in Georgia. 
 
 [Savannah News, April 20, 1914.] 
 
 Over long-distance telephone yesterday United States Drainage Engineer 
 J. v. Phillips, secretary of the Georgia Drainage Congress, was advised by E. J. 
 Watson, vice president of the National Drainage Congress, which convenes here 
 Wednesday, that Senator L. R. Aiken, of Brunswick, president of the Georgia 
 Drainage Congress, has been invited to attend the national congress in 
 Savannah and deliver an address. 
 
 Senator Aiken Is one of the strongest supporters of the movement for ade- 
 quate drainage in this State and was father of the first drainage bill intro- 
 duced in the Georgia Legislature. He is chairman of the ways and means 
 committee of the Georgia Senate. 
 
 As president of the Georgia Drainage Congress for two terms Senator Aiken 
 has accomplished much constructive work, and is admitted to have advanced 
 the plan to drain all waste lands in the State more than any other one man. 
 He was a member of the Georgia delegation to the National Drainage Congress 
 when it met at St. Louis, and took active part in the winning fight to bring 
 the congress to Savannah this year. 
 
4 FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 
 
 Clark Asked to Speak at Church IIeeting — He May Address Convention 
 
 Churches of Christ. 
 
 [S.ivannali News, Apr. 20, 1914.] 
 
 It was decided yesterday by the officers of the First and Second Christian 
 Churches to extend an invitation to Spealser Champ Claris to address the con- 
 vention of the Churches of Christ of the Savannah district in session here to- 
 morrow and Wednesday. 
 
 Speaker Clarli will be in Savannah Wednesday to address the National 
 Drainage Congress. As it is not yet known exactly at what time he makes his 
 speech before that body, he will be asked to choose his own time for addressing 
 the convention. The request will be telegraphed to him to-day. 
 
 The Speaker is an elder in the Church of Christ at his home. Bowling Green, 
 Mo., and has taken an active interest in the affairs of the church at large. 
 The convention will be held in the First Christian Church. 
 
 Hearing Arranged on Drainage Bill — House Committee Devotes Three Days 
 Next Week — Mr. Perkins Announces He Is Confident Bill Will Be 
 Passed by Congress. 
 
 [Savannah News, Apr. 4, 1914.] 
 
 Edmund T. Perkins, president of the National Drainage Congress, announced 
 yesterday upon his arrival in Savannah that a hearing had been arranged by a 
 committee of the House of Representatives for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednes- 
 day of next week on the Clark- Williams drainage bill. 
 
 A committee representing the drainage congress, composed of the most in- 
 fluential men in the organization, will go to Washington after the adjourn- 
 ment of the Savannah meeting to appear before the committee of the House 
 to urge the passage of the bill. The bill is similar in its provisions to the 
 reclamation act by which such wonderful irrigation work was done in the West. 
 
 MR. PERKINS gratified. 
 
 " We are highly pleased that we are going to get a hearing on the bill," 
 said Mr. Perkins. " We never before got a hearing on it, and we feel this is 
 an important step In the right direction. The bill has been referred to 'the 
 Interior Department for report, and I judge the report has been received by the 
 committee and it is favorable. 
 
 " Mr. Lane, Secretary of the Interior Department, is intensely interested in 
 the drainage movement and will be a speaker here. I feel confident that his 
 depiirtment has reported favorably on the bill and that the committee will 
 shortly make a favorable report on it to the House. I believe the bill will be 
 passed at the next session. We do not hope to have It passed at the present 
 session." 
 
 Jlr. Perkins Is here to get ready for the congress, which opens its sessions 
 to-morrow. There is a good deal of preliminary work for him to do, and he will 
 be busy right up to the time of the adjournment of the meeting. He is accom- 
 panied by Mrs. Perkins. 
 
 EXPECTS BIG CROWDS. 
 
 " I am satisfied we are going to have a fine meeting," said Mr. Perkins. " The 
 reports I have received indicate there will be a good attendance. I believe 
 quite a number are coming from the West. We are, of course, counting on the 
 largest attendance from the territory tributary to Savannah. This section 
 should be greatly interested in the subject of drainage, and I think the people 
 should avail themselves of the opportunity to hear noted engineers talk 
 about It." 
 
 Mr. Perkins will decline reelection. He said he had no idea who would be 
 elected. The impression is that the honor will go to a southern man. Mayor 
 Davant, of Savannah, and E. J. Watson, of Columbia, are being prominently 
 mentioned. 
 
* FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 5 
 
 Several cities have invited the congress for next year. San Francisco is 
 making a strong bid in view of the fact that the Panama-Pacific Exposition 
 will be open at that time. Baltimore, Kichmond, Memphis, and other cities 
 In the South want the meeting. 
 
 Official Pkoqeam for Big Congress — Visitors and Delegates are Expected 
 To-day — Meeting Opens To-moreow — JIass of Work Mapped Out for 
 Members of Congress. 
 
 [Savannah News, April 21, 1914.] 
 
 Upon the arrival in Savannah yesterday of President Edmund T. Perldns the 
 official program for the National Drainage Congress was finally drafted and 
 turned over to the printers. 
 
 XJnless some of the speakers from Washington find it impossible to come on 
 account of the Mexican situation the program as given below will be carried out 
 in detail. The congress opens to-morrow morning in the Guards Hall. 
 
 Several of the delegates and visitors to the congress are already here. To-day 
 will see the arrival of a large number. The main body will arrive to-morrow 
 morning. 
 
 Following is the program : 
 
 The Opening Session, 
 wednesday. 
 
 Opening session, 10 a. m. : 
 
 Call to order by Mayor Davant, chairman Savannah Board of Control. 
 
 Address of welcome on behalf of the State of Georgia, Gov. Slaton. 
 
 Address of welcome on behalf of the city of Savannah, Mayor Davant. 
 
 Response in behalf of the National Drainage Congress, Edmund T. Perkins, 
 Chicago, president of the congress. 
 
 The congress called to order by President Perkins. 
 
 Address, Hon. Franldiu K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior. 
 
 Address, Hon. Champ Clark, Speaker of the United States House of Represent- 
 atives. 
 
 Report of executive committee. 
 
 Announcements. 
 
 Adjournment. 
 
 Afternoon : 
 
 1.30 to 7.30 p. m.— All delegates go on the trip to Tybee and Port Screven, as 
 guests of the city. 
 
 Evening session : 
 
 8 p. m. — Announcements of committees. 
 
 Address, " Relation of the citizen to land reclamation," Hon. John H. Small, 
 of North Carolina, House of Representatives. 
 
 Report of the committee of Federal action : " The keynote of the Fourth 
 Annual Drainage Congress," and presentation of message to the congress from 
 Hon. Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, E. J. Watson, vice presi- 
 dent National Drainage Congress. 
 
 Second Day's Program. 
 
 thursday. 
 
 Morning session, 9.30 a. m, to 2.p. m. : 
 
 Address, " Flood regulation in California," A. L. Cowell, the river regulation 
 commission of Stockton, Oal. 
 
 Address, Hon. J. W. Ragsdale, of South Carolina, House of Representatives. 
 
 Address " Control of Mississippi floods essential to a protection of our largest 
 drainage unit," Hon. Joseph E. Ransdell, of Louisiana, chairman Committee on 
 Public Health and National Quarantine, United States Senate. 
 
 Address Hon. Henry T. Rainey, of Illinois, House of Representatives. 
 
 Address! William Randolph Hearst, of New York and San Francisco. 
 
 Afternoon. session, 3 to 4.30 p. m. : 
 
6 FLOOD PEOTECTION AND DEAINAGE. 
 
 Address, " Drainage work in North Carolina," Dr. Joseph Hyde Pratt, State 
 geologist and engineer. 
 
 Address, "The drainage problem in Georgia," Dr. S. W. McCallie, State 
 geologist of Georgia, Atlanta. 
 
 Address, " What drainage reclamation has done for the State of Missouri," 
 Hon. J. H. Noleu. commissioner of reclamation, Jefferson City, Mo. 
 
 4.30, military and floral parade. 
 
 Evening session, 8 p. m. : 
 
 Address, " Some important features of the present drainage situation, ' 0. G. 
 Elliott, formerly chief of Drainage Investigations, Department of Agriculture, 
 Washington. 
 
 Address, " Certain fundamental factors in drainage," Hon. N. C. Grover, chief 
 hydraulic engineer. United States Geological Survey. 
 
 Address, " River reglation and control in antiquity" Sir William Willcocks, 
 K. G. 51., Gezlrah, Cairo, Egypt. 
 
 Address, " Land drainage in Its relation to general agricultural development," 
 Prof. Elmer O. Fippin, department of soil technology, Cornell University, Ithaca, 
 N. Y. 
 
 8.30, street carnival. 
 
 Thikd Day's Woek. 
 
 Morning session, 9 a. m. to 2 p. m. : 
 
 Address, " Road maintenance," D. H. Winslow, United States superintendent 
 of road construction, office of public roads, Washington. 
 
 Address," Work of the Pittsburgh Flood Commission," Jlorris Knowles, Pitts- 
 burgh. 
 
 Address, " Reclamation, an obligation of the Government," Hon. W. S.. Jen- 
 nings, Jacksonville, former governor of State of Florida. 
 
 Address, Hon. P. JI. Simmons, of North Carolina, chairman Committee on 
 Finance, United States Senate. 
 
 Address, " The necessity of drainage legislation," Hon. James T. Lloyd, 
 chairman Committee on Accounts, United States House of Representatives. 
 
 Address, " Reclamation and diversified farming," Prof. P. G. Holden, director 
 agricultural extension department. International Harvester Co. of New Jersey, 
 Chicago. 
 
 Afternoon session, 3 p. m. to 6 p. m. : 
 
 Section on malaria eradication. 
 
 Address, " Relation of drainage to the prevalence of malaria," Prank Han- 
 cock., M. D., Norfolk. 
 
 Address, H. B. Carter, senior surgeon, .United States Public Health Ser'^ice. 
 
 Address, " In eradicating mosquitoes, what shall we do with our large 
 swamps?" Isaac W. Brewer, M. D., Taughannock Palls, N. Y. 
 
 Address, " Malaria ; investigations in the United States by the United States 
 Public Health Service," R. H. Von Bzdorf, surgeon. Public Health Service. 
 
 Address, " Malaria in the Cumberland Mountains," Henry Lockhart, D. D., 
 Coalmont, Tenn. 
 
 Address, " Farm abandonment and malaria infection — a vicious circle," Allen 
 W. Freeman, M. D., Richmond. 
 
 Evening session, 8 p. m. to 11 : 
 
 Address, " Modern mechanical equipment for reclamation undertakings," 
 Frank B. Knight, Linderwood Manufacturing Co., Chicago. 
 
 Address, " Some phases of the origin of the swamp lands of the Mississippi 
 Valley and their characteristic vegetation," Charles P. Hottes, professor of 
 plant pathology. University of Illinois, Urbana, 111. 
 
 Address, " Drainage in its influence on the commercial development of the 
 South," Dr. Clarence J. Owens, managing dire«tor of the Southern Commercial 
 Congress, Washington. 
 
 Address, " The use of dynamite in drainage reclamation," Dr. J. H. Squires, of 
 Wilmington, Del., agronomist, Dupont Powder Co. 
 
 Closing Day's Session. 
 
 saturday. 
 
 Morning session, 9 a. m. to 1 p. m. : 
 
 Address, "Drainage reclamation in Georgia," J. V. Phillips, United States 
 drainage engineer in charge. Savannah; address, "Drainage activities in South 
 
FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 7 
 
 Carolina," F. G. Eason, United States drainage engineer, Charleston; address, 
 " What drainage means to the State of Georgia," L. R. Aiken, president of the 
 Georgia Drainage Congress. 
 
 Afternoon session, 2 p. m. to 3 p. m. Section on malaria eradication. 
 
 Address, " Notes on the superiority in intramuscular injection over adminis- 
 tration by the mouth in the treatment of malaria infections by quinine, and the 
 availability of quinine and urea hydrochloride for this purpose," Solomon Soils 
 Cohen, M. D., Philadelphia ; address, " Pernicious malaria," Thomas D. Cole- 
 man, M. D., Augusta. 
 
 Informal discussions: 
 
 A plan for a campaign against malaria. Suggestions for raising funds to 
 finance a campaign against malaria. The importance of education and pub- 
 licity in fighting malaria. Methods of computing the economic loss through 
 malaria. What the National Dtainage Congress can do for the eradication of 
 malaria. The importance of drainage in controlling the spread of malaria 4n 
 rural districts. 
 
 Closing session, 3 p. m. to 5 p. m. : 
 
 Reports of committees: Resolutions, legislative. Election of oflScers. Selec- 
 tion of next meeting place. Adjournment. 
 
 CoNGBESs Begins .Sessions To-Day — Delegates and Guests go to Tybeb this 
 Aftebnoon — ^All Sessions are Public — Board of Governors Anxious fob 
 All to Attend. 
 
 to-day's program. 
 
 10 a. m., call to order. 
 
 Address of welcome on behalf of State, Gov. Slaton. 
 
 Address of welcome on behalf of the city, John Rourke, jr., city attorney. 
 
 Response on behalf of the National Drainage Congress, President Edmund T. 
 Perkins. 
 
 The congress called to order by President Perkins. 
 
 Report of executive committee. 
 
 Announcements. 
 
 Adjournment. 
 
 Evening session : 
 
 Eight o'clock, announcements of committees. 
 
 Address, " Relation of the citizen to land reclamation," Hon. John H. Small, of 
 North Carolina. 
 
 Report of the committee of Federal action, " The keynote of the Fourth An- 
 nual Drainage Congress," and presentation of message to the congress from 
 President Woodrow Wilson, E. J. Watson, vice president National Drainage 
 Congress. 
 
 Address, Hon. John E. Raker, of California. 
 
 Motion pictures of flood scenes. 
 
 With the fall of the gavel in the hands of President Edmund T. Perkins the 
 fourth meeting of the Nationnl Drainage Congress will get underway at 10 
 o'clock this morning. , 
 
 All of the morning session will be taken up with the preliminaries, such as 
 the welcoming addresses and the general remarks on the subject of drainage. 
 
 NO AFTERNOON SESSION. 
 
 There will be no afternoon session to-day. As soon as the congress adjourns 
 the morning session the delegates and specially invited guests will go to the Tybee 
 Depot and board a special train for Tybee, where the afternoon will be spent. 
 Tickets for the Tybee trip will be given delegates as they register this morning. 
 A feature of the trip to Tybee will be the shore luncheon which has been ar- 
 ranged for the delegates and guests. 
 
 The night sessions of the congress will be held at the Liberty Theater, which 
 will give larger accommodations for the general public and afford better facili- 
 ties for the illustrated lectures. The day sessions will be held at the Guards' 
 Hall. The board of governors of the congress extends a special invitation to 
 ladies to attend the sessions. 
 
 EXPECT 500 DELEGATES. 
 
 Visitors and delegates to the congress began arriving yesterday. The main 
 body will, of course, reach the city this morning. The present indications are 
 tliat in the neighborhood of 500 delegates will be here for the drainage congress. 
 
8 FLOOD PROTECTION AND DEAINAGK. 
 
 It is believed tliat hnndreds of people will be attracted from the surrounding 
 territory by the special features that are being arranged in connection with the 
 congress. 
 
 This afternoon, following the shore luncheon at Tybee, the visitors will be 
 taken to Fort Screven, where a special inspection of the garrison and a demon- 
 stration of the batteries will be arranged by Col. Willoughby Walke, the com- 
 mandant. The party will leave the fort in time to reach the city at 7.30 o'clock. 
 
 Mayor Davant is confined to his home by a slight attack of ptomaine poison- 
 ing and probably will not be able to attend to-day's sessions of the congress, 
 upon the advice of his physician. He is chairman of the local board of control 
 and a large measure of the credit for the success of the arrangements belongs 
 to him. John Rourke, Jr., city attorney, will deliver the address of welcome 
 on behalf of the city, in the place of the mayor. 
 
 The drainage congress is a hard working body and there is a great deal for 
 it to do at this meeting. Committees will be hard at work while the sessions 
 are in progress. The guards have tendered the use of private rooms for the 
 committees. 
 
 President Perkins issued the following invitation to the public : 
 
 " To the Teachers and Bchool Children, the Ladies, and the General Puilic, of 
 
 Savannah: 
 
 " On behalf of the National Drainage Congress a cordial invitation is hereby 
 extended to you, through the courtesy of the press of Savannah, to attend the 
 sessions of our organization. The sessions which will be held Wednesday, 
 Thursday, and Friday evenings, at the Llbertj' Theater, will be educational in 
 value, and extremely interesting. They will be illustrated by motion pictures 
 and by stereopticon lantern slides. 
 
 " The morning and afternoon sessions of the congress will be held at the 
 Guards' Armory, and they, too, will prove instructive and interesting. Since 
 many future homes of the people of the United States will be built upon what 
 are now swamps, marshes, or overflowed areas, we think it especially fitting 
 that the younger generation should become acquainted with present conditions 
 and the necessity for reclamation work upon a national scale. 
 
 " Since the ladies are always interested in everything that directly touches 
 the home, we feel that they will be especially interested in our meetings. All 
 sessions are free to the public." 
 
 The Rev. Francis A. Brown will deliver the invocation this morning, the Rev. 
 Dr. George Solomon to-morrow morning, the Rev. Rockwell S. Brank Friday 
 morning, and the Rev. Father Mitchell Saturday morning. 
 
 Drainage Countey's Greatest Problem — Me. Claie of Illinois Centbal 
 Talks op the Congeess. 
 
 John C. Clair, industrial and immigration commissioner of the Illinois Central 
 Railroad, arrived in Savannah yesterday at attend the National Drainage Con- 
 gress. 
 
 " The drainage movement is the most important from an economic standpoint 
 confronting the country to-day," said Mr. Clair. " The need of proper drainage 
 is felt all over the country. This need is felt particularly in the Mississippi 
 Valley. The passage of the bill which the Drainage Congress is working for 
 will prove a. great boon to prosperity. 
 
 " The Illinois Central's interest in drainage is not an altogether selfish one. 
 We feel that whatever is good for any particular section of the country has its 
 effect on the entire land. The Rlississippi Valley is concerned very gravely with 
 the drainage problem, but what is done there will benefit the entire country " 
 
 -Mr. Clair has brought with him some transparencies and other exhibits which 
 will be at the Guards' Hall for the visitors and delegates to the congress 
 
 He mentioned in an interview last night the work which the Illinois Central 
 is doing along agricultural lines, through its test farm work. The efforts to 
 arouse interest in scientific farming have produced great results, he says 
 
 Big Day To-Moeeow foe Savannahians— Cabni\al Parade and Street Danc- 
 ing Features— Look for Big Turnout— Red Men and Eac^les to Vie for 
 Honors in Parade. 
 
 From the standpoint of the general public to-morrow will be the most inter- 
 esting day of the National Drainage Congi-ess week. 
 
FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 9 
 
 From 4 o'clock until midnlglit the program has been specially prepared, for 
 its entertainment, and the prospects now are that every feature arranged will 
 prove a brilliant success. 
 
 All doubts as to the success of the dance on Bull Street from Broughton to 
 York finally disappeared when the City Federation of Women's Organizations 
 showed its public spirit, and intense interest in anything intended to promote 
 Savannah's interests by indorsing the dance and announcing to the mayor its 
 willingness to appoint 25 chaperones for the occasion. 
 
 CHAPEBONES FOR DANCE. 
 
 This news wa"s received with much gratification by the committee in charge, 
 and steps were at once taken to have a suitable platform on which they can 
 be seated. Subject to their order there will be several special officers selected 
 by Chief Meldrini, who will immediately execute any request they may make 
 for the preservation of proper conditions during the dance. 
 
 To-night the area devoted to the dance will be given a thorough washing by 
 the streets and lanes hands. To-morrow at 6.30 o'clock the area will be roped 
 In and all vehicles shut off from Bull Street from the south side of Broughton 
 to the north side of York Street. Men will then be put to work thoroughly 
 sweeping the streets and sidewalks. Promptly at 8.30 o'clock a white band of 
 50 pieces will take its position by the Gordon Jlonument and the dancing will 
 begin. 
 
 DANCERS MUST UNMASK. 
 
 All dancers will be required to remove their masks before entering and will 
 not be allowed to be masked while dancing. No t^^•o men will be allowed to 
 dance together. A large force of police stationed along the ropes, as well as 
 the detectives of the city force, will see to it that only the dancers occupy the 
 «treet, the sidewalks being reserved for spectators. 
 
 Chief Meldrim is personally supervising all arrangements for the maintenance 
 of perfect order. There is every reason to believe that several hundred couples 
 will enjoy the dance, and that it will excel in beauty anything of this character 
 ever held in the South. The additional arc lights are being placed in position 
 around the 'square and the thousand Japanese lanterns will be strung to-morrow. 
 These lanterns will all be lighted at S o'clock and will burn until midnight. 
 
 While the dance is in progress on Bull Street, Broughton Street will be sur- 
 rendered to the masqueraders. The fun on that thoroughfa re will be fast, furious, 
 .and free. Until 9 o'clock the street will be given up to the individual masque- 
 raders and spectators. At that hour the tribe of Red Jlen, more than 200 
 strong, will enter from West Broad Street, escorted liy the band, with historic 
 floats, and prepared to pull off some amusing stunts. 
 
 A FANTASTIC PARADE. 
 
 A platoon of police will precede them and clear the streets of vehicles so 
 that they may have full scope for their performance. At 9.30 the Red ilen 
 will proceed to Bay and Bull Streets, where the parade will be formed under 
 Marshal E. Descombe Wells, with Col. W. L. Grayson, Capt. R. A. Cox, Lieut. 
 John R. Fawcett, J. Read Joyce, Peter Nugent, and Joseph Withington as aides 
 
 The position of honor in the parade will be given to the young people. They 
 will lead immediately behind the band and will include a large number who 
 participated in the Daughters of the Confederacy's spectacular entertainment 
 some time ago, costumed as Indians, scouts, suffragettes, etc. The boys of the 
 Jewish Alliance will follow, and then the Y. M. C. A. and Y. M. H. A. boys and 
 other children who may be in costume. 
 
 The Red Men will come next with their floats, followed by the Eagles, 
 Dokeys, and others who may participate. The line of march will be west on 
 Bay to Barnard, to Broughton, to Lincoln, countermarching on Broughton to 
 Barnard, where the parade will disband at about 10.30 o'clock. 
 
 EAGLES' FANCY DRILL. 
 
 The Street will then be cleared for the Eagles, who will put on a fancy drill 
 and otherwise amuse the spectators, after which the masqueraders will enjoy 
 themselves as they will until midnight. Five hundred red fuses have been 
 bought, which will be distributed among the organizations participating in 
 
10 FLOOD PKOTECTIOSr AND DRAINAGE. 
 
 the parade. The outlook is that Broughton Street will see the greatest crowi 
 in its history. 
 
 The judges for the awarding of prizes have not yet been announced. They 
 will be stationed at Bull and Broughton Streets. A special train will carry 
 back to Fort Screven a hundred Red Men, of the garrison there, who are mem- 
 bers of the local tribe. The rivalry between the Red Men and the Eagles, as 
 to which will make the most attractive appearance, promises to bring these 
 organizations very much into action on this occasion. 
 
 The chaperones for the dance to-morrow night have been selected from among 
 the members of the executive board of the city federation. Among those who 
 will act as chaperones are Mrs. Mendes, Miss Dora Slendes, Mrs. W. P. Bailey, 
 Mrs. and Miss Meldrim, Miss Katherine Latham, Mrs. Isaac Minis, and Mls» 
 E. M. Johnston. 
 
 Clark and Lane Can Not Attend — Mexican Crisis and Colorado Floods thh 
 Cause — Col. Watson is Hopeful — Sees Menace in Unreclaimed Low- 
 lands. 
 
 Soon after his arrival last night E. J. Watson, of Columbia, vice president of 
 the National Drainage Congress, announced the receipt of a telegram from 
 Secretary Franklin K. Lane stating that owing to disastrous floods along the 
 Colorado River he will be unable to attend the congress. 
 
 Though Col. Watson sent several messages of inquiry to Washington, up to a 
 late hour he was not in position to say definitely whether Speaker Champ 
 Clark will be able to keep his engagement to speak here to-day. In view of the 
 crisis in the Mexican situation it now appears very doubtful that he will be 
 present at any session of the congress. Col. Watson could not say whether 
 Gov. Cole L. Blease of South Carolina will come. 
 
 The situation in Washington resulting from the seizure of Vera Cruz by 
 Admiral Admiral Fletcher and the prospect of a conflict with Mexico has had 
 a depressing effect upon the meeting of the Drainage Congress in depriving it 
 of some of the principal speakers. 
 
 President Wilson's message to the congress had not been received by Col. 
 Watson, who will read it. He expects it to come to-day by telegraph. The text 
 of Secretary Lane's telegram follows : 
 
 secretary lane's message. . ; 
 
 B. J. Watson : 
 
 It is impossible for me to go to Savannah as expected. Word has just come 
 that the Colorado River has broken through its banks, threatening several 
 milhon dollars of loss. I must act at once in this matter and probably will be 
 compelled to go to Congress for an emergency appropriation. 
 With much regret, 
 
 Franklin K. Lane. 
 
 ^Si°^i. "^^"^^ ^^° ^^"'''^ already arrived for the Drainage Congress it was 
 confidently said that Col. Watson will succeed President Edmond Perkins who 
 has announced his intention of not again accepting the office Col Watson 
 when asked about it, made it clear that he is not seeking the ofllce ' He said 
 that If the congiess feels he can best serve its interects in that capacity and 
 m that spirit tenders the presidency to him, he will accept; but he will do no 
 campaigning toward that end. 
 
 "I am connected with the National Drainage Congress because of the sreat 
 benefits which the South, and all other sections in need of ft will derhe from 
 drainage and reclamation," said Col. Watson. " It is a question affecin^ 
 millions of acres now idle and a menace to health. quebiiou anecting 
 
 STRETCHES OF WASTE LANDS. 
 
 "Coming to Savannah to-day I saw stretches of these wastes miles in length 
 What a picture of despair is presented by the anemic people wh"inh-,bit them 
 They are abso utely without hope, have no ambition, and areZtiful o lookTt" 
 Women and children share such conditions, sometimes a hundrS mUes from 
 the nearest neighbors and without roads on which to travel to timi 
 
 Compared to irrigation the reclamation of the waste 1 uifl« ir+ha „ ^ 
 at large is a proposition of so much greater importance tl^tlVmi't.'T*''^ 
 any man can find an argument againit it. The"Go^™eS: has^Tbout r<^S 
 
FLOOD PROTECTION AND DEAINAGE. 11 
 
 the limit in Irrigation. Drainage of the lowlands can not possibly exceed in 
 cost $10 an acre, and might be as low as $4 on the large unit bfisis. In the' 
 West the Government has derived some revenue from the sale of the public- 
 lands, whereas here It is a proposition of self help. 
 
 " Secretary Lane regards reclamation and the regulation of floods and 
 streams one of the greatest problems now before the American people, and' 
 openly asserts that the time has come for action. The increased cost of living 
 is one of the factors that has entered into the problem. 
 
 A VALUABLE INVESTMENT. 
 
 " The lands affected are near the centers of population, and are not a great 
 distance from where the products would have to be handled over transconti- 
 nental lines. Economically speaking, there is not an investment the Govern* 
 ment can touch that can compare with it. 
 
 " Very vigorously and without solicitation. Secretary Lane a few weeks ago^ 
 told myself and several other representatives of the National Drainage Con- 
 gress that he wanted to see this particular thing made the big administration- 
 measure for the opening of the next session of Congress. In his absence I 
 shall make that statement to the congress here. We have kept in close touch 
 in Washington with the situation. I have talked with every man who can pos- 
 sibly have any bearing upon it, and I have yet to hear a single man express- 
 himself against it. It will be the most unanimously popular measure that 
 recently has come up before Congress." 
 
 District Meeting Christian Churches — ^Three SEssI0^fs To-day — Meetings- 
 Taken up with Reports of Delegates. 
 
 Members of the Christian Churches of the Savannah district are gathered in 
 Savannah for a two days' convention. 
 
 The sessions are being held at the First Christian Church. The churches- 
 of this denomination are not numerous in what is called the Savannah district, 
 but there are delegates in attendance from Guyton, Meldrim, Hagan, Sylvania, 
 Girard, and several other points from outside of Savannah. Rev. John H. 
 Wood, of Atlanta, and Mrs. B. O. Miller, of Augusta, are two prominent workers 
 in the State of Georgia who are in attendance. 
 
 The sessions of the convention are presided over by Rev. J. L. Green, or 
 Guyton. 
 
 The afternoon session was taken up very largely with reports from the- 
 churches and the pastors upon their fields of labor. The reports were consid^ 
 ered to be encouraging, and there is every prospect of an active year before the 
 churches in the district. 
 
 At the evening service W. B. Stubbs delivered an address on temperance. He- 
 discussed the question from several standpoints. Discussing it from a moral 
 basis, Mr. Stubbs said that all true and lasting legislation has been based on 
 the law of God, and he made the point that the whisky business violates the 
 tenth commandment, the law against covetousness ; that people are in the busi- 
 ness only for gain. He also spoke of the legal status of the business and the 
 outlook in Savannah. 
 
 To-day there will be a morning, afternoon, and evening session. The key- 
 note of the addresses in the morning will be church efBciency. 
 
 The members of the congregation of the First Christian Church are welcoming 
 and entertaining the out-of-town delegates. Other delegates are expected to 
 arrive this morning and arrangements have been made to provide homes for the 
 later arrivals as well as for those who reached here for the opening session. 
 
 Line of March for Parade To-Morrow — Aids to Col. Walke, who will be 
 
 Grand Marshal. 
 
 Col. M. J. O'Leary yesterday announced the line of march for the parade to- 
 morrow afternoon. 
 
 The column will form on Bay Street, head resting on Bull Street, at 5 o'clock, 
 and .will march west on Bay Street to West Broad, south on West Broad to- 
 Broughton, each on Broughton to Bull, south on Bull to Gaston, west on Gaston 
 
12 FLOOD PROTECTION AND DEAINAGE. 
 
 to Barnard, south on Barnard to Park Avenue, east on Park Avenue to the 
 Park Extension, which will be entered at the southwest corner, thence to the 
 east side of the park, and thence north along Drayton, passing In review before 
 the re\'iewing stand at the intersection of Bolton and Drayton Streets. The 
 column will continue the march to Hall Street, where each organization will 
 stand dismissed. 
 
 Col. Willoughby Walke, who will act as grand marshal, will have the follow- 
 ing aids: Capt. R. C. Garrett, United States Army, chief of staff; Capt. C. P. 
 Elliott, United States Army, retired ; Capt. William R. Dancy, National Guard 
 of Georgia ; First Lieut. W. W. Wilder, National Guard of Georgia. 
 
 After passing in review before the stand at Bolton Street, the automobiles 
 and other decorated vehicles will return and retrace their course in order that 
 the judges may present the prizes to the winners. The judges will be President 
 Edmund T. Perkins, of the Drainage Congress, Illinois; Vice President B. J. 
 Watson, of South Carolina ; Dr. Joseph Hyde Pratt, of North Carolina ; Frank 
 B. Knight, of Illinois ; John H. Nolan, of Missouri, these constituting the board 
 of governors of the Drainage Congress, and Sir William Willocks and Senator 
 Ransdell, of Louisiana. 
 
 Big Soil Waste — Amounts to 500,000 Acres a Day in United States. 
 
 President Perkins, of the National Drainage Congress, received the following 
 telegram last night from Walter S. Dickey, a prominent business man of 
 Kansas City : 
 
 "In connection with our work in perfecting the farm soil saving dam, which 
 as a drainage proposition reaches the unit of the soil waste, we send you, at 
 the request of members of the Missouri delegation, the following astonishing 
 facts, which we have to-day verified through the figures of the Inland Water- 
 ways Commission. These totals show the annual Mississippi River discharge 
 and waste of soil is 400,000,000 tons, which, reduced to acreage, is 200,000 acres, 
 1 foot deep. On the same authority, the total annual soil wash and waste 
 of the United States as a whole amounts to one billion tons, or 500,000 acres, 
 1 foot deep. This means a loss of 1,300 acres of soil 1 foot deep per day, or 
 54 acres of soil 1 foot deep per hour, or nearly 1 acre per minute." 
 
 The Drainage Congress. 
 [Savannah News, April 22, 1914.] 
 
 In our editorial and local columns we have presented practically every phase 
 of the drainage question that the drainage congress, which meets here to-day, 
 will consider. In other localities the newspapers have given a great deal of 
 attention to the purposes of the congress. Therefore, the public ought to be 
 and doubtless is, pretty well acquainted with the question. 
 
 In so far as this State and, in fact, the entire South is concerned, no matter 
 of greater iraportance than this or drainage has engaged public attention in 
 a very long time. Not only is the South interested because of the great acreage 
 of here wet lands— lands which are practically valueless now— but also because 
 of the immense benefit that would flow from the reclamation of these lands 
 from the standpoint of health. 
 
 In this State alone there are approximately 2,700,000 acres of wet land that 
 yield Mimually less than $14,000 revenue to the State. This land, if drained 
 would be worth $50 to $100 per acre, and would put into the State's treasury 
 every year more than $500,000. And this isn't taking into account the revenue 
 that the counties m which the land is situated would get 
 
 But of really more importance is the improvement in health conditions that 
 would follow reclamation. All of the lands are breeders of the sort of a mos- 
 quito that carries malaria. Adequate drainage therefore would save imny 
 lives every year. And what is true of Georgia in this respect is true of nil 
 the other Southern States. lespect is true of all 
 
 Several times vve have called attention to the advertisement that the enact- 
 ment of a na lonal drainage law would be to the South, It would serve to call 
 
 *^^;f"v!'r/,°/^ "'T" ""-'"^ °* ^^^ S°"t^'« "'^t '^"ils to be made fit for tUlate 
 and habitable-lands as rich as any to be found anywhere else in the wor d— 
 
FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 13 
 
 and to be had at extremely attractive prices. In all of the coast countries of 
 this State, for instance, there are great bodies of land that are simply going 
 back to wilderness. The time is close at hand when there will be need for all 
 of It. It will be needed for grain and cattle as well as for cotton. It is true, 
 of course, that Georgia has much well-drained land that is unoccupied, but it 
 Isn't as productive as the wet land would be if drained. 
 
 The other day we printed a synopsis of the drainage bill pending In Congress. 
 The purpose of the drainage congress is to impress upon Congress that the people 
 want that bill or a similar bill passed. If Congress understands that the senti- 
 ment of the country calls for the passage of that bill It will be passed, since 
 Congress is responsive to the will of the people. 
 
 There Is no occasion at this time to go Into the details of the drainage ques- 
 tion. It is a big question and will be handled intelligently and entertainingly 
 by the drainage congress. The public will be amazed at the amount of informa- 
 tion that will be forthcoming relative to the benefits that would flow from the 
 reclamation of the wet lands of the country — benefits that included a vastly 
 greater output from the soil and better health conditions. We have no doubt 
 that the resolutions that the drainage congress will adopt will assist greatly 
 in getting the legislation that is needed. 
 
 Learned Engineer Talks of America — Sib William Willcocks in America 
 First Time — Charmed With Savannah — Country Needs to Develop Along 
 Agricultural Lines. 
 
 [Savannah News, .\pril 22, 1914.] 
 
 Sir William Willcocks, one of the foremost Irrigation and drainage engineers of 
 the world, who will address the National Drainage Congress to-morrow night 
 on " River regulation and control in antiquity," arrived in Savannah yesterday. 
 
 Sir William is paying the United States his first visit, having arrived in New 
 York only a few days ago. He is just from Washington, where he was exten- 
 sively entertained by high officials of the Government and prominent engineers 
 and conservationists. He Is a guest at the De Soto. 
 
 SIR WILLIAM AN ORIENTAL. 
 
 Sir William says he is an oriental, rather than a Britisher, having spent most 
 of his life In the Far East. He has been engaged in various engineering projects 
 of an irrigation and drainage nature In countries of the Far East. His home is 
 in Egypt, near Cairo. He directed the construction of the Assouan Dam on the 
 Nile, one of the greatest engineering feats on record. 
 
 " I am tremendously Impressed with the United States," said Sir William. 
 " One can not help catching the spirit of your wonderful energy. What strikes 
 me as being most extraordinary, however. Is that you have not developed agri- 
 culturally any more than you have. It appears that the country has just been 
 touched. The possibilities for development along agricultural lines are un- 
 doubtedly great. I can see that the country is already waking up to the need of 
 agricultural development." 
 
 AGRICULTURAL POSSIBILITIES. 
 
 The contrast between the agricultural condition of the United States and the 
 countries of the Far East and of Egypt is striking, said Sir William. In the 
 eastern countries every bit of land is utilized to the fullest extent, and Is made 
 to produce as much as possible. " Here you have so much, and your consump- 
 tion is so small as compared to your possible production, that you perhaps have 
 not felt the need for such intensive cultivation," he added. 
 
 " I must say something in defense of our people in the Far East," continued 
 Sir William. " They are real workers. They do not shirk any kind of work, 
 no matter how hard it is, and they do not shirk the responsibility of rearing 
 families. To my mind the people who avoid rearing children belong to a class 
 of loafers." 
 
 Sir William said he has taken quite a fancy to Savannah. " I like the bright, 
 spring-like appearance of everything here," he said. " I am sure It must be a 
 delightful place to live. The people I have met are charming, characteristic of 
 Americans, whole souled, hospitable, and companionable." 
 
14 FLOOD PKOTBCTION AND DKAINAGE. 
 
 UNCLE SAM TO BLAME. 
 
 The United States brought the trouble with Mexico on itself, and has only 
 itself to blame, said Sir William. " When there are two devils fighting, like 
 JJuerta and Villa, and the country refuses to recognize one, but shows favor to 
 the other, what can it expect but trouble? " he asked. " I don't anticipate that 
 the trouble will be serious." 
 
 Sir William said he only knows of the drainage problem in this country from 
 •what he has read. " It is alike the world over, however," he said. " It is a big 
 problem, but the solution of it will do more for the country and for humanity 
 than anything I know of." 
 
 State Drainage Congbess Meets — Gov. Slaton Among the Speakebs at 
 Brunswick — Savannahian is Honobed — Col. A. R. Lawton Succeeds Akin 
 AS President. 
 
 Brunswick, Ga., April 21. 
 
 The fourth annual meeting in Brunswick to-day of the Georgia Drainage 
 Congress was one of the largest and most successful since the formation of the 
 association, and great interest was manifested in the proceedings. Much 
 work was rushed into the short session held. 
 
 Resolutions memorializing the President of the United States and Congress 
 to do everything In their power in the interest of drainage were passed. Sev- 
 eral strong addresses were delivered, chief among them being the annual 
 report of the president, L. R. Akin, of Brunswick, who went into the drainage 
 situation in Georgia fully. Mr. Akin said that there were 2,700,000 acres of 
 land ill Georgia at present useless which could be made valuable by drainage. 
 
 Gov. Slaton made a short address, in which he pledged his support to the 
 drainage movement. Others who delivered interesting addresses on the subject 
 were J. Randolph Anderson and A. R. Lawton, of Savannah; Dr. L. G. Hard- 
 raann, of Commerce; Clifford M. Walker, of Monroe; State Geologist J. Lee 
 Worsham; Col, C. P. Goodyear, of this city; and others. 
 
 This afternoon the visitors en.ioyed a barbecue on St. Simon and to-night 
 a public reception was tendered to Gov Slaton. OflBcers elected by the con- 
 gress were the following : President, A. R. Lawton, Savannah ; vice presidents, 
 L. R. Akin, Brunswick ; P. H. Comas, Baxley ; George W. Deen, Waycross ; 
 B. H. Tyler, Dalton; John F. Shannon, Commerce; secretary, Lawrence Man- 
 ning, Savannah ; treasurer, W. H, Leahy, Savannah. 
 
 Gov, Slaton will leave Brunswick in an automobile to-morrow morning with 
 Senator Akin for Savannah, where they will attend the National Drainage 
 Congress. 
 
 Drat;^age Guests Enjoy Tybee Outing — Five Hundbed Spend Aftebnoon at 
 THE Seashore — Port Screven Inspected — High Beaver Hat has Intbb- 
 estinq Career. 
 
 Nearly 500 guests and delegates to the Fourth Annual Drainage Congress 
 were taken on a special train to Tybee yesterday as guests of the city and 
 spent a very pleasant afternoon, the main features of which were a shore 
 dinner and a tour of inspection at Fort Screven. 
 
 The special train, consisting of 10 coaches, left the Tybee depot at 1.30 o'clock 
 and aiTived at McFadden's pavilion shortly after 2 o'clock. The guests were 
 accompanied by a band, which rendered an excellent musical program during 
 the serving of the dinner on the pavilion. 
 
 FINE shore DINNEB. 
 
 In the party were practically all of the delegates and gnests of the Drainage 
 Congress, including Gov. Slaton and many citizens and city ofQcials. There 
 were no speeches and the entire afternoon was taken up with feasting and sight- 
 seeing. 
 
 The dinner was one of the most enjoyable features of the entertainment. It 
 was served on McFadden's pavilion, the menu consisting of almost every variety 
 of sea food that comes from the waters of this section. At the conclusion of 
 the dinner many of the guests strolled about the beach or took short tours about 
 
FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 15 
 
 the neighborhood of the pavilion until 4.30 o'clocl!;, when the train left for 
 Fort Screven. 
 
 Probably the most interesting part of the afternoon's entertainment was the 
 review of the troops at the fort by Gov. Slaton and the tour of inspection 
 through the fort and reservation during which the entire party were guests of 
 Col. Willoughby Walke, commandant of the fort. 
 
 SALUTE FOR GOVERNOR. 
 
 As Gov. Slaton stepped from the train at the entrance to the Government 
 reservation a salute of 19 guns was fired in his honor. He was met at the 
 train by Col. Walke and stood at attention until the firing ceased. The governor 
 and the entire party was then escorted by Col. Walke and his staff into the 
 reservation, down past the officers' quarters, and thence to the parade ground. 
 
 Three companies of Coast Artillery, headed by the crack band of the fort, 
 comprising about 300 men, were assembled on the parade grounds and inspected 
 by Gov. Slaton, escorted by Col. Walke and his staff. Following the inspection 
 the troops were reviewed in marching order. The troops were in full-dress 
 uniform and presented an unusually attractive sight as they passed before the 
 reviewing point, a hundred men abreast, with the band playing martial airs. 
 Somebody yelled, " Who said Mexico ! " and a cheer went up from the watching 
 crowd. 
 
 SEE BIG GUNS. 
 
 The troops were dismissed after the review and the party was conducted by 
 Col. Walke and his staff through the reservation grounds and the fort. The 
 big coast defense guns were shown and explained and the barracks, officers' 
 quarters, heating and lighting plant, and other points of interest about the fort 
 and reservation were inspected. Many of the delegates and guests returned to 
 the city on the train that left the island at 5.30 o'clock, but some of them re- 
 mained for the special which left shortly after 6 o'clock, arriving at Savannah 
 in time for supper and the night session at the Liberty Theater. 
 
 The entire afternoon was spent in an enjoyable manner and the delegates 
 and guests expressed themselves as being much pleased. The courtesies shown 
 them by Col. Walke and the officers at I'ort Screven were the source of a great 
 deal of pleasure to all included in the party. 
 
 WHAT HAPPENED TO A HAT. 
 
 During the afternoon the conviviality and good-fellowship that prevailed was 
 the source of several amusing incidents. The most amusing of these was the 
 unusual career of what earlier in the day had been a very fine beaver hat. 
 The hat was that which at the beginning of the morning session of the first 
 day of the congress had been worn by President Perkins. During the morning 
 Mr. Perkins's high beaver was the source of much comment, and when it was 
 admired by a representative of a big powder manufacturing company, tne 
 president of the National Drainage Congress took it off and presented it to 
 its admirer. 
 
 The powder man immediately placed it on his head, but while engaged in 
 conversation a few minutes later, some one quicldy stole the lid and transferred 
 it to another head. The hat was stolen and restolen several times after that, 
 and the powder man to vi^hom the president of the congress had given it gave 
 it up as lost. 
 
 To his surprise, however, when the crowd of guests and delegates assembled 
 at the Tybee depot to take the special train for the island, he perceived his 
 wandering " stove pipe " serenely resting on the " dome " of a perfect stranger. 
 Determined to regain his hat, the powder man was about to recapture his hat 
 when somebody else " beat him to it " and the beaver was snatched rudely from 
 the head of its wearer and disappeared again. 
 
 AN ELUSIVE LID. 
 
 On the train, halfway between Savannah and Tybee, the hat turned up 
 again. The man who had it didn't know who had given it to him. His own 
 lid had been snatched off and the beaver placed on his head in its place. The 
 hat traveled from head to head until the train reached Tybee, when it disap- 
 peared until late in the afternoon, when the crowd had assembled at the 
 
16 FLOOD PEOTECTION AND DEAINAGE. 
 
 station to take the train again for Fort Screven. Then it suddenly appeared 
 on Gov. Slaton's head and the governor posed for his picture with it on. 
 
 The beaver was beginning to looli pretty sick by this time and Gov. Slaton 
 passed it on to Commissioner of Agriculture Price. The latter placed it at a 
 rakish angle on his head and tangoed to the tune of " Too Much Mustard." 
 The commissioner passed the hat to some one else, and after it had gone a 
 circuitous route, Col. Sigo Myers suddenly found that his own hat was gone 
 and the beaver adorhed his whitened locks. The hat fitted Col. Myers, and he 
 wore it until the party left the island for the city, when he made several 
 Inquiries through the train and finally restored it to the powder man, very 
 much the worse for wear. 
 
 Watson to Succeed Perkins is Slate — Col. Lawton Probably Will Become 
 
 "\'iCE President. 
 
 If the slate as laid out is approved, Col. E. J. Watson, of Columbia, vice 
 president of the National Drainage Congress, will be elected president to suc- 
 ceed Edmund T. Perkins, who will not accept reelection. 
 
 Col. A. R. Lawton, of Savannah, will in all probability be elected vice presi- 
 dent to succeed Col. Watson. The election of Col. Watson and Col. Lawton 
 will concentrate the official headquarters of the organization in the Southeast, 
 and will naturally be of material assistance to this section in drainage activities. 
 
 A Western man has had the presidency long enough, the Western delegates 
 feel, and they are now willing for a Southern man to have the honor. 
 
 The election will be held Saturday. 
 
 Drainage Delegates Who Have Registered — Secretary Kellab Expects Man's 
 
 More This Morning. 
 
 Twenty-two States besides the District of Columbia were represented on the 
 registry of the congress when the party left to go to Tybee. The number of 
 delegates and visitors will be largely increased when Secretary Kellar opens the 
 registration books again this morning. 
 
 Those registered so far are: 
 
 Alabama. — 6. A. Nelson, New Decatur ; Lewis E. Jones, Montgomery ; Dr. R. 
 Von Ezdorf, Mobile. 
 
 Arkansas. — S. E. Simonson, Luxora. 
 
 California. — P. M. Narbee, Sacramento. 
 
 District of Columbia.— C. C. Elliott, A. D. Morehouse, S. H. McCrary, A. M. 
 McLachlen, Washington. 
 
 Delaware. — J. H. Squires, Wilmington. 
 
 Egypt. — Sir William Willcocks, Cairo. 
 
 Florida. — James E. Calkins, Fernandina; former Gov. W. S. Jennings, Jack- 
 sonville; George W. Oliver, Bartow; Wilbur McCoy, Jacksonville; A. K. 
 Wilson, Fort Pierce. 
 
 Georgia. — ^A. J. Edwards, EUabelle; Dr. L. J. Bett, Millen; W. A. Pierce, R. A. 
 Stratford, A. J. Wilcox, W. V. Lott, Hazlehurst ; W. T. Greer, Springfield; 
 W. L. Slater, Pembroke; M. McQueen, Ludowici; A. M. Holmes, Fairhope; 
 C. W. Brantley, J. S. Simons, Dublin; J. J. Easterllng, Reidsville; S. M. 
 McCallie, Atlanta ; R. H. DeLoach, Experiment ; C. E. Piney. Ridgeland ; G A. 
 Crabb, Athens; E. S. Osborne, T. N. West, Reuben Butler, W. L Brown' 
 Harvey Granger, E. M. Frank, Albert T. Wylly, A. B. Moore, 0. B. Westcott] 
 Savannah; M. R. Townsend, Brunswick; J. F. Jackson, C. McD. Davis R A 
 McCranie, Oliver T. Bacon, Savannah; J. J. Nunnally, Monroe; D. M.'ciarki 
 Jesup; P. B. Smith, Ludowici; John Nichols, Atlanta; L. J. Cooper Waycross' 
 George R. Boyd, Savannah ; D. J. McRae, McRae ; J. P. Phillips L ' J Skeffin"- 
 
 c -^1, AT T, c T^ T, ^ 'eographical Survey), Atlanta; George H. 
 
 Smith, M. Brown, S. K. Brown, Brunswick; C. it. Awtrey Lagrange- R D 
 Gignilliat, Pineora ; R. D. Reid, Savannah; J. W. Deen, Waycross- J h' Evans' 
 Sylvania ; A. V. Wood, Brunswick ; L. H. Locklerean, Hoverville ; E J Thomas' 
 George R. Foltz, Lawrence Manning, Savannah; J. D. Price, commission of 
 agriculture; Lee Worsham, State entomologist; J. E. Addicks Atlanta 
 
FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 17 
 
 Illinois. — Philip R. Kellar, Mrs. H. L. Anderson, H. L. Anderson, Mrs. Edmund 
 T. Perkins, Mrs. John C. Clair, Charles S. Hill, Frank B. Knight, John K. Mel. 
 ton, Mrs. John K. Melton, Chicago; C. L. Hottes, TJrbana; W. L. Park, Chicago. 
 
 Indiana. — R. D. Kline, Knox; E. H. Graves, Summit; Charles Kittleborough, 
 Indianapolis. 
 
 Iowa. — H. L. Spencer, Oskaloosa. 
 
 Maryland. — E E. Granuan, Baltimore; Dr. Henry E. Carter, Baltimore. 
 
 Massachusetts. — D. N. Graves, Boston. 
 
 Missouri. — J. A. Munsterman, Clinton ; John H. Nolen, St. Louis ; W. H, 
 Richards, Oregon ; D. E. King, Mrs. D. E. King, St. Louis. 
 
 New York. — Mrs. J. M. Trudell, New "Jork City. 
 
 North Carolina. — Lawrence Brett, Wilson ; G. A. Cardwell, Wilmington ; H. N. 
 Llfride, P. R. Saker, W. A. Graham, Raleigh. 
 
 Ohio. — J. L. Barr, Mansfield. 
 
 Pennsylvania. — George M. Lehman, Pittsburgh. 
 
 South Carolina. — Samuel G. Storey, Charleston; J. P. Clarke, Midland Park; 
 Louis D. Chisolm, Charleston ; William G. Hinson, James Island ; W. McL. 
 Frampton, Charleston; W. W. Clermont, James Island; W. E. Simons, Charles- 
 ton; Frank Cain, St. Matthews; C. A. Harper, S. M. Clarke, Estill; J. Newtou 
 Johnston, Florence; W. J. Morris, Scotia; W. A. Watson, Anderson; G. M, 
 Riley, Garnett; J. A. Livingston, North; H. A. Kittles, Garnett; James Prem, 
 berg, jr., Charleston ; L. H. McCullough, Kingstree ; F. G. Eason, W. S. McCrady, 
 Charleston ; Joe Sparks, E. J. Watson, Columbia ; J. L. Morrison, Garnett ; F. H, 
 Colcock, Columbia ; William M. Reid, Bishopville ; Dr. B. H. Wyman, Estill ; 
 Hon. Thomas Talbut, Beaufort; John L. Lawton, Estill; Lynn Roberts, Scotia; 
 J. R. Pernell, Marion ; Hugh E. Vincent, Estill ; Rev. J. R. Landebert, Ridge= 
 land; J. S. Baxter, Garnett; A. W. Brabham, Olar; W. H. Ritter, Ehrhardt; 
 Pierce Roberts, Garnett; A. C. Jepson, Florence; Bright Williamson, Darling- 
 ton; G. H. Pender, Garnett; J. D. Gates, Elloree; Ernest Rhodes, R. T. Flem- 
 ing, Garnett; Reid Whitford, Charleston; W. W. Smith, Thomas O. Lawton, 
 Garnett ; Edwin M. Wayland, Columbia ; J. M. Johnson, Marion. 
 
 Texas. — E. B. Cushing, Houston. 
 
 Vermont. — Mrs. Ella Drew, Randolph. 
 
 Virginia. — Dr. A. W. Freeman, Richmond. 
 
 Minnesota. — John T. Stewart, B. V. Willard, S. G. Iverson, St. Paul. 
 
 Mississippi. — L. L. Lawrence, Laurel ; J. A. Hamilton, Vicksburg. 
 
 Makes Strong Plea fob Dbainage Bill — Perkins Sats People Must Demand 
 Its Passage — Gov. Slaton Speaks — Reclaim Land to Maintain Agbi- 
 CULTURAL Prestige. 
 
 to-day's peogbam. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks, one of the foremost drainage engineers of the world, 
 will address the National Drainage Congress in the Liberty Theater to-night on 
 " River regulation and control in antiquity." The address will be of general 
 interest, and the public is cordially invited to hear it. The morning session 
 to-day will start at 9.30 o'clock. The program for the morning and afternoon 
 sessions have been changed somewhat on account of the failure of prominent 
 congressional leaders to arrive. 
 
 A strong plea for the passage of the Clark-Williams drainage bill, now pend- 
 ing before Congress, was made by President Edmund T. Perkins, of the 
 National Drainage Congress, in his response to the welcoming addresses at 
 the opening session of that body in the Guards' Hall yesterday. 
 
 "We must demand the legislation if we want it," he urged. "Nothing is 
 going to be accomplished if we sit still in the boat. The West got the reclama- 
 tion act for the benefit of its arid lands by fighting for it. It behooves us to 
 do the same." Mr. Perkins's appeal was directed particularly to the South, 
 where the drainage problem is pressing for solution. 
 
 MB. PIEBPONT PRESIDES. 
 
 W J. Pierpont, chairman of city council, called the meeting to order. Mayor 
 Davant, chairman of the local board of control, being prevented from attend- 
 ing by illness. Following an invocation by the Rev. Francis A. Brown, rector 
 
 42635—14 2 
 
18 FLOOD PEOTBCTION AND DBAINAGE. 
 
 Of Christ Church, Mr. Plerpont introduced Gov. John M. Slaton to welcome the 
 drainage congress on behalf of tlie State. 
 
 Go¥. Slaton said he felt the visitors to the Drainage Congress would appre- 
 ciate Savannah very highly at this time " when you see it in its most alluring 
 fispects." After assuring the visitors that they were heartily welcome, and 
 that every pains would be taken to insure their comfort and enjoyment " as in 
 Savannah's wont," he drifted into a general discussion of the subject of drain- 
 age. 
 
 " Georgia feels a keen interest in this great subject," said the governor. " We 
 have one swamp which embraces more than 2,500,000 acres, which is about one- 
 third the territory of one of the countries of Europe. The need of satisfactory 
 legislation to reclaim this great waste area appeals to us from an economic 
 standpoint and also from a health standpoint. We wish to get rid of this swamp 
 in order to prevent disease. We need the land for agricultural purposes. It 
 Is folly to allow it to continue as a great, useless waste." 
 
 MAY HAVE COTTON-GROWING RIVAL. 
 
 Gov. Slaton referred to the South's growing importance as the cotton-pro- 
 ducing section of the world, showing that all of the land possible is needed 
 to continue the production of the staple. " England is growing restive over 
 the South's monopoly of cotton production and they are taking steps to escape 
 from the control which the South now has over them in this respect. It 
 naturally devolves upon us to be up and doing." 
 
 The nation is vitally interested in the subject of drainage, because of the 
 tremendous tracts of land that are worthless because they have not been 
 drained, said Gov. Slaton. He pointed to what has been done in the West along 
 irrigation lines. " There should be no idle lands of any sort anywhere," he 
 added. " Everybody realizes that. We, the people of Georgia, offer you our 
 assistance in solving this problem, and we invite and urge you to help us in 
 the solution of it within our own borders." 
 
 In concluding his address. Gov. Slaton touched briefly on the Mexican situa- 
 tion. He said he had received a telegram from a New York daily asking what 
 the condition of the Georgia National Guard should it be needed in upholding 
 the dignity of the Nation. " I replied that we would be ready to respond at 
 once and that we would do our full share," he said. 
 
 Mr. Pierpont mentioned, in introducing City Attorney John Kourke, jr., to 
 welcome the Drainage Congress on behalf of the city, that Mayor Devant felt 
 a keen disappointment in not being able to attend the opening session. " He 
 has had his heart and soul in the work of preparing for your coming," Mr. 
 Pierpont said. " On account of illness he must forego the pleasure of being 
 with you to-day." 
 
 Mr. Kourke extended a warm welcome to the visitors, assuring them that 
 Savannah felt honored at having them here. He declared that Savannah feels 
 a sympathetic interest in the work the congress is trying to accomplish. He 
 touched briefly on drainage as a national problem and expressed the hope that 
 the aims of the organization would be speedily realized. 
 
 President Perkins, in his talk, corrected the impression that the reclamation 
 act was passed for the purpose of reclaiming Government-owned lands. On the 
 contrary, he said, about 90 per cent of the lands being reclaimed are privately 
 owned. He declared that what the reclamation act has done in reclaiming 
 the arid lands of the West the Clark-Williams drainage bill, or whatever bill 
 that is passed, promises to do toward reclaiming the swamp land over lowlands 
 of the South. 
 
 VICE PBESIDBNT WATSON. 
 
 Mr. Perkins called on Gov. Slaton to bring the drainage movement to the 
 attention of the governors of the country when they hold their annual meeting 
 in Madison, Wis., this summer. He said he hoped the deliberations and acts 
 of the congress now in session in Savannah will give the drainage movement a 
 fresh Impetus and will result in the passage of much-needed legislation 
 
 Col. E. J. Watson, commissioner of agriculture of South Carolina and first 
 vice president of the drainage congress, was introduced by President Perkins 
 to explain why Secretary of the Interior Lane; Speaker of the House Champ 
 Clark, and other congressional leaders would be unable to attend the sessions 
 of the Congress. 
 
FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 19 
 
 He told of foii versa tions with Secretary Lane as evidencing his deep interest 
 in the subject. He would certainly have come had not the Colorado River 
 broken loose and caused a serious situation In the West. Mr. Lane probably 
 will have to go before Congress to ask for an emergency appropriation to cope 
 with the flood situation. Speaker Clark, Congressman Small, and others were 
 unable to come on account of the tensity of the Mexican situation. " It's just 
 our usual luck," said Col. Watson. 
 
 NEED GENERAL DEMAND. 
 
 Col. Watson stated that during a recent visit to Washington Secretary Lane 
 told him that it was his wish that Congress should make the drainage bill the 
 principal administration measure at the next session. Col. Watson suggested 
 that a ringing demand be made to have the bill passed. 
 
 President Perkins announced that New York, Baltimore, Washington, Co- 
 lumbia, Memphis, and San Francisco had invited the congress for next year. 
 
 A committee composed of E. J. Watson, of South Carolina ; L. L. Lawrence, 
 of Mississippi; and Frank B. Knight, of Illinois, was appointed by President 
 Perkins to examine the accounts of the congress. 
 
 The attendance at the opening session was not as large as was expected, but 
 a good many additional visitors are expected to be here for to-day's sessions. 
 
 The session adjourned at 11.15 o'clock. 
 
 Illinois Cenxual Official Boosts Drainage — Vice President Park Brings 
 
 Party to Congress. 
 
 That the movement for drainage will prove the greatest step that has been 
 taken for the good of agriculture, commerce, and transportation in the history 
 of the world is the opinion of Vice President W. L. Park, of the Illinois Central 
 Railway, who arrived here yesterday to attend the National Drainage Congress. 
 
 Mr. Park was accompanied by Col. H. L. Anderson, a member of his staff; 
 J. C. Clair, industrial agent of the Illinois Central ; and Prof. C. F. Hottis, in- 
 structor of plant physiology at the State University of Illinois. All of them 
 seem much pleased with the drainage congress and intensely interested in its 
 work. 
 
 " Drainage," said Mr. Park. " is a by-word with the Illinois Central. During 
 the last year we have been forced to realize its importance from the fact that 
 more than 300 miles of our railroad in Mississippi has been inundated, with a 
 loss of thousands of dollars. We are heartily in favor of drainage wherever it 
 is wanted, and I am attending the drainage congress to give the work the sup- 
 port of the Illinois Central." 
 
 Mr. Park and his party will probably remain in Savannah until to-morrow, 
 when they will leave for Chicago. 
 
 Columbia Making Bid as Meeting Place — Delegation Coming to Invite 
 
 Drainage Congress. 
 
 A strong delegation from South Carolina, headed by former Gov. D. C. 
 Heyward, will arrive in Savannah to-day to attend the National Drainage 
 Congress. 
 
 The delegation is coming primarily for the purpose of inviting the copgress 
 to hold its next meeting in Columbia. That city is making a strong bid to be 
 selected as the next meeting place. Gov. Cole Blease may be a member of the 
 delegation. Baltimore and San Francisco are the other two cities most favor- 
 ably considered. 
 
 Florida Troops Ready: Trammel — Are Always in Condition — Executive 
 Declares His State is Prosperous. 
 
 Asked last night if a call for volunteers to serve in the United States Army 
 in Mexico would find the militia of his State in a state of preparedness, Gov. 
 Park Trammel, of Florida, who will speak to-day before the National Drainage 
 Congress, declared that the State troops "are always. ready for an.emer- 
 
20 FLOOD PEOTECTION AND DEAINAGE. 
 
 gency," and tliat several companies of the Florida National Guard already have 
 offered themselves for active service at the front to the War Department. 
 
 " But I didn't come to Savannah to talk about the possibility of war with 
 Mexico," continued Gov. Trammel. " I am here to help stimulate the senti- 
 ment favorable to the Federal Government making some adequate provision 
 to help carry out the drainage projects throughout the country and especially 
 
 in the South. .» • v, kj. 
 
 " One dollar spent in reclamation by drainage will go as far m benents as 
 five or six dollars spent in reclamation by irrigation. In Florida we have 
 the greatest reclamation project in the country, involving over 4,000,000 acres. 
 The State already has made considerable progress, but of course, because of 
 the magnitude of the project there is a great deal yet to be done. 
 
 " Placing a reasonable valuation upon the lands reclaimed, the reclamation 
 of the Everglades will add $200,000,000 to the wealth of the State." 
 
 Gov. Trammel said that business conditions in Florida at this time are good 
 and the State's enterprises are not suffering from the depression _ that has 
 been felt in some sections of the country recently. " Florida is generally pros- 
 perous," he declared. " "We are getting in thousands of new settlers every year 
 and consequently the population of the State is growing very rapidly." 
 
 The governor was accompanied to Savannah by Chief Drainage Engineer 
 F. S. Eliot. They are stopping at the Hotel Savannah. Gov. Trammel ex- 
 pects to return to Tallahassee to-night. 
 
 " Obligation Rests Upon Government," Former Gov. Jennings Says of Drain- 
 age WoKK — Need is Pressing One — Col. Watson Says Time for Federal 
 Action is Now. 
 
 That land reclamation is an obligation which the Federal Government has 
 already assumed and can not in good faith shirk, was the burden of the address 
 delivered by former Gov. W. S. Jennings, of Florida, at the session of the National 
 Drainage Congress in the Liberty Theater last night. 
 
 Reviewing the drainage movement from its inception to the present time, when 
 the aims of the National Drainage Congress are about to be achieved, Gov. Jen- 
 nings touched on the economic aspects of the subject and also dealt at length 
 with the legal features of the drainage bill which is now pending before Con- 
 gress. It was one of the most learned discussions of the subject the leaders in 
 the drainage congress have heard. 
 
 reclamation an obligation. 
 
 After pointing to various acts which pledged the Government to take up the 
 question of reclamation and carry it to a successful conclusion, Mr. Jennings 
 said: 
 
 " Further proof would seem to be unnecessary to establish the assumption 
 that reclamation is an obligation of the Government ; but if not it is not diflacult 
 to find precedents for the recognition of such an inherent power in the Govern- 
 ment, or examples of the exercise of governmental functions in the construction 
 of extraordinary works and the financing of extraordinary projects incident to 
 the great reclamation works of the world, particularly in our own country." 
 He cited numerous instances. 
 
 In answer to the question, " Has the oilbgation of the Government been ful- 
 filled? " Gov. Jennings said : " Certainly not. The obligation of the Government 
 to reclaim the arid lands and the swamp and overflowed lands has neither been 
 fulfilled nor the power exhausted nor the duty to the people fulfilled. I would re- 
 gard the obligation of the Government under the circumstances, without providing 
 capital to perform the great task, as being as incomplete as if the Government 
 had failed to provide funds for the operation of the banking system established 
 by law." 
 
 drainage will pay. 
 
 Gov. Jennings answered the question, "Does reclamation pay?" very satis- 
 factorily by pointing to numerous instances of the financial success of projects. 
 He closed with an appeal for the passage of a bill which will make available the 
 funds for the carrying of the much-needed drainage work. He showed how 
 the Government can undertake the problem of financing the work by the issu- 
 ance of bonds on a basis that will cost the Government in the end compara- 
 tively nothing. 
 
FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 21 
 
 Col. E. J. Watson, chairman of the committee on Federal action, outlined 
 what has been done toward getting the needed legislation passed. He showed 
 that the need of adequate legislation with which to cope with the drainage 
 problem has been brought forcibly to the attention of leaders in the National 
 Government, including President "Wilson, members of his Cabinet, and promi- 
 nent Senators and Congressmen. There are ample assurances of support from 
 lenders in both Houses of Congress, and all that is needed now is to make a 
 strong demand to convince the lawmakers that the people are in earnest about 
 the drainage proposition. 
 
 SAFETY DEPENDS UPON DEAINAGE. 
 
 Col. Watson declared that the safety of the people depends upon a proper 
 drainage policy. He referred to the present condition of many sections of 
 the country as a deadly menace to the public health, and urged that steps 
 should be taken to prevent the spread of disease. Malaria, one of the most 
 insidious diseases, is causing no end of suffering, and the general prevalence 
 of it is due to lack of proper drainage, said Col. Watson. 
 
 Col. Watson asserted that the public-welfare clause in the Constitution is 
 sufficient basis for the legislation that is being sought. The legislation the 
 Congress is trying to have passed is more important, he said, than all of the 
 war measures that could be written. Col. Watson closed his talk with a 
 reference to the agricultural phases of the drainage problem. He told of the 
 vast wealth that would be created if the waste areas were to be reclaimed by 
 drainage. 
 
 LETTEES OF EEQBET. 
 
 Col. Watson read telegrams and letters from Secretary of the Interior Lane, 
 Speaker of the House Champ Clark, Secretary of the Navy Daniels, prominent 
 Senators and Congressmen, and other high Government officials expressing 
 their deep interest in the subject of drainage and their regret at being unable 
 to attend the congress. 
 
 The night session was opened with the presentation of a reel of motion pic- 
 tures, showing the work of the Illinois Central Railroad during the big floods 
 in the Mississippi Valley last year. 
 
 J. H. Nolen, commissioner of reclamation of Missouri, presided over the 
 session in the absence of President Perkins. 
 
 Bubal Cash and not Rubal Credit what Farmers Need, says Ageicultural 
 KxPEET — CoEN Means Secueity — North Carolina Raises Own Folks as 
 Well as Crops. 
 
 " North Carolina is a land of happiness and contentment, a land where 
 there's — 
 
 " Corn in the crib 
 
 "And money in the pocket; 
 "A baby in the crib, 
 "And a pretty wife to rock it." 
 In terms that teemed with sparkles of enthusiasm Maj. W. A. Graham, com- 
 missioner of agriculture of North Carolina, yesterday morning expressed pride 
 In his State and her advantages. He is here Attending the National Drainage 
 Congress. 
 
 Maj. Graham is a Confederate veteran. He was called "one of the most 
 efficient officers in the service" by Gen. Lee and Gen. "Jeb " Stuart. While 
 proud of his war record, the major is perhaps a little more proud of the con- 
 structive work he has done in his State since the war. 
 
 For 15 years he has been a member of the board of agriculture, and for the 
 last six years he has been the commissioner with many dilferent departments, 
 including the campaign for the pure-food law and the movement for the better- 
 ment of rural social conditions, under his direction. 
 
 should kaise supplies. 
 
 In 1860 North Carolina produced 30,000,000 bushels of com. In 1910 this 
 had increased to only 34,000,000 bushels, but in 1913 the production had been 
 
22 FLOOD PEOTECTIO-N AND DBAINAGE. 
 
 brought up to 56,282,000 bushels, he says. Maj. Graham has centered much 
 of his energy toward bringing about this increase. He believes it is poor 
 policy and bad business for a State to import grain for its own use. " I never 
 saw a man make money on a farm who bought his supplies," said the major, 
 " and I never saw a sheriff sell out a man who had a full corn crib. 
 
 " I have preached to our farmers not to farm as their grandfathers did, but 
 to farm with the same results. In my younger days when a man wanted to 
 borrow money he went out into the country, for it was the farmers who had it. 
 What we want is not rural credit, but rural cash. As a result of this teaching 
 North Carolina farmers to-day are in better condition than they ever were 
 before. 
 
 "A few years ago there was not a State in the South that did not import 
 provisions equal to the value of its cotton crop. With the increased produc- 
 tion of grain in recent years this importation is falling ofC. We have made 
 more cotton to the acre during the last four years than any State in the South, 
 and for that reason we feel that the best farmers are in North Carolina. As 
 ours is the most northern of the cotton-growing States, we have to use more 
 fertilizers, but it is in knowing how to use it that has brought results. This 
 year's agricultural crops were worth $259,000,000, and our farming lands had a 
 taxable value of $231,000,000. 
 
 MUST KEEP GIKLS ON FARM. 
 
 " We have learned that if we are to keep the boys on the farm we must also 
 keep the girls there. Therefore we have advanced further in woman's work 
 than any State in the South. At our farmers' institutes we h^ve lecturers 
 specially for the women and girls, and we are doing all in our power to make 
 the farmer's home a bright and happy place for them. 
 
 " Our rural people have advanced in education as well as in methods of farm- 
 ing. Social conditions are the best. This great development is due largely to 
 the farmers' institutes, in which a deep interest is manifested. It is not boys' 
 corn clubs that have brought about the wonderful increase in the production of 
 grain. I tell the boys they must give the credit to their dads as long as they 
 deserve it. It is the sons of the old veterans who are pushing North Carolina 
 to the front. 
 
 " I found a man in my State a short time ago who has 18 children," said the 
 major, proudly. " That proves we are raising our own folks as well as our 
 crops. I told the governor I wanted to send that man and his 18 kiddies out 
 to the Panama-Pacific Exposition as a State exhibit." 
 
 State Delegations Form Organizations — Working Subdivisions of Drainage 
 
 Congress. 
 
 Following the adjournment of the morning session of the National Drainage 
 Congress yesterday, the delegates from the various States assembled in groups 
 and perfected their organizations. 
 
 Each State is entitled to a member on the resolution, permanent organization, 
 and credentials committee. The organizations of the various States and the 
 District of Columbia are as follows : 
 
 District of Columbia. — Executive committeeman, A. D. Morehouse, consulting 
 drainage engineer, Washington, D. 0. ; honorary vice president, C. G. Elliott, 
 consulting drainage engineer, Washington, D. C. ; resolutions, A. D. Morehouse ; 
 permanent organization, A. M. McLachlen, Washington ; credentials. A. D. More- 
 house; secretary, of delegation, A. D. Morehouse. 
 
 Pennsylvania. — Resolutions, George M. Lehman, engineer and secretary of the 
 Flood Commission of Pittsburgh ; permanent organization, George M. Lehman ; 
 credentials, George M. Lehman. 
 
 Georgia. — Resolutions, Prof. S. W. McCallie, State geologist, Atlanta ; perma- 
 nent organization. Col. A. R. Lawton, Savannah; credentials, Laurence Manning, 
 drainage engineer, Savannah. 
 
 Minnesota. — Executive committeeman. John T. Stewart, University Farm, 
 St. Paul ; honorary vice president, E. V. Willard, C. E., St. Paul ; resolutions] 
 S. G. Iverson, St. Paul; permanent organization, John T. Stewart; credentials' 
 S. G. Iverson ; chairman of State delegation, S. G. Iverson ; secretary of State 
 delegation, E. V. Willard. 
 
FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 23 
 
 Texas. — Resolutions, permanent organization, and credentials, Edward B. 
 Oushing, Houston. 
 
 Vorth Carolina. — Honorary vice president, Thomas O. Lawton, Brighton ;r 
 resolutions, Capt. S. G. Stoney, Charleston ; permanent organization, J. Monroe- 
 Johnson, JIarion ; credentials, C. E. Perry ; chairman of delegation, Reid Whlt- 
 ford, Charleston ; secretary of delegation, Thomas O. Lawton. 
 
 Mississippi. — Executive committeeman, L. L. Lawrence, Laurel ; honorary 
 vice president, W. L. Park, vice president Illinois Central Raili-oad ; resolutions, 
 J. A. Hamilton, Vickburg; permanent organization, L. L. Lawrence; credetials, 
 L. L. Laurel ; secretary of delegation, H. W. Bell, Laurel. 
 
 Missouri. — Resolutions, W. H. Richards, Oregon ; permanent organization, 
 John H. Nolen, Jefferson City ; credentials, Mrs. D. E. King, Missouri Pacific 
 Railway Co., St. Louis. 
 
 ArTcansas. — Resolutions, S. E. Simonson, Luxora ; permanent organization^ 
 D. E. King, industrial commissioner, Missouri Pacific Railway Co. ; credentialSi 
 J. J. Munsterman. 
 
 Alabama. — Executive committeeman, Lewis A. Jones, 925 Bell Buildings 
 Montgomery ; honorary vice president, Reuben F. Kolb, Montgomery ; resolu- 
 tions, permanent organization, credetials, and chairman of delegation. G. A^ 
 Nelson, New Decatur; secretary of delegation, Lewis A. Jones. 
 
 Maryland. — Executive committeeman, A. D. Trundle, Poolesvllle; honorary 
 vice president, Hon. Blair Lee, United States Senator, Silver Springs ; resolu^ 
 tions, Dr. Henry E. Carter, Baltimore ; permanent organization and credentials, 
 Eugene B. Grannan, president board of street commissioners, Baltimore. 
 
 Dancing Plans are all Complete — Everything will be Done to Insure 
 Goon Order — Big Carnival Features — Instructions for Entrants in the 
 Floral Parade. 
 
 Dancing will begin on Bull Street at 8.30 o'clock to-night. Yesterday it was 
 decided to increase the band in attendance to 40 pieces, so that the music would 
 be continuous, with 20 to 40 pieces playing all the time until 11.30 o'clock. 
 
 The chaperones for the dance will be Mrs. W. L. Wilson, Mrs. P. W. Meldrim, 
 Mrs. I. P. Mendes, Mrs. Isaac Minis, Mrs. T. P. Waring, Mrs. W. P. Bailey, 
 Mrs. De Wald, Mrs. E. T. Whatley, Mrs. Frank Whitney, Mrs. H. M. ^toddafd, 
 Mrs. Abrams, Bliss Eliza Lamar Hull, Miss Patience Barrow, Miss Meldrim, 
 Miss A. Sterley, Miss Woodberry, Miss Pendleton, Miss Nina Pape, Miss Kath- 
 erine Latham, Miss Dora Mendes, Miss Minnie Nichols, Miss Cutts, and Miss 
 E. M. Johnston. 
 
 STAND FOR CHAPERONES. 
 
 The chaperones, their escorts, and a few invited guests will occupy a stand 
 facing north on Wright Square, while the band will be stationed on a higher 
 stand to their rear. It is the impression that the greater number of dancers 
 will use Bull Street, between Broughton and State, but the street around the 
 square will be in readiness and open for those who desire to dance there. The 
 stands will be completed by noon to-day. Several arc lights have been strung 
 around the square, and this morning the men will begin stringing 800 Japanese 
 lanterns among the trees In the square and two rows of 100 each from 
 Broughton to State Street. 
 
 The city hands will wash the street this morning and before the dance the 
 space will be thoroughly swept. Bull Street will be closed to traffic at about 
 6.30 p. m., when the police department will take it in charge, rope off the space, 
 and otherwise make its arrangements for the maintenance of perfect order. 
 
 Many young couples have announced their intention of enjoying the unique 
 privilege that is offered, and a large number of couples are expected to be in 
 readiness to start the dancing when the band strikes up the first of the latest 
 popular airs. The sidewalks will be reserved for spectators, several thousand 
 of whom can be accommodated. There will be an ample force of police and 
 special officers on hand to regulate the movement of the crowd and to prevent 
 any crowding upon the highway. Unless the weather prevents, this will be 
 the most unique event Savannah has ever witnessed and will excel in beauty 
 any of the open-air dances held in cities that have become noted for this and 
 other carnival features. 
 
24 FLOOD PEOTBCTIOJSr AND DRAINAGE. 
 
 DANCERS MUST UNMASK. 
 
 As has been noted heretofore, the dancers most remove masks, if they are 
 wearing them, before entering the dancing space and can not resume them while 
 dancing. City detectives will be on hand to prevent any improper characters 
 from dancing. No children will be permitted to dance, the space being reserved 
 entirely for adults. Those desiring to dance will enter from either of four en- 
 trances, one at York and Bull, one at Bull and Broughton, one at President east 
 and one at President west. Outside of these gateways the entire dancing area 
 Will be roped in. The street car company will run a special service to take care 
 of the dancers and masqueraders. No talcum powder, or anything that is at all 
 injurious to clothing or the person, will be tolerated either on Bull or on 
 Broughton Street, and strict instructions have been issued to the police on this 
 point. Confetti will be allowed, but not until after 6 o'clock this evening, when 
 its sale can begin. No dynamite sticks, or explosives of any character, will be 
 permitted anywhere. 
 
 The dancing and the masquerading fun are two entirely distinct features. 
 While the dancing is in progress on Bull Street, the masqueraders can be en- 
 joying themselves to their heart's content on Broughton Street. That thorough- 
 fare will be given up to them from 8 o'clock until midnight. There are no 
 limitations to the enjoyment of the occasion, beyond those mentioned, as long 
 as it is innocent in its nature. Everybody is invited to put on a mask, a cos- 
 tume, if possible, get some confetti, a tickler, a horn, or something else that is 
 not dangerous, and help convert Broughton Street into a carnival scene. 
 
 SPECTACULAR DEILLS. 
 
 From 9 to 9.30 the Ked Men will pull off their stunts. The tribe will turn out 
 about 250 of its members. The Eagles are looked for in force and will show 
 their prowess as funmakers and in a spectacular drill later in the evening. The 
 parade of all the masqueraders — all those wanting to participate, in fact — will 
 form on Bay Street, east of Bull, at 9.30 o'clock. It will march and counter- 
 march on Broughton Street. Five hundred red fusees will give the parade a 
 brilliant color effect. That Broughton Street from Lincoln to Barnard will be a 
 mass of humanity on the sidewalks is accepted as a foregone conclusion. 
 
 The committee in charge of the pushmobile races, finding that sufficient inter- 
 est could not be aroused to make the events of adequate interest, has decided to 
 drop that feature, scheduled for Friday afternoon. If a big cairoival is pulled 
 off in the fall, as now anticipated, more time will be given to working up inter- 
 est in this and other features that will appeal to the younger element of the 
 population and various prizes will then be offered. 
 
 Those in charge of to-day's events are satisfied that if taken hold of in time 
 Savannah could put on in the latter part of October or early in November a 
 two or three day carnival that would be of sufficient attractiveness to crowd 
 the city and start Savannah off on a new phase of entertainment for the general 
 public that would be rich in possibilities. 
 
 In the carnival parade to-night boys representing the organizations devoted 
 to their interests, as well as girls who are costumed and under the care of older 
 persons, will be placed in front, and every arrangement made for the proper 
 care of them. The line of march is not long, and as but one hour is given up 
 to this feature the young people can enter heartily into it without any physical 
 Strain. 
 
 THE FLOKAL PABADB. 
 
 The order in which the cars in the floral parade will form was announced last 
 night as follows: 
 
 1. Official Daughters of the American Revolution car. 
 
 2. W. G. Austin. 
 
 3. Harver Granger, jr. 
 
 4. B. H. Levy. 
 
 5. Dan J. Hogan. 
 
 6. Mrs. Charles C. Ely. 
 T. J. C. Lewis. 
 
 8. Carl Mendel (German Friendly Society). 
 
 9. E. A. Sllvera. 
 
 10. H. A. Jacobs. 
 
FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 25 
 
 11. Mrs. A. W. Corkins. 
 
 12. Albert H. Bntelman. 
 
 14. Mrs. Kate B. Judson. 
 
 15. Frank C. Dieter. 
 
 16. Blumberg Bros. 
 
 17. T. Newell West. 
 
 18. Miss Nellie T. Walsh. 
 
 19. Fred J. Robinson (Central of Georgia Railway). 
 
 20. Vulcan Fuel Co. 
 
 21. Chatham County commissioners 
 
 22. Arthur Levy (Retail Merchants' Association). 
 
 23. Mrs. Frank Battey. 
 
 24. Savannah Trust Co. 
 
 25. Mrs. I. S. Trosdal. . 
 
 26. J. T. Chapman. 
 
 27. Savannah Brewing Co. 
 
 28. Chamber of Commerce. 
 
 29. Savannah Automobile Club. 
 
 30. A. W. Solomon. 
 
 Each entrant has been notified of his position In line and instructed to keep 
 his car 50 feet from the car ahead and to drive slowly. The cars will form at 
 4.30 on the south side of Bay Street, with the head of the line facing west. 
 
 The troops from Fort Screven will be formed at the head of the column, and 
 as the parade turns from Drayton Street into Hall will be allowed to fall out 
 to one side and witness the remainder of the procession. The automobiles, 
 prizes will be awarded immediately afterwards. 
 
 Unjust Ceiticism of the Everglades — Says former Governor — Drainage of 
 Vast Acreage Nearing Completion. 
 
 Characterizing the charge that " land sharks " are fleecing the unsuspecting 
 through the sale of Florida lands as an unjust criticism of legitimate enterprise, 
 former Gov. W. S. Jennings of Florida, who last night addressed the National 
 Drainage Congress, yesterday in an interview expressed approval of the devel- 
 opment of the Everglades and other projects of reclamation now in progress in 
 that State. 
 
 While governor of Florida in 1903, Mr. Jennings sent to the legislature the 
 first message urging that the Everglades be reclaimed and converted into rich 
 farming land. He cited instances where to his personal knowledge some of the 
 reclaimed lands have produced crops averaging from $200 to $500 an acre. 
 Before drainage was accomplished this land was worthless save as a refuge for 
 snakes and other natives of swamps, he says. 
 
 Two hundred and forty miles of canals, 60 feet in width and from 5 to 8 feet 
 in depth, have already been cut through the Everglades he said. There are 
 about 100 miles more to be cut before the present project is complete. " It was 
 a tremendous problem, and perhaps has been the most economically handled of 
 any approaching its magnitude in the world," said the former governor. 
 
 "The recent examination made by expert engineers to ascertain the feasi- 
 bility and practicability of drainage was summed up by the Everglades Commis- 
 sion, composed of Isham Randolph, chairman of the Chicago Drainage Canal 
 Project ; M. O. Layton, and Edmond Perkins, president of the National Drainage 
 Congress. The examination occupied a period of eight months in outlining 
 additional main canals in order to effect the main purpose of the project. It is 
 estimated that much of the land can be drained at a cost of $3 an acre, with 
 some of it, the smaller proportion, costing $4. One hundred varieties of market- 
 able plant crops, including citrus trees, can very profitably be grown on the 
 reclaimed acres. 
 
 " The State of Florida owns approximately one-third of the Everglades. At 
 this time it is not offering any of its land for sale. Land where reclamation 
 has been accomplished and is showing results is selling at from $60 to $70 an 
 acre. We have succeeded in getting some big operators from the West inter- 
 ested in the Everglades and attracting them to it. There has never been any 
 misrepresentation In regard to the reclaimed lands. They always have held out 
 as drainage progresses." 
 
26 PLOOD PKOTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 
 
 Importance of the Dbainage Congress. 
 [Savannah News, April 23, 1914.] 
 
 The importance of the drainage congress which is now in session in this city 
 can not be overestimated. The impression largely prevails that help in the 
 draining of private lands can hardly be expected from Congress, but President 
 Perkins, of the drainage congress, in his address pointed out that this impres- 
 sion Is erroneous. He stated that at least 90 per cent of the land reclaimed 
 in the West under Government supervision and by Government money was 
 privately owned. It is expected, of course, that the owners of the land will pay 
 to the Government the cost of reclaiming it. In fact, there is a provision in 
 the bill making the cost of drainage a lien on the land, and practically the same 
 provision is in the Clark-Williams bill that provides for the drainage of wet 
 lands. 
 
 The framers of the bill understood what they were doing. It is a safe state- 
 ment that nothing is asked of the Government that it can not constitutionally 
 do. Col. E. J. Watson, commissioner of agriculture of South Carolina, stated 
 to the drainage congress that Secretary Lane, of the Department of the Interior, 
 was heartily in favor of the bill and proposed to use his influence to have It 
 made an administration measure at the next session of Congress. No better evi- 
 dence than that is needed that the bill stands an excellent chance of becoming 
 a law. 
 
 What is needed is a public sentiment so strong that Congress will not hesi- 
 tate to pass It, and it is expected that the drainage congress will assist greatly 
 in' creating such a sentiment. It is only necessary to make the people under- 
 stand how beneficial drainage would be from the standpoint of both agricul- 
 tural development and health to create sentiment in favor of the proposed drain- 
 age legislation. The drainage congress has already done great work along 
 this line and will do much more at its present session. When Congress be- 
 comes convinced that the people are demanding that the Federal Government 
 shall undertake the reclamation of wet land it will enact the necessary legis- 
 lation. 
 
 Up to Government, Says Gov. Trammel — ^Floeida ExECtrTivE Tells of the 
 Everglades Work — Is Successful Project — Speakers Declare Federal 
 Government is Duty Boltnd. 
 
 Speakers at yesterday's session of the National Drainage Congress directed 
 attention to the vital importance of drainage as a. national economic problem 
 and endeavored to show that the Federal Government is in duty bound to aid 
 the movement by providing the funds with which to carry on the various 
 projects throughout the country. 
 
 Gov. Park Trammel, of Florida, stirred the enthusiasm of the congress by a 
 brief discussion of the big undertaking which Florida has tackled — the reclama- 
 tion of the Everglades. Florida is more concerned with the subject of drainage 
 than any State in the Union, and the remarks of Gov. Trammel brought much 
 encouragement to the leaders in the movement for national drainage legislation. 
 
 drainage more important. 
 
 " For my life I can not understand," said Gov. Trammel, " why the arid lands 
 of the West should have been given consideration before the swamp lands of 
 the South. Drainage is so much more important than Irrigation that I can 
 not see how the irrigation problem was taken up first. The Government got 
 about one-fourth as much for every dollar it spent on Irrigation work in the 
 West as it would have gotten had the money been applied to drainage in the 
 South." 
 
 Gov. Trammel asserted that the Clark-Williams bill, which has been intro- 
 duced in Congress, is just the legislation that is needed to bring about the 
 reclamation of the tremendous areas of swamp lands and other lands in need 
 of drainage throughout the country. " The main question is getting the funds, 
 and the Clark-Williams bill will supply the funds," he said. 
 
 everglades work progressing. 
 
 "We are going to make a big success of the work of reclaiming the Ever- 
 glades," Gov. Trammel continued. " The work is getting along \ery nicely at 
 
FLOOD PEOTECTION AND DBAINAGE. 2*7 
 
 present and I am confident that the wealth and prosperity of the entire Nation 
 will be benefited by the project. The total cost of reclaiming the land in the 
 Everglades will not be more than $8 an acre, and the land after It has been 
 reclaimed will be worth $175 and $200 an acre," he declared. "The project 
 contemplates the reclamation of 4,000,000 acres," he said. 
 
 At present the people of Florida are thoroughly in sympathy with the project. 
 Eight or 10 years ago they were not, for various political reasons, said Gov. 
 Trammel. The project is being carried on by direct taxation and with the 
 aid of contributions from what is known as the internal improvement fund. 
 Gov. Trammel said the reclaimed land would be among the most fertile in the 
 world, and jokingly remarked, in reply to a statement from Maj. W. A. Graham, 
 commissioner of agriculture of North Carolina, that 100 bushels of corn can be 
 raised on new ground in that State; that a Florida farmer does not think he 
 Is farming unless his lands yield him $500 an acre. 
 
 MAYOR DAVANT APPLAUDED. 
 
 Mayor Davant, who has been ill since Monday, visited the congress yesterday 
 and gave the visitors the message of welcome which he had intended to deliver 
 the opening day. The mayor was warmly applauded as he entered the hall. 
 As chairman of the local board of control he had much to do with the prepara- 
 tions for the entertainment of the visitors. 
 
 The mayor said he felt satisfied the aims of the congress would soon be 
 accomplished. He urged that the matter be submitted to the Federal Govern- 
 ment as strongly as possible, arguing on a basis of patriotism for the passage 
 of the much-needed legislation. " When you have done that your proposition 
 will not be rejected if it has merit," he declared. He stated that the drainage 
 problem is not a sectional matter, but one that should engage the attention of 
 the entire country. 
 
 S. W. McCallie, State geologist of Georgia, told something of the drainage 
 work that has been done in this State. " With the exception of Florida," he 
 said, "Georgia has the greatest area of swamp and overflow lands of any of 
 the Atlantic Seaboard States from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico. These swamp 
 lands aggregate 2,700,000 acres, or 4,218 square miles, approximately one- 
 fourteenth of the area of the entire State. 
 
 OKEFENOKEE SWAMP. 
 
 " The largest individual area of swamp land in the State, and probably one 
 of the most extensive fresh-water swamps in the world, is the Okefenokee. 
 This remarkable swamp consists of an area nearly three-fourths the size bf 
 Ehode Island. If all the swamp and overflow lands of Georgia were drained 
 and properly cultivated it would be possible for these lands to support a popu- 
 lation greater than half of the State's population as shown by the last Federal 
 census. 
 
 " The State of Georgia has done very little up to the present time toward 
 the reclamation of her extensive area of swamp and overflow lands. All of 
 the drainage investigations by the State so far, with the exception of Col. 
 Hunter's preliminary survey of the Okefenokee Swamp made in 1856, has 
 been carried on by the State geological survey. The net result at present of 
 the drainage agitation and the enactment of drainage laws has been to re- 
 claim but little land in Georgia. 
 
 "Upon the general accepted theory that whatever enriches the State also 
 enriches the Nation, it follows that the General Government should contribute 
 liberally in the reclamation of swamp and overflow lands, even though such 
 lands be privately owned. It would seem to be not only proper, but also at the 
 same time an act of simple justice upon the part of the National Government 
 to bear the burden of cost, either wholly or in part, of all dikes constructed 
 along navigable streams for reclaiming overflow lands." 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA LEADS. 
 
 Dr Joseph Hyde Pratt, State geologist of North Carolina, made an interest- 
 ing talk on the drainage activities of North Carolina. North Carolina has 
 always led the Southern States in drainage work. "The total land area of 
 North Carolina is approximately 31,293,600 acres, of which there are about 
 3,000,000 acres of swamp land," said Dr. Pratt. "This is couflned almost 
 entirely to the eastern part of the State, 
 
28 FLOOD PKOTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 
 
 "A large percentage of this land represents a most productive area in our 
 State, and although this has been realized for years, it is only within the last 
 five years that the reclamation and drainage of those areas has been 
 
 Peesident Says He Wants to Help— Deainage Congress Solve Gkeat Pboblem 
 
 OF Drainage. 
 
 President Wilson's personal greeting to the National Drainage Congress was 
 read by Col. E. J. Watson at yesterday's session. 
 
 The President telegraphed as follows : 
 
 " I am sincerely sorry that it will not be possible for me to be present at 
 drainage congress. Since I can not be with you, express to the members of the 
 congress my deep interests in the great subjects they will have under discussion, 
 and my sincere desire to be of service in solving the great problems, which are, 
 after all, the problems of national prosperity, to which they are so intelligently 
 addressing their attention." 
 
 The reading of the President's message was greeted with enthusiastic 
 applause. 
 
 Fine Programme To-day's Sessions — Public Asked to Attend — Sir William 
 WiLLCocKs will Speak To^niqht. 
 
 On account of the floral parade and the carnival the afternoon and night 
 sessions of the National Drainage Congress yesterday were called ofC and the 
 programme for to-day has been rearranged. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks, the noted drainage engineer, who has come all the 
 way from Egypt to address the Congress, will be the principal speaker at the 
 Liberty Theater to-night. His subject will be " River Regulation and Control 
 in Antiquity." 
 
 Sir William's address will be of general interest, and the officers of the 
 drainage congress extend a cordial invitation to the public to hear him. Dr. 
 J. H. Squires, of Wilmington, will also speak to-night, his subject being : " The 
 Use of Dynamite in Drainage Reclamation." The night session will begin at 
 8 o'clock. 
 
 At this morning's session D. H. Winslow, United States superintendent of 
 road construction, Washington, will deliver 'an address on " Road maintenance." 
 This will be followed by an address by N. C. Grover, chief hydraulic engineer 
 of the United States Geological Survey, on "Certain fundamental factors in 
 drainage." George M. Lehman will tell something of the work of the Pittsburgh 
 flood commission. 
 
 " Conservation and the use of water " will be discussed by George B. Logan, 
 of St. Louis, secretary of the Lakes-to-the-Gulf Deep Waterway Association. 
 Frank B. Knight, of Chicago, is on the program to discuss "Modern mechanical 
 equipment for reclamation undertakings." " Some phases of the origin of the 
 swamp lands of the Mississippi Valley and their characteristic vegetation," will 
 be discussed by Charles F. Hottes, professor of plant pathology in the University 
 of Illinois. 
 
 This afternoon from 3 o'clock until 6 the section of the congress on malaria 
 eradication will be in session. Dr. W. F. Brunner, city health officer of Sa- 
 vannah, will preside. Dr. Brunner will also deliver an address. Dr. H. R. 
 carter, a senior surgeon in the United States Public Health Service, vrill be 
 one of the speakers. Dr. Isaac W. Brewer, of Taughannock Falls, N. Y., will 
 deliver an address on "In eradicating mosquitoes: What shall we do with our 
 large swamps" ? Dr. Allen W. Freeman, of Richmond, is scheduled to speak 
 on " Farm abandonment and malaria infection — a vicious circle." 
 
 JosEPHtrs Daniels Sends Greetings — Navy Secretary has an Encouraging 
 
 Message. 
 
 The following message from Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, was 
 read at yesterday's session of the National Drainage Congress : 
 
 "About the time that Col. Goethals announced to the world that the Panama 
 Canal was practically completed, there seemed to come upon our fellow-coun- 
 trymen a feeling like that experienced by Alexander the Great when he learned 
 
PLOOD PEOTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 29 
 
 that he had conquered the entire world and that there were no more trophies 
 to fall before his sword. We all had a feeling that the mightiest deed that the 
 hand of man had done had been accomplished and that nothing else from that 
 time on would be worth while — that all achievement looked little beside this 
 achievement, which has split a continent in twain and united the waters of two 
 oceans. The arid and alkali plains of the West must yet be watered by Irriga- 
 tion, the Mississippi floods must yet be finally lassoed and corraled, and the 
 swamp lands of the eastern seaboard must yet be drained, as well as the streams 
 all throughout the country which have been choked up with silt and sediment 
 as the years have gone by. National drainage Is well worth the brawn and 
 brain of a Hercules, and you, gentlemen, are rendering an invaluable service 
 to mankind In putting your shoulders to the wheel." 
 
 Heywakd Pleased With Reception Given Congress by City — Carolina's bx- 
 GovERNOR Says Watson has Made Good. 
 
 On hand to lead the fight for Columbia as the next convention city for the 
 National Drainage Congress, former Gov. D. 0. Heyward, of South Carolina, 
 collector of internal revenue for that State, last night at the De Soto Hotel 
 expressed the appreciation of the congress for its entertainment here. 
 
 " I am deeply Interested in the drainage proposition," said Gov. Heyward. 
 " I have lived in the low country and knowthe needs there. As a rice planter, 
 I am still fighting the water on the lowlands. Economically speaking, I think 
 water has done more harm than liquor, and I say that with all due respect for 
 the prohibitionists. 
 
 " I am exceedingly pleased with the reception the people of Savannah have 
 given the Drainage Congress. I am especially gratified because I am half a 
 Georgian, having spent a part of my life In this State. Therefore, I take great 
 pride In the way Savannah has treated the delegates. • 
 
 "Another thing very gratifying to me is the general appreciation of the dele- 
 gates for the work done by Col. E. J. Watson, vice president of the congress. 
 When I was governor of South Carolina I created the department of com- 
 merce, agriculture, immigration, and Industries, of which he is the head, and 
 which was the first State department of the kind in the United States. 
 
 " My Idea was that If a chamber of commerce is good for a city then this 
 department was a good thing for the State. In selecting a man to put at the 
 head of it I went to a newspaper oflice and ofCei'ed the job to Col. Watson, who 
 was then with the Columbia State. I knew of his tireless energy and ability. 
 He has made good. 
 
 " I have always been Interested in drainage. In a plank of my platform 12 
 years ago I advocated action by the legislature authorizing the condemnation of 
 land for making drainage areas. The people then had not waked up to the 
 facts they know now, and I did not succeed in getting the measure through. 
 Now none are more Interested in the drainage than the people of South 
 Carolina. I think they have shown that fact here. In proportion to the popu- 
 lation of the State, South Carolina has more delegates at this congress than' 
 even Georgia. There are representative men here from every section of the 
 State, and they are in earnest. I believe this congress is doing much good." 
 
 Congress Goes to Washington Next — Big Meeting in Frisco — Six Cities 
 Invite Drainage Congress Next Tear. 
 
 Prom six cities which extended Invitations Washington was selected as the 
 next meeting place of the National Drainage Congress at the afternoon session 
 of that body yesterday. 
 
 In recommending Washington the nominating committee had In mind the 
 opportunity which will be afCorded the congress In hearing the President and 
 other distinguished Government leaders by holding Its sessions in that city. 
 
 So strongly did the invitation from San Francisco appeal to the congress 
 that It was decided to arrange for an International Drainage and Flood Control 
 Congress, to be held in that city at a sutlable time while the Panama-Pacific 
 Exposition Is in progress. To this congress are to be invited from all parts of 
 the world representatives of such countries, organizations, States, munlcipaU- 
 
BO FLOOD PBOTEGTION AND DBAINAGE. 
 
 ties, and corporations as will Insure a general discussion of drainage, flood pro- 
 tection, and all otlier phases of the great water problem. 
 
 The cities besides Washington and San Francisco which Invited the next 
 annual meeting of the Drainage Congress are Columbia, Wilmington, N. C, 
 Memphis, and New York. All but New York had representatives at the con- 
 gress who personally presented the invitations. Columbia made a particularly- 
 strong fight, the Invitation on behalf of that city being presented by former 
 Gov. D. C. Heyward. He assured the congress that it would be entertained in 
 Columbia as well as it has been in Savannah, adding that no more satisfactory 
 entertainment could be arranged. 
 
 Hugh McEae, of Wilmington, presented that city's invitation. He invited 
 the members of the congress to visit Wilmington and study the model health 
 system there. S. B. Simonson extended the invitation on behalf of Memphis. 
 A. L. Cowell, of Stockton Cal., Invited the congress to San Francisco. He told 
 something of the plans for the big exposition which is to be held there. Col. 
 Louis P. Shoemaker very ably presented Washington's invitation. 
 
 Resolutions were adopted appropriately thanking the municipal government, 
 the civil and military organizations, the people, and the press of Savannah for 
 the splendid reception and the courtesies that have been extended the visitors. 
 The thanks of the congress were also expressed to Col. Willoughby Walke, 
 commandant at Fort Screven, and his officers for the cordial reception the 
 visitors received at the fort Wednesday. Especial appreciation was expressed 
 for the services of Mayor Davant in making the congress a success. The wish 
 was expressed that he would soon" recover from his illness, and the spirit of 
 his address Thursday morning was commended. 
 
 Famous Ewgineee Ukges Wider Ijevees — Addeess Featuee or Closing Session 
 
 OF QONGEESS — REGULATION BY ANCIENTS — SlE WILLIAM WiLLCOCKS PkAISES 
 
 Drainage Wobk. 
 
 " Build dikes wide and a mile or a mile and a half from the river ; if you 
 have reservoirs keep them open to be used for nothing else than carrying off 
 surplus water, and give the Government central control, so that in times of 
 floods it can take charge of the fight with ample authority." 
 
 The foregoing was the advice in regard to river regulation brought to Ameri- 
 cans from Egypt by Sir William Willcocks, the celebrated English engineer, 
 whose address was the feature of the closing session of the fourth annual ses- 
 sion of the National Drainage Congress at the Liberty Theater last night. 
 
 He spoke on the " Regulation of rivers In antiquity." The scene covered 
 by him was near the Garden of Eden and in ancient Egypt. To rivers and the 
 control of rivers he attributed most of the things related in the Bible. He 
 blamed the cutting of a dike of the River Nile for the seven years' famine, and 
 told how Moses led the children of Israel from bondage over a dike and when 
 Pharaoh's army followed, destroyed the dike, and the Egyptians were swallowed 
 ,up by water. 
 
 AN ILLUSTRATED TALK. 
 
 He illustrated his address by many humorous stories and kept his hearers 
 in a roar of laughter much of the time by his quiet wit. With stereopticon 
 slides, brought with him. Sir William gave his audience an intimate view 
 of conditions in Egypt and other near-by countries. Most of the pictures shown 
 were Biblical scenes. He will deliver another address this afternoon in the 
 parlors of the De Soto. 
 
 " Irrigation was the greatest achievement of the ancient civilization of 
 the world in the deltas of the Nile and the Euphrates," said Sir William, begin- 
 ning his address. " The control of the rivers was mastered with no weak 
 hands." 
 
 He told of Noah's flood and of the devastation It wrought, and declared the 
 rivers were terrible Instruments of torture until the races that lived on their 
 banks learned how to control the dragons in them. Referring to the Baby- 
 lonians, who he said led the ancients in river control, he declared they ware 
 the only people who made God a chief engineer. He told how they built huge 
 embankments to keep back the raging waters of the Euphrates. 
 
FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 31 
 
 AMONG SAVAGES. 
 
 " Behind these banks lay the Garden of Eden," he said. " From the palm 
 trees were hung luxuriant vines from vs^hich hung clusters of purple grapes. 
 It was of these grapes that Eve ate. You people who Jive in an- absolutely 
 prohibition district can understand the peculiar difficulties of Eve. 
 
 " When I first found the Garden of Eden, I was walking along alone when 
 a bullet whizzed by my ear. I asked the man, an Arab, why he had ilred at me. 
 He replied that I had fired first. ' Why, I have no gun,' I said. ' You have no 
 gun? ' he asked. Then they fell on me and took everything I had, even my 
 watch." 
 
 Sir William told how after that he and his engineers were protected during 
 the three years they remained in that region through the efforts of an American 
 missionary, who induced a friendly sheik to order that they be not molested. 
 
 "The Babylonians completely controlled the Euphrates," he continued, "by 
 reservoirs. They led the floods into depressions in the desert. But they had 
 trouble in letting the floods out after the waters had fallen. Alexander the 
 Great solved the difficulty by moving the head of the canal into rocky ground, 
 where the opening and closing became a simple matter." 
 
 COULDN'T CONTROL FLOODS. 
 
 He declared the Babylonians lined the bank of the river with huge dikes 100 
 feet wide, and that there was no breach there in 3,000 years. 
 
 He told of the efforts of King " Nimrod " to control the Tygress by closing 
 the valley with an earthen dam, saying : " The works were only swept away. 
 They harnessed the river for irrigation, but could not control the floods. They 
 were forced to depend solely on their dikes." 
 
 Summing up what modern engineers had learned from the ancients, he de- 
 clared : " If you depend on dikes, you stand a chance of a breach. The Tygress 
 had breaches, but the Euphrates never had. The farther the breaches are apart 
 the worse the damage. You should build the dikes wide." 
 
 Turning to the situation on the Nile, he said impediments are not essential. 
 He told of the work of ancient Egyptians who constructed works so they could 
 let the river into depressions in flood times : how by cutting the dilces they could 
 lower the water in the river. 
 
 " It was by cutting the dikes that the seven years' famine was caused," he 
 said, " and it was by repairing it that the famine was ended." 
 
 A BIBLICAL STORY. 
 
 He told how with the approach of floods dikes are cut and the water is 
 allowed to run into the sea. He said they were using the same means that 
 Moses did when he took hold of the dike. It was then that he explained 
 the Biblical story of how the Egyptian army was swallowed up by the waters 
 while pursuing the fleeing children of Israel led by Moses. He said Moses 
 simply trapped Pharaoh's army and cut the dike. 
 
 "What lessons have we learned from the control of the Nile?" he asked. 
 " If you have reservoirs, they must be kept open when the flood comes. They 
 must be kept for nothing else except to take off the surplus water." 
 
 He told of the use of mats by the ancients to stop the erosion of banks of 
 the Euphrates, and declared they were the greatest protection, as the river had 
 undermined earth that would have had to be used for foundations for other 
 works. 
 
 " We must have wide banks," he continued. " If part is eaten away, the rest 
 is still there. They must be fixed at certain points so there can be no eating 
 back. An old bank is the greatest asset of the country. In Egypt we make 
 them of stone. Bricks could easily be used here. Have the dikes a mile or a 
 mile and a half away from the stream." 
 
 HOW EGYPTIANS DO IT. 
 
 He declared that records show that the deltas of all three rivers referred to 
 showed that all of the deltas were rising slowly but steadily. Then he told of 
 how the Egyptians fight floods. _ 
 
 "When once the gauge at Cairo reached 24 cubics every man must stop 
 work," he said. "They are stationed along the banks at regular intervals 
 
32 FLOOD PROTECTION AND DEAINAGB. 
 
 equipped for instant work to stop a breach. Boats laden witli material cover 
 the river. At night during the two or three months that flood conditions pre- 
 vail the lights from the boats on the river look like carnival times in your 
 cities. 
 
 " They prevent anyone coming from one bank to another. They think they 
 have too much at stake on the other bank. After nightfall anyone who ap- 
 proaches the banks takes his life in his hands." 
 
 He described how the only breach that had occurred since he had been sta- 
 tioned there was stopped. " Three hundred naked men rushed into the breach 
 and formed a solid wall. People on the banks threw brush, wood, and anything 
 else they could get into the breach. They closed it and prevented a catastrophe. 
 
 NEEDS CENTRAL ATJTHOEITT. 
 
 " The reason we have few breaks there is because the central authority is 
 strong. Everybody obeys the Government. No one has any mercy on anybody 
 who doesn't. If the Mississippi is to be controlled the Government must be 
 given authority, which in this country the people are very reluctant to do." 
 
 He told how farmers in Egypt took advantage of waters turned on their 
 lands in planting soya beans and said the same thing could be done in this 
 country. He said that as the waters receded the farmer followed, casting and 
 throwing the beans on the soft ground and they stuck into it; that the sun 
 plowed the lands, and they returned in a few months and reaped the harvest 
 and waited for next year to repeat the performance. 
 
 " When I was in Canada in 1900 I remember hearing a Canadian say, ' What 
 fools these Americans are. With millions of fertile acres in the Mississippi 
 Valley, thousands cross the border into Canada every year, and they are our 
 greatest asset." 
 
 " I understand your Government will take hold of the Mississippi. It will 
 be the greatest work of river control in the world. The bigger the river the 
 easier the task. Solomon with his 300 wives had an easier job than any of us 
 with 1." 
 
 He declared that financial matters should be left out of consideration in 
 planning for big work by saying that if hampered by such it meant poor work, 
 and urged that the example of the ancients in thoroughness be followed, say- 
 ing that by doing so much every year, so much good could be gotten from expe- 
 rience. 
 
 He urged draining of places where water stands and pointed out that malaria 
 flourished in only such places, and concluded : 
 
 " Let us so work that future generations will see our work and say, ' Of a 
 truth there were giants on the earth in those days.' " 
 
 Sir William was the third speaker at the closing session. Dr. J. H. Squires, 
 of Wilmington, Del., gave a lecture on the use of dynamite in agricultural de- 
 velopment and drainage work, and Prof. C. F. Hottiz, of the University of 
 Illinois, "spoke on swamps and forestry. Both were illustrated. 
 
 After the English engineer had concluded former President Perkins, who had 
 presided up to that time, turned the gavel over to the newly elected president. 
 Col. E. J. Watson, of South Carolina, who introduced Dr. Clarence J. Owens, 
 secretary of the Southern Commercial Congress, of Washington, who made the 
 closing address. 
 
 DB. OWENS TALKS. 
 
 Dr. Owens appealed to his hearers to support President Wilson in his stand 
 in the Mexican crisis, " in the defense of the honor and dignity of our country." 
 He praised the President as a man of peace, but who had taken prompt action 
 to protect the honor and dignity of the United States. He rejoiced that the first 
 man to put foot on Mexican soil, when marines and sailors were landed at 
 Vera Cruz, was a southerner. 
 
 Then Dr. Owens pledged the support of the Commercial Congress to the ob- 
 jects of the convention, and told of promises he had received from President 
 Wilson and others in regard to helping the project. He said in part: 
 
 " In the United States there are approximately 80,000,000 acres of swamp 
 and overflowed lands that are not only unproductive, but a hindrance to the 
 general welfare and a menace to the public health. Three-fourths of this acre- 
 age is located in the Southern States. Practically all of this land is held in 
 private ownership, and it is necessary to have the consent and cooperation of 
 
FLOOD PEOTBCTION AND DEAINAGB. 3S 
 
 the owners in order to inaugnr.-ile ;i complete system of drainage and recla- 
 mation. 
 
 "The reclamation of these swamp fnd overflowed lands will be of great 
 benefit to the owners, to the State In which the laud is situated, and also the 
 I'ederal Governmeut, because of the improvement in the public health, in the 
 construction of public highways, in the increase in the agricultural produce of 
 the country, and, therefore, will react in the interest of the entire commercial 
 life of the South and the Nation. 
 
 "Recently, in consultation with President Wilson. I was authorized by the 
 President to bay that it was his hope that with the adjournment of the present 
 session of Congress all questions that might be regarded as partisan would be 
 settled, and with the oi)ening of the next Congress his administration would 
 turn its attention exclusively to a great constructive program of common inter- 
 est to all the people of the United States, regardless of their political atUliatiou. 
 We may with confidence, therefore, look forward to aggressive action in the 
 near future, translating into law the policy with respect to drainage that was 
 written into the platform of the Democratic Party." 
 
 President Watson extended the thanks of the congress to Sir William Will- 
 cocks, v.-ho came from Egypt to address it, the people of Savannah for their 
 hospitality, and to the retiring president. 
 
 He closed with an appeal to all delegates to attend the fifth annual drainage 
 congress in Washington next year. 
 
 GET BUSY WITH DEAINAGE. 
 [Savannah News, April 25, 1914.] 
 
 Georgians on whose land are ponds, large or small, or swampy tracts should 
 not be inactive while they are waiting for the United States Government to 
 hear the demand of the people that it aid in the great work of draining wet 
 lands. There is no reason for inactivity, while there are many reasons for get- 
 ting busy now in order to reclaim as much of the land as possible under the 
 State drainage law, and get rid without unnecessary delay of many breeding 
 places of the malarial mosquito. 
 
 If advantage is taken of the provisions of the State law, as it should be, 
 scores of thousands of acres that are useless except to increase the mosquito 
 population could be converted within the next year or two into exceedingly 
 fertile farm land, producing crops bountifully and quickly repaying the expense 
 of drawing off the water that covers them wholly or partly now. 
 
 The National Drainage Congress looks at the drainage question from a large 
 viewpoint, thinks of it in terms of vast acreage of wet lands. The Georgia 
 Drainage Congress is particularly concerned about drainage in this State, and 
 is anxious that the smaller tracts of wet lands and swampy places that are scat- 
 tered about shall be drained. The sooner such places are converted mto farm 
 lands the more quickly will the malarial mosquito disappear and the more 
 rapidly will the State's agricultural wealth increase. 
 
 Elect Col. Watson Head op Congress— Succeeds E. T. Perkins— Frank B. 
 Knight, of Chicago, is Chosen Vice-President. 
 
 Col E J Watson, commissioner of agriculture of South Carolina, was elected 
 president of the National Drainage Congress yesterday afternoon. ,„„h-^„ 
 
 ^ Col Watson succeeds Edmund T. Perkins, of CMcago who declined reelectiom 
 The congress conferred upon Mr. Perkins the special tile of The Honorable 
 Past President," which is to remain as a permanent title for him alone. CoL 
 Watson was the first vice-president of the congress. . , ^ ^ „.q n„i 
 
 FiankB Knight of Chicago, was elected first vice-president to succeed Col 
 wSson Col A R. Lawton las selected as first vice-president on the original 
 suite but he requested his friends to ^ot consider him feeling that it wo^^^^^^ 
 not be for the best interests of the congress for a South Carolina man to be presi 
 dent and a Georgia man first vice-president. 
 
 The other officers elected are: 
 
 Seconrt vice Dresldeiit, D. E. King, of Missouri. 
 
 Imm vfce presfdent, Gen. William C. Gorgas, United States Army. 
 
 4i;<J.35— 14 3 
 
3,4 FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 
 
 Fourth vice president, Edward Wisner, of Louisiana. 
 
 Flftli vice president, J. L. Craig, of California. 
 
 Treasurer, A. M. McLachlan, of Wasliington, D. 0. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks, who came from his home in Egypt to address the con- 
 gress, was made honorary vice president at large. 
 
 The position of secretary is filled by appointment. Philip R. Kellar, who now 
 holds it, has decided not to accept the appointment again. 
 
 John H. Nolen, a member of the governing board of the congress, was desig- 
 nated to prepare a brief synopsis of the Clark-Williams bill for use in publicity 
 matters. The president was authorized to appoint a committee on finance to 
 raise funds for the congress. 
 
 Resolutions were adopted expressing the thanks of the congress to the retir- 
 ing president, Edmund T. Perkins; the treasurer, Mr. McLachlan; and the 
 executive secretary, Mr. Kellar, for their faithful services. 
 
 To Present Token to Ma. Peekins. 
 
 An appropriation was made by the National Drainage Congress yesterday for 
 the purchase of a suitable token of appreciation of the services of the retiring 
 president, Edmund T. Perkins. A committee of three, composed of Mr. Mc- 
 Lachlan, Col. Watson, and Mr. Knight, was appointed to select the token. 
 
 Want States to Ha.ve Uniform Dkainage Law. 
 
 With the view to having the various States of the Union adopt uniform drain- 
 age laws the National Drainage Congress yesterday empowered President B. J. 
 Watson to appoint a committee of five to prepare a law that will meet the needs 
 of all of the States and to have this law presented to them for enactment. The 
 resolution authorizing the appointment of the committee provides that at least 
 one member must be a physician. 
 
 Uege Passage of Drainage Bill — Resolutions are Adopted — Want President 
 TO Make it Administration Measure. 
 
 Resolutions respectfully but insistently urging upon the Congress of the 
 United States the urgent necessity of favorable action upon the Clark-Williams 
 drainage bill were adopted at the afternoon session of the National Drainage 
 Congress yesterday. Following is the resolution : 
 
 " Whereas there is no greater problem from an economic standpoint and from 
 the standpoint of the preservation of the public health and welfare than the 
 reclamation of the 80,000,000 acres of swamp lands in the 40 States in the 
 Union, flood protection, and river regulation before the American people at 
 this time; and 
 
 " Whereas because of the interstate character of this problem so vital to the 
 welfare of the masses of the people, rendering Federal action an absolute 
 necessity, there has thus far resulted Inaction entailing loss of life and 
 property to an extent that can not be estimated and curtailing to an 
 enorm-ous extent the productive power of the United States owing to the 
 impossibility of cultivating the valuable areas lying in the very centers of 
 population where the cry for foodstuffs is greatest ; and 
 
 " Whereas navigation is affected seriously and proper development of commerce 
 is retarded and prevented ; and 
 
 " Whereas the National Drainage Congress, now in fourth annual session, an 
 organization composed of earnest men considering only the welfare of our 
 common country, has been endeavoring, in a cooperative way, using the 
 words of the President of the United States transmitted to it, ' to be of 
 service in solving these great problems, which, after all, are the problems 
 of national prosperity,' and, using the words of the Secretary of the Inte- 
 rior, has further endeavored to aid the Nation in solving the problems ' by 
 outlining a practical way by which flood control and drainage may be 
 effected, and dealing in a large way with these matters, not as sectional 
 matters but as a part of a rounded policy of national development ' ; and 
 
FLOOD PROTECTION AND DEAINAGE. 35 
 
 " Wliereas iu pursuance of this nonsectional and nonpolitical policy set forth in 
 the platforms of the great national political parties, the National Drainage 
 Congress has consulted with the heads of the departments of the Federal 
 Government concerned, and, laboring with experts designated by them, has 
 evolved a national measure which has passed through the crucible of wise 
 counsel, experience, and impartial legal dissection; and 
 " Whereas this measure, known as the Claris- Williams bill, has been presented 
 in the National House of Representatives by Speaker Clark, a lifelong 
 advocate of such reclamation, and in the upper House of Congress by 
 Senator John Sharp Williams ; and 
 "Whereas at this fourth annual session, in the midst of national excitement 
 calculated to divert the attention of public men, there has come to the 
 National Drainage Congress most encouraging words from the President 
 and Vice President of the United States, members of the Cabinet, leading 
 Senators and Representatives, and men prominent in all walks of life in 
 the United States, without regard of party, with not a single discordant 
 note being heard; and 
 " Whereas it is manifest that the present governmental policy is to do those 
 purely constructive things for the greatest good to the greatest number : 
 Therefore be it 
 " Resolved. That the National Drainage Congress, expressive of the voice of 
 the people of the 40 States involved, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from 
 the Great Lukes to the Gulf and to the Mexican border, insistently but respect- 
 fully urges upon the Congress of the United States the prompt enactment of 
 the Clark- Williams measure, and would respectfully further urge the President 
 of the United States, who has expressed to us his ' sincere desire to be of serv- 
 ice ' in the solution of this vitally important problem, to carefully consider the 
 conditions prompting their action on our part, and if in his wisdom this expres- 
 sion of the voice of the people of these States deserves it make the matter an 
 administration undertaking, thereby fulfilling the spirit and the letter of the 
 party platform. 
 
 " Resolved further. That the pitiable conditions existing demand that speedy 
 action be taken, to the end that further loss of life be avoided and that the 
 clogging of the wheels of the national progress may cease. 
 
 " Resolved, That this congress expresses Its appreciation to all those in power 
 who have sent messages of sympathy with the cause and to all those who have 
 so generously and patriotically devoted their time and energy to the production 
 of such a measure as the President himself has outlined." 
 
 Discuss Malaria Befoee Congress— Good Roads and Water Conservation 
 Considered— JIany Industrial Papers— Savannah an Example of What 
 Drainage Does foe Health. 
 
 Good roads, the conservation of water supply, malarial diseases, and drainage 
 were, discussed by the speakers at yesterday's sessions of the National Drainage 
 Congress in the Guards Hall. 4.. » „„<-„„ 
 
 It was shown by the speakers that good roads, the conservation of water, 
 and malarial diseases are subjects closely related to drainage and that the 
 more drainage is done the more good roads the country will have the greatei 
 will be the water supply, and that the prevalence of malaria will be greatly 
 fl ccrpfi scd 
 
 D H Winslow United States superintendent of road construction, Wash- 
 ington, delivered an interesting and instructive paper on "Road maintenance 
 " It has been estimated," said Mr. Winslow, " that nearly 98 per cent of all 
 agricultural products pass over the ordinary road or street before reaching the 
 wharf or depot. 
 
 importance op koads. 
 
 "The improvement of public roads is therefore perhaps of more importance 
 than the Improvement of waterways, for the simple reason that not only must 
 the waterways depend upon the roads, but the railways must also depend upon 
 the highways, from which a great many of them draw the burden of their 
 freight " Mr. Winslow stated that improved drainage methods are necessary ia 
 the construction of good roads. 
 
36 FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 
 
 N. C. Grover, chief hydmulic engineer of the United States Geological Survey, 
 delivered an address on " Certain fundamental factors in drainage." He related 
 some experiences with drainage projects in various parts of the country and 
 gave the members of the Congress some valuable information on the general 
 subject of drainage. President Perkins announced that he would have Mr. 
 Grover's paper published as a public document if possible. 
 
 WATEK CONSERVATION. 
 
 George B. Logan, secretary of the Lakes-to-the-Gulf Deep Waterways Associa- 
 tion, discussed " Conservation and the use of water." He stated that water is 
 the greatest factor in human and animal life, that it is the most precious asset 
 the country has, and yet it Is an asset the value of which is not properly appre- 
 ciated. He urged the necessity for the conservation of the ^A-orld's water supply. 
 Incidentally, he touched on the movement which is being fostered by the asso- 
 ciation he represents — the securing of deeper water from the Lalies to the Gulf. 
 
 Interesting talks were made by J. V. Phillips, United States drnimge engineer 
 at Savannah, and F. G. Eason, United States drainage engineer at Charleston. 
 They told of the difflculties encountered in the Government drainage work in 
 the Charleston and Savannah districts. 
 
 Dr. Thomas D. Coleman, of Augusta, spoke on malaria as affected by drainnge. 
 His paper closed the morning session. 
 
 At 3 o'clock the discussion of malaria was taken up. President Perkins 
 yielded the chair to Dr. W. F. Brnnner, city health offlrer of Savannah, who 
 presided. Dr. Brunner stated that malaria was widely prevalent in Savannah 
 at one time, but that modern drainage methods, properly employed, had made 
 the city one of the healthiest in the country. Last year, he said, there was 
 one white death from malaria. 
 
 HE.VLTH DEPENDENT UPON DRAINAGE. 
 
 Dr. H. E. Carter, senior surgeon of the United States Public Health Service, 
 read an interesting paper on the work of the Public Health Service in prevent- 
 ing malaria, tie stressed the importance of proper drainage in checking the 
 spread of diseases, particularly malaria. Dr. Carter also read an interesting 
 paper that was prepared by Dr. R. H. Von Ezdorf, another surgeon in the 
 Public Health Service. Dr. Von Ezdorf left Savannah Thursday for Yera. Cruz, 
 under orders from Washington. He was to have read the paper himself. 
 
 Dr. Allen AV. Freeman, a prominent physician of Richmond, spoke on " Farm 
 abandonment and malaria infection — a vicious circle." This was one of the 
 most interesting addresses of the congress. Dr. Freeman has had much prac- 
 tical experience in health matters. He declared that good health is dependent 
 to a large degree upon proper drainage conditions. 
 
 At the conclusion of Dr. Freeman's address, the treasurer, Mr. McLachlen, 
 made his report. It showed that $7,375.79 was received from all sources last 
 year. He reported a balance on hand of $221.72. 
 
 President Perkins announced that an automobile ride had been arranged 'for 
 the visitors to the congress this "morning. The cars will start from the De Soto 
 Hotel at 10 o'clock. 
 
 The congress adopted the resolutions presented by the malaria section, recom- 
 mending that the subject of malaria be given proper attention in whatever 
 national drainage legislation is passed. 
 
 STATEMENT OF ME. EDMUND T. PERKINS, OF CHICAGO, ILL, 
 FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL DRAINAGE CONGRESS. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, with 
 your permission I will make just a few introductory remarks, and 
 then I will introduce Sir William Willcocks, who will be the prin- 
 cipal person to be heard by the committee this morning. 
 
 The National Drainage Congress is an organization which has no 
 pride of opinion in regard to having things done in this way. Our 
 object is to benefit the country by taking such steps as are possible 
 to prevent floods, to protect the overflow of the lands, and to procure 
 
FLOOD PEOTECTION AND DEAINAGE. 37 
 
 drainage of the overflowed lands. "We think that Hood protection 
 and drainage are so related to one another that it would be difficult 
 to separate them. 
 
 With the assistance of three men appointed by the Secretary of the 
 Interior, three men appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, and 
 three men appointed by the Secretary of War, and a committee 
 appointed by myself, all of whom are eminent civil engineers of the 
 country, we drafted at the request of Speaker Clark the bill wliieh 
 is now before you, H. K. 8189, known as the Clark bill for flood pro- 
 tection and drainage. 
 
 We are struggling to have this question solved. If this is not the 
 proper way cf doing it, we are ready to meet anybody more than 
 -halfway in solving this tremendous question, which is of such mo- 
 mentous importance to the welfare of all of our country. The dam- 
 ages by floods in different parts of the country amount to hundreds 
 of millions of dollars every year, and we have 80,000,000 acres of 
 swamp lands in our own State which are not only not producing 
 crops but which are, as they now stand, a very threatening menace 
 to public health, not only to the people of that particular State 
 but also a threatening menace to the health of the people in the vari- 
 ous surrounding States, because the malarial fever which is trans- 
 mitted by the mosquitoes is taken from one section to another by 
 the mosquito, and we believe the thing is a matter of such national 
 importance that it may well receive the attention of a committee of 
 the congress. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks is the honorary vice pi'esident at large of 
 the National Drainage Congress, and he has come all the way from 
 Cairo, Egypt, to address the drainage congress, and we desire to 
 have him give his testimony to your committee in regard to the 
 matter of flood protection and drainage. He is a world authority 
 concerning the matter of flood control and river regulation by the 
 nations of antiquity. He is thoroughly versed in the methods of the 
 ancients which were successfully carried out on the Euphrates River 
 and which have prevented that river from doing any damage for 
 more than 3,000 years. If we can stop floods on the Mississippi 
 River for 3,000 years, Mr. Humphreys, I think we will be satisfied. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. Yes; I think we will be satisfied with that, and 
 even with a shorter period. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. Sir William Willcocks built the A.ssuan Dam. He 
 has done a great deal of irrigation work in India, and he is also 
 the champion land agent of the world, because he has sold $50,000,000 
 worth of land in Egypt. I think his experience will be a very valu- 
 able and instructive contribution to the records of this committee. 
 He is not going to speak of the work which is being done to-day or 
 to-morrow, but he will speak of the work of the past, which has 
 proven so successful; and what is even, perhaps, more instructive, 
 the work of the past which has proven to be a failure. Failures we 
 wish to avoid, and so we will do well to learn of things which have 
 proven failures. . x- x ^i. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I now take great pleasure m presenting to the 
 committee Sir William Willcocks. You will find that Sir William 
 has the directness and the brevity of the engineer. 
 
 Mr. Burgess. You may proceed, Sir William. 
 
38 FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 
 
 STATEMENT OF SIR WILLIAM WILLCOCKS, OF CAIRO, EGYPT, 
 HONORARY VICE PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL DRAINAGE 
 CONGRESS. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. I am ready to answer any questions you 
 may desire to ask. 
 
 Mr. Peekins. Mr. Chairman, Sir William had not expected to 
 make a set address, but he thought he would answer questions, or he 
 will describe to you the works and the methods of the ancients. 
 Would you care to have him describe the regulations and the methods 
 of the ancients in the matter of flood protection and drainage ? 
 
 Mr. BuEGESS. Yes ; we will be very glad to hear about that. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. I will endeavor to describe the works of 
 the ancients as they might apply on the Mississippi River ; I will try 
 to apply them to what the conditions are on the Mississippi River. 
 
 On the Euphrates and on the Tigris and on the Nile the people of 
 the ancient world were wise enough to see that if you take a great 
 river like that and shut off both banks at once, it would be a very 
 serious problem ; in fact, if they -had done that, they would not have 
 solved it. They would take one bank and make a big dike, and in 
 that way protected that bank from floods and they let the flood waste 
 itself on the other bank. That was their method in the beginning, 
 when they were still small units, but you people can not do that be- 
 cause you have allowed the flood to settle on both banks of the river. 
 When as civilization developed, and that one bank of theirs had be- 
 come full of people, and they had to go to the other bank, they did 
 not go to the other bank until they had found escapes for the excess 
 flood into the deserts in depressions, reservoirs that they constructed, 
 and when they had made these reservoirs and thus got protection 
 from that water on that one bank, they then protected the other bank. 
 
 On the Tigris River alone they could not make an escape into the 
 depression that existed; they had no blasting powder, so that they 
 contended themselves to the end of time with one bank, and one bank 
 was always allowed to be flooded. 
 
 Mr. Tayloe. You say it is there to-day ; it is that way to-day; that 
 only one side of the Tigris is used ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. At the present moment neither side is 
 leveed and the entire country is liable to inundation and flood. I 
 say until the last days of civilization in Mesopotamia they never did 
 anything on the other side of the river. 
 
 In spite of that fact, I think on the Nile and on the Euphrates 
 they never had breaches because they had dikes and they had reser- 
 voirs. On the Tigris River during a period of 50 or 60 years, when 
 they came to some flood which they could not control, there were ter- 
 rible inundations. The most serious occured a few years before 
 Mohammed's time, when they hanged 400 engineers at the site of the 
 breach. That was a great catastrophe. 
 
 Mr. Small. You mean the hanging of the engineers ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. No; that was a small matter. That 
 breach caused great destruction, and they never let a thing like that 
 pass without making a very serious example of it. We live under an 
 autocratic Government out in the country where I come from, but a 
 Government which can control our floods and keep us from being 
 inundated, and we are quite willing to accept their autocratic rule. 
 
FLOOD PEOTEOTION AND DRAINAGE. 39 
 
 Mr. Perkins. Sir William, do you think it is necessary for the con- 
 trol of these streams that there should be a central authority 1 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. I should say that without a central au- 
 thority you can not control the streams. In antiquity, while they had 
 separate authorities, thej'^ did finally have a central authority ; and if 
 you have a river like your Mississippi River, and you have a dike, 
 that dike is possibly 500 miles long. The ancient Egyptians were 
 able to confine the inundations to a certain area, not so very large, 
 but from what little I know of your Mississippi River it would 
 be a work of great magnitude; and if there is no central authority 
 looking over the whole of it, and if any one part is careless, the whole 
 of the rest of the people are sacrificed. 
 
 In the part of the world where I come from there is not anything 
 like that; the Government is absolutely the master of the water; and 
 a thing like that could not occur. The Government may not be the 
 owner of the land, but the Government is the owner of every drop of 
 water. That is the first thing the Government looks out for. It is the 
 owner of the water. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. How does the Euphrates compare in size and majrni- 
 tude with the Mississippi River ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. The Euphrates is a very small river, a 
 very small stream, but the greatness of a stream is not a difficulty. It 
 does not happen to be the widest or the biggest streams which give us 
 the greatest difficulty. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. Did I understand you to say that the one difference 
 between the Tigris and the Euphrates was that the Tigris had no res- 
 ervoir at the source, whereas the Euphrates had ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. A very high reservoir. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. Are those reservoirs put toward the head of the 
 stream ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. No; just before the stream enters the 
 delta. At the entrance to the delta they made reservoirs. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. That would be like the delta in the St. Francis River; 
 it is a sort of a basin, that is, what you would think of as a reservoir. 
 
 What is the size of the banks? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. On the Nile there are not very serious 
 floods. The banks which they made there were about 25 feet wide, 
 but the banks on the Euphrates are about 100 feet wide on the tops. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. What are their slopes? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. They are all one to one. When you have 
 a wide bank like that, the slope is a small matter. When you have a 
 bank 100 feet wide, the water never penetrates that bank. It is lost 
 
 inside of it. , , . -j j. ^ „ 
 
 The Babylonians preferred to have the water side as steep as pos- 
 sible, because they always protected it with a great lot of brushwood. 
 
 I see where you lay the mattresses it is very flat, but the Babyloni- 
 ans alwavs made it as steep as they could so that it might smk down 
 into the bed of the river and form a sort of foundation for any future 
 work which might be built there. • i ■ i ? 
 
 Mr Perkins Why would not a flood mattress sunply sink ? 
 
 Sir William Willcqcks. First of all, I have never seen a caving 
 bank wh£h was flat like that. They put this m there and leave it m 
 
 ^'tTERtt;* ThaTi- different from our practice. 
 
40 FLOOD PEOTECTION" AND DRAINAGE. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. I want to see how you get those in that 
 way on the Mississippi Eiver. We can never find them. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. We do not have a caving bank that is flat ; that is 
 simply to prevent the caving, but when the caving takes place, they 
 lose the mattress at that point. 
 
 Sir WiLLiAJi Willcocks. In our country they have that as sheer 
 as they can get. They say it sinks into the bed on its own base. It 
 is economical. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. Do they weight the mattresses with rocks? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. There is no rock there; not a stone. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. Are there any forests on the headwaters of the 
 stream ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. None ; not now. 
 
 In the River Nile we look upon it in this way : If you have a stream 
 running like that [illustrating] and you have a dike down there [il- 
 lustrating], and a dike over there [illustrating], the great point is 
 to fix the river so that once you have made the dikes, you shall not 
 have to construct them again, and that is not advisable. An old dike 
 which has stood for hundreds of years is a very valuable piece of 
 property. 
 
 A new dike can not easily be built, and, besides, there is great ex- 
 pense, esp)ecially to us in Egypt, where we have no brush wood of 
 any kind, and we either use stone or burnt bricks, and make brick 
 clamps, and then fuse them so that the whole will easily sink with 
 the flood, and we can build on it, and get something that will take 
 the place of rock, so that when the river comes up here there will be 
 a fixed point, and once you have that one fixed, you go to the next one, 
 and our object is to fix the river so that the dikes shall not be eaten 
 away and have to be remade. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. What is the area in the Nile Valley which is 
 protected from floods? 
 
 Sir Wn,LiA:\i Willcocks. About 6,000,000 acres, and about the 
 same on the Euphrates. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. Have you ever made any estimate as to what it 
 would cost to rebuild the Lake Moeris Reservoir? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. The Lake Moeris Reservoir is to-day a 
 province consisting of 100,000 acres of cultivated land. If any- 
 thing happened there we would have to make a new one, which 
 would cost about 5,000,000 sterling. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. That is not as large as the original lake was? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. No; it is much smaller, but we have a 
 better project now, which is on a lake about 400 miles in area, where 
 there is no slope at all, where the Blue Nile and the White Nile meet, , 
 and put dams on the White Nile. 
 
 _ Mr. Humphreys. Your problem there is to get, first, flood protec- 
 tion and then irrigation? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Yes. But, so far as the reservoirs such 
 as you construct here are concerned, I can not see how you could use 
 them for any other purpose except for flood protection. When the 
 flood comes the reservoir must be absolutely empty, so that it is of no 
 use at all in the matter of flood protection if it is already full. And, 
 in the second place, if you use these reservoirs all the time they are 
 liable to be pretty well filled with mud. If you use them all the time, 
 
FLOOD PEOTECTION AND DEAINAGE. 41 
 
 they may last only 25 years. On the other hand, if you use them only 
 in thu case of the direst necessity, such reservoirs may last 150 years, 
 and as far a^ 1 can see — and I am judging from the slope of the 
 country — any reservoir made for flood control ought to be used only 
 for flood control and for nothing else, and then only used absolutely 
 when telegrams come from below saying that there is danger. That 
 is the way I should say it ought to be done. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. That is the way they are doing at Dayton, Ohio. 
 They are preparing to protect Dayton, Ohio, now by means of reser- 
 voirs. They construct the reservoirs, and they farm them during 
 ordinary periods, and only close the reservoirs, when the flood season 
 comes. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. That is wise. 
 
 Mr. Edwards. Who constructed those reservoirs? 
 
 Mr. Perkins. They have not been constructed yet. They are going 
 over the situation, and the American Engineering Co., of Memphis, 
 Tenn., are their engineers, and they are planning the reservoirs. We 
 also have some reservoir sites in sections where the old heart of the 
 reservoir is a narroAV gorge. Those were cases where they were going 
 to use the lower part of it for power piirposes, and use the upper part 
 of it for other purposes. 
 
 Sir William AVillcocks. That is possible. 
 
 Mr. Taylor. How is that operation to be financed ? 
 
 Mr. Perkins. There is not anybSdy financing it as yet. They hare 
 a conservation act which has been passed by the State legislature, and 
 the constitutionality of that act is now being tested in the courts of 
 the State. If that act is finally declared constitutional, then they can 
 form the conservation districts, and can issue bonds upon the prop- 
 erty in each particular district. 
 
 Mr. Taylor. They do not propose to have the General Government 
 doit? 
 
 Mr. Perkins. No; they have gone aliead with the idea that they 
 would do it themselves, but there is a serious question in the minds 
 of a great many people in Ohio as to whether or' not that act to which 
 1 have just referred will be declared constitutional. 
 
 Mr. Small. Sir William, are you prepared to say that reservoirs 
 would be practicable for flood protection in the Mississippi River, 
 within a reasonable limit of cost ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. -I should think so. If it was found to 
 be impracticable, I would say that some money spent in fixing the 
 dangerous points of the river would be money always better spent, for 
 if you can once keep the river from coming near the dikes, that would 
 be, to my mind, money almost better spent than if you used it in the 
 other way. 
 
 Mr. Kennedy. It is the plan on the Missouri River to protect the 
 bends. 
 
 Mr. BooHER. They fix the dangerous places as soon as possible, and 
 while the river is straight that does not interfere with it. 
 
 Mr. Burgess. It is the same general plan which is used on the 
 Mississippi River. 
 
 Mr. Taylor. Have you considered, in connection with one of the 
 floods on the Mississippi River, the size of the different reservoirs 
 which you would have to have? 
 
42 FLOOD PKOTBCTIOKT AND DEAINAGE. 
 
 Sir William Willcooks. I should think the reservoirs would have 
 to be enormous for such a big river. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. The excess flood waters in the Mississippi Eiver 
 amount to a million cubic feet a second, running anywhere from 
 3 weeks to 40 days. Now, it would take a pretty good-sized reservoir 
 to hold all that? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Yes; it would take an enormous reser- 
 voir, and it would be very expensive. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. Sir William does not construe the term "reservoir" 
 as we do. He is not speaking of a reservoir at the headwaters of 
 a stream. When he ■ uses the term " reservoir " he means what we 
 would ordinarily think of as a settling basin. He has the idea of a 
 great basin or sink in the desert in which they would turn the flood 
 waters. 
 
 Mr. HtJJMPHREYS. The reservoir at Lake Moeris was constructed 
 there by men, was it not? 
 
 Sir "\'/iLLiAM Willcocks. No, it was not. The lake was there for 
 years. It is 200 feet deep and several thousand square miles in 
 area. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. I believe it is approximately 1,700 square miles. 
 I think you said so. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. That is an artificial depression. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. That is where I got my idea that it was built 
 by man. You stated it was an artificial depression. What do you 
 mean by that? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. King Amenemhat constructed a section 
 between it and the Nile and put two dams across it. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. But he did not excavate the lake itself ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. No. Those kinds of depressions exist 
 all over the desert in Babylonia and in Egypt and in other places. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. I got the impression that that was the way it 
 was, from your lecture. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. I only quoted Herodotus as saying so. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. In which you said an artificial depression was 
 there, and I thought that meant that it was not there naturally, but 
 that it was built there. • 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. The artificial thing was the canal con- 
 necting it with the Nile. 
 
 Mr. Burgess. There is nothing like that in this country. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. No. 
 
 Mr. Burgess. I think we have a very similar case in the Imperial 
 Valley. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. But not on the Mississippi River. 
 
 Mr. Burgess. No. 
 
 Mr. HuMPPiREYS. You stated that you thought floods on the lower 
 Mississippi River could be controlled by reservoirs. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Yes; I should think projects could be 
 prepared for them. As an engineer, of course, I would not say that 
 definitely, if I were asked my opinion. I should only say that the 
 first thing is to put up these dikes and if they will not do, then to 
 get something better. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. The estimate which has been made is that it 
 would require a reservoir of about 7,000 square miles in area, from 
 
FLOOD PKOTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 43 
 
 15 to 20 feet deep, at a point very near the junction of the Ohio 
 and the Mississippi Rivers. 
 
 Mi. Perkiks. I think our idea of what we term a reservoir and 
 Sir William's idea are somewhat different. Ever}- time a levee 
 breaks, that makes a reservoir, according to his way of thinking. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. Of course, we would have plenty of reservoirs if 
 we were to use the delta and store the water up there, but our pur- 
 pose is to keep the water off the delta. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. I do not know whether they could use 
 that one bank for irrigation, and let it run over. In Egypt we 
 would not hesitate to do that, and then go ahead and sow your 
 crops on the mud. That is what they did in Egypt for 5.000 years. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. You stated that they could fix the banks in con- 
 cave form and protect the levee beyond that? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. So that the levee is not touched. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. Then you would have your reservoir between the 
 levees ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. That would allow a deposit of mud 
 along there and that would be a source of protection. If you have 
 your levee a half mile from the river and you have that space in be- 
 tween filled with mud, that will be a protection ; as we have it on the 
 Nile, it is like this: One bank is over there [illustrating] and there 
 the Nile is high [illustrating] and from there to this point over here 
 [illustrating] is the height of the highest flood. You have for pro- 
 tection not only the dike, but half a mile of mud in between there. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. That would give absolute protection. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Absolute protection. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. Without the necessity of constructing any reser- 
 voir ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Yes ; I should consider in a river like the 
 Mississippi that that is the better scheme. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. That is the scheme we are pursuing out there. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. And do not let a single dike be carried 
 away. If you have a breach once every 4 or 5 years, it is a very 
 nasty thing, but if you have a breach after it has been there 50 years, 
 it is much worse. The further apart the breaches are, the worse it is. 
 
 Mr. Taylor. Have you read the opinion of the engineers of the 
 Mississippi River Commission on the problem on the Mississippi 
 
 River ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Yes; I always take the Engmeermg 
 News and scarcely a number has come out during the last two years 
 which has not had something in it in regard to that. 
 
 Mr. Taylor. You have read the opinions ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Taylor. Do you differ from them ? Your statement does not 
 appear to differ from the opinions of the engineers. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. No; the only point is never to let the 
 
 dike be cut. ,,,.... -, , 
 
 Mr. Perkins. They build the levees on the Mississippi and only 
 
 figure on them lasting 20 years. . . 
 
 Mr. Burgess. I think there is no difference between the opinions 
 
 of the engineers and the opinion of Sir William in regard to the 
 
 Mississippi River problem. 
 
44 FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 
 
 Mr. Tayloe. I want to see what the difference is, if there is any, 
 between his vievrs and those of the engineers. 
 
 Sir WiLLiA^r Willcocks. I think your dikes are too narrow on 
 top. Considering the river and the richness of the country, you 
 ought to malce a dike four times as wide. 
 
 Mr. Taylor. They are making the dikes as large as they can, to 
 start with. 
 
 Sir WiLLiA^r WinLcocKS. Not as large as you can. You only make 
 them 8 feet wide. Anything under 25 feet, it seems to me, would be 
 rather small. 
 
 Mr. Kennedy. You mean at the top? 
 
 Sir "\ViLLiA3i WiLLcooKS. Yes. The Babylonians made their 
 dikes a hundred feet wide at the top. Then a flood could do practi- 
 cally no damage, even if the worst came to the worst. 
 
 Mr. Tayi.oe. That is a matter of great magnitude and it takes time 
 to do it. 
 
 Sir WiLLiAJi WiLLC'ocKS. In our river the water stands as high 
 as that above the roofs of the houses [indicating], and a wide dike is 
 a great thing. If there is a slight flood which has taken place, the 
 water is on this side [illustrating] and the river has flooded over. All 
 you have is that naiTOw bank. If you have a width of 100 feet, you 
 can dig into it and you can get a means of quickly filling it up. 
 This great mass of stuff about level with the water is a great asset 
 for the purpose of stopping any seepage. 
 
 Mr. Taylor. I think that is recognized by all authorities. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. The people do not practice it in this 
 country. In the sections I have seen the dikes are what we should 
 consider in our country very trifling dikes. I think if the dikes cost 
 three times what is put on them it would be very little. 
 
 Mr. Taylor. The size of the dikes is in proportion to the size of the 
 appropriation. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. Now, the question of fixing caving banks — of 
 course, in regard to that, there is no disagreement among engineers 
 in this country. They have agreed on it long ago^ and they are doing 
 that work now as rapidly as Congress will furnish them the money 
 with which to do it. But before they began this revetment work, 
 before they had found out how it could be done economically;, they 
 placed their levees far enough back so that it would last 20 years. 
 
 Sir WiLLiAji WiLTxiocKS. Twenty years? 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. Yes; they put it far enough back so that, as they 
 thought, it would last 20 years. They thought it would be 20 years 
 before the river would ca^'e into it ; but they do not pursue any such 
 policy now. Now they build with the expectation of its lasting 
 forever. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. That is wisdom. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. Then they revet the concave bank. 
 
 Mr. Burgess. They try to hold the river. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. You see this black line on this map [indicating 
 on map] indicates a levee along here on either side of the river, and 
 the revetment of the bank is right there in the bank to keep the bank 
 from caving back. They revet this back here [indicating on map], 
 and keep it off here, and they revet this one here [indicating on map] 
 to keep it from cutting across here [indicating on map], and they 
 
FLOOD PEOTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 45 
 
 revet this up here [indicating on map] to keep this from eating this 
 levee away. I believe that is the idea you had. 
 
 Sir William WillcocivS. We do not worry about the inside. We 
 would make our dike like that [indicating]. We would fix it there 
 and there and there [indicating] , and we would not worry about the 
 inside. We would consider we would not have money enough to do 
 that. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. It is less than a mile around there [indicating], 
 and you would have a fall of 12 feet in less than a mile, and that 
 would wipe that right out [indicating]. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. We have many breaches on the Nile that 
 do not worry us. 
 
 Mr. HuMPHEETs. What is the flow in the Nile in cubic feet per 
 second ? 
 
 Sir WiLLiAJt Willcocks. Fourteen thousand cubic meters. 
 
 Mr. Hdmphkeys. About half a million cubic feet per second in 
 flood time ? 
 
 Sir WiLLiAai Willcocks. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. In the Mississippi it is 2,300,000 cubic feet. 
 
 Sir '^A^iLLiAji WiLi>aocKs. That does not matter so much. We find 
 the Euphrates is much more difficult to handle than the Nile, and it 
 is a smaller river than the Nile. Of course, it means more money, but 
 the bigger the river the easier it is. I have always found it that way. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. Wliat did the stonework on the Nile cost per 
 mile? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. AVe put spurs on the Nile about 5,000 
 yards apart. Every year they sink a little. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. What does that cost a linear mile? 
 
 Sir WiLLiAJi Willcocks. It would be so much per spur. 
 
 Mr. HusiPHREYS. If it is caving along here [indicating on map] 
 for 2 miles, you would have to put your stone in front of it? 
 
 Sir AVilliam Willcocks. Yes. The best way we find in which to 
 do it is to have a plan of the river made of the interior, then let the 
 water run down and then fix it there [indicating on map] . 
 
 Mr. HujrPHREYS. Can you give any sort of an estimate of the cost 
 per mile? 
 
 Sir AYilliam Willcocks. I would say about £5,000 for the Nile, on 
 an average ; that is, per mile. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. How deep is that river? 
 
 Sir AA'iLLiAM Willcocks. In these caving banks, about 40 feet. 
 
 Mr Humphreys. The Mississippi runs from 80 to 100 feet deep. 
 
 SirAViLLiAM AViLLCocKS. Well, in that event I should certainly put 
 down the cost as two and one-half times as great— say about £12,000. 
 
 Mr Hujiphreys. That would be about $60,000 a mile. 
 
 Sir AViLLiAM Willcocks. That is at the rate we pay for our stone 
 on the Nile, but you can burn bricks very cheap here. That will make 
 the whole cost about £12,000. Every bit of the stuff which settles in 
 here [indicating on map] is a protection _ 
 
 The ancients would throw their bank back as far as possible. It is 
 more expensive, and unless you have that all of level land it is very 
 difficult for a river to breach it. . 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. AA^at causes the bank to cave in ( 
 
46 FLOOD PKOTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 
 
 riir Tv'iLLiAJM WiLLcocKS. Tlie principal cause on all rivers — ^the 
 slope of the Nile is very little, but if a flood rises quickly, and, for in- 
 stance, ilie flood is up there [indicating], it pours into the empty 
 river every time it rises quicklj- it pours in quickly 
 
 Mr. Hu3rPHEEYS (interposing) . Does it wash the bank away as it 
 strikes it ? 
 
 Sir Williajne Willcocks. In low Nile, when the river is very low, 
 and we have very strong north winds blowing the whole winter, the 
 power of the waves eats it away in places underneath and under- 
 mines it, and then when the flood comes it seeps in. With a well- 
 drained river, if the river has gone across over every bit of it and 
 loses a great deal of mud, it is in a position to take up a great deal 
 more mud, because it is, as you might say, hungry for it, and when it 
 comes across it is already so charged with mud that it can not take 
 up any more ; but if the river is properly trained you will not have 
 any trouble with it in that direction. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. The slope of the Mississippi Eiver in flood times 
 is practically the same as it is in low water. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Oh, not when the river is rising. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. Practically the same. 
 
 Sir WiLLiAar Willcocks. It can not be. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. There is only a difference of about 55 feet in 
 1,000 miles. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. But how many feet would it rise in a 
 day ? Suppose that is the slope [indicating] , and the river is rising 
 here, and not here [indicating], when it is filling its trough — ^take 
 it on the Tigris. The Tigris rises 20 feet, and it has only a slope of 
 1 in 35,000, and yet that water as it comes down quickly has a tre- 
 mendous force. The Nile is nothing like it. The Nile has three 
 times as great a slope, but it does not rise with such suddenness. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. I suppose the rise on the Mississippi Eiver is 
 relatively slow. A foot rise is a rapid rise on the Mississippi River. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. In what time ? 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. In 24 hours. That is an alarming rise on the 
 Mississippi Eiver in 24 hours. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. That is not a very big rise. The Tigris 
 Eiver walks up. 
 
 Then your problem is all the easier. 
 
 Mr. HuMPPiRBYS. Most of the caving there on the Mississippi 
 Eiver comes when the river falls, not with the rising river. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Oh, I see. The Nile mud is too good 
 for that. Our clay does not slip like that, only very rarely. The 
 Tigris and the Euphrates are all eaten away in the freshets which 
 come in, and they run like a mill race against the land. 
 
 If the Mississippi Eiver only rises slowly like that, it makes your 
 problem much simpler. If you have a spur, and bank is sliding, it 
 will not slide at the spur; the caving will take place on both sides, 
 and you will get magnificent protection. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. Where do you get the rock from ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. We have limestone hills on both sides. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. You do not have to go very far for it? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. No ; we have very good limestone there. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. We have to haul our rock a good many hundred 
 miles to get it to the Mississippi Eiver. 
 
FLOOD PKOTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 47 
 
 Sir William Willocks. Then, why do you not burn brick on it? 
 You have plenty of timber there. We have to pay £2 for our coal. 
 If you have a good deal of timber there, I should think it woifld be 
 an advantage to bum your bricks, and burn them till they fuse to- 
 gether, and you would get monoliths as big as this house and get 
 them very cheaply ; certainly much cheaper than stone. 
 
 Mr. Edwaeds. Why not use the sand and lime material there? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. You mean cement ? 
 
 Mr. Edwards. Yes. 
 
 Sir "William Willcocks. Certainly. We have never used it, be- 
 cause the sand on the Nile is not very good. But if the Mississippi 
 sand is good sand it would be all right. And then, besides that, our 
 stone is very plentiful and it is so cheap. 
 
 Mr. Edwards. What was the cost of the Assouan Dam? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. That only irrigates. We charge a rate 
 for one irrigation per annum, £1.8, and if they want water they have 
 to take reservoir water whether they like it or not, and they pay 
 about one pound and a half on about 600,000 acres, and that means an 
 income of about £300,000 per annum to the Government. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. What is land worth there? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. It is worth from £150 an acre up to 
 £200 an acre ; but that is not cheap. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. What are your revenues ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. We run at about £12 an acre. 
 
 Mr. Kennedy. What are the principal products on that soil? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. We get about five hundred weight of cot- 
 ton, which comes to about £20, and then if you can get nearly a ton 
 of wheat, that would be at the present rate about £7 or £8, so you 
 get about £28 worth of stuff off of that in a year. One year you will 
 have cotton and the next you will have corn. 
 
 Mr. Kettner. Do you raise two crops a year? 
 
 Sir Wn^LiAM Willcocks. Every year. The ground never rests. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. What fertilizes the ground ? 
 
 Sir Williaji Willcocks. The Nile Kiver fertilizes the land and 
 is the best we have, and that is equal to about £17 an acre. 
 
 Mr. PIuMPHREYS. You do not raise two crops of cotton a year ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. We raise cotton every second year. Cot- 
 ton is never grown two years in succession. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. Why? 
 
 Sir WiLLiAsi Willcocks. Because it is considered' fatiguing to the 
 
 soil. 
 
 Mr. SsiALL. That is, you follow the principle of rotation of crops? 
 
 Sir William "Willcocks. Yes. And besides the worms increase 
 every year. 
 
 Mr. Small. Have you visited the Imperial "Valley ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. In America ? 
 
 Mr. Small. Yes. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. No ; I have not been West at all. I have 
 iust been on the East coast. 
 
 Mr. Edwards. You have recently been m attendance on the ses- 
 sions of the national drainage congress ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Yes ; and it was a very pleasant congress. 
 
 Mr. Edwards. You heard there the discussion with reference to 
 malaria as affected by drainage? 
 
48 FLOOD PROTECTION AND DEAINAGE. 
 
 Sir "William Willcocks. Yes. 
 
 I\Ir. ED■^^'AEDS. What, in your opinion, is the advisable thing for us 
 to do VN'ith reference to drainage in that connection? Is it advisable 
 or not to undertalie that; and if so, to what extent? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. If you can get clean drainage and put in 
 a lot of fish, then I think your malaria would absolutely disappear. 
 In all our gardens in Khartoum, if anyone keeps a pool of water it is 
 stocked with fish. Our microbes are pretty well gone. If anyone has 
 a pool of water, they have to keep fish in it. 
 
 Mr. Edwards. You are familiar with the coast country? 
 
 Sir. William Willcocks. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Edwards. You think it is feasible and advisable to undertake 
 this reclamation work by drainage? 
 
 Sir William Willocks. As an engineer, I should say so, because 
 wherever it has been done it has been proven beneficial. 
 
 When I went down through the Jordan Valley, the only p^ace that 
 was at all fairly deep — and the water there was in a very well con- 
 centrated stream which was crowded with fisli — and that was the 
 only place where people were at all well off. Everywhere else the 
 malaria was terrible. 
 
 Mr. Edwards. How long since malaria has been gotten out of the 
 Nile country? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. We never had malaria there. They had 
 it along the Suez Canal, and for about six or seven years, now, they 
 have not had it. They put fish in there and the whole place is abso- 
 lutely different. 
 
 At Khartoum, at the junction of the two Niles, where every boat 
 comes down laden with the worst type of mosquitoes in the world, 
 they formed a league there* with the Government officials at the head 
 of it, and now if a mosquito is seen on anyone's property the person 
 is fined 12 shillings. During the last six or seven years they have been 
 working at it, and now people can sleep outside without a mosquito 
 bothering them, whereas recently they were afraid to go out even in 
 the afternoon for fear of being attacked by mosquitoes. 
 
 Before that, if you even had a bottle lying out there, and there 
 was a little water in it. in a few days it would breed mosquitoes; but 
 by having a strictly enforced rule — and in these countries you can 
 enforce the rules — they have entirely eradicated mosquitoes. They 
 have done it by very strict discipline. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. It is recognized that mosquitoes travel by boat and 
 rail? 
 
 Sir AVilliam Willcocks. Oh, yes. That is why the Suez Canal 
 had so many malarial mosquitoes on it. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. The mosquito does not regard State and county 
 lines ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Oh, no. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. Are swamp lands very valuable as agricultural lands 
 in that country? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. In Egypt they net them about £50 an 
 acre. We have 10 per cent salt in our lands which we have to wash 
 out. 
 
 Mr. Burgess. How do you get rid of the salt ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. We dig trenches about 25 meters apart 
 or 60 meters apart, according to the soil, and from 3 to 4 feet deep. 
 
FLOOD PKOTBCTION AND DEAINAGE. 49 
 
 Mr. Taylor. How long does it take to do that? 
 
 Sir William Willcooks. About three years. 
 
 Mr. Tayloe. In three years you are rid of the salt? 
 
 Sir William WiLLCocKfr. Yes ; we consider tliree years a suiSciently 
 long time. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. These lands down on the coast are not salt, and is 
 there any engineering difficulty you see that will prevent their recla- 
 mation back from the ocean? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. I see none. You have such crowds of 
 good land in this country that you have done nothing with. We do 
 not waste anything; not a single thing. In our country 11,000,000 
 people live on 6,000,000 acres of land, and they pay a tax of £17,- 
 000,000 a year, and out of those 6,000,000 acres only 5,000,000 are cul- 
 tivated yet, because 1,000,000 acres are still salt. 
 
 Mr. Taylor. Where is that ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. In Egj'pt. They pay three pounds and 
 a quarter in taxes to the Government. 
 
 Mr. Taylor. How much altogether? 
 
 Sir William Willc-oc^ks. Egypt pays £17.500,000 taxes every year 
 out of those 5,000,000 acres. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. That is without the water tax ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. That includes the water tax. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. About three and one-half pounds in taxes on every 
 acre. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. It all comes from the land. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. That is about $17 an acre to the Government every 
 year. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. That is from everything. The land tax 
 itself is about £5,000,000 and £12,000,000 are indirect taxes. 
 
 Mr. Tkeadway. The land has to pay for it all ? 
 
 Sir WiLLiAjr "\Viij:.cocks. Yes : because we have no manufacturers 
 there. 
 
 Mr. Small. For what purpose is this revenue expended? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. The Government officials take some of it. 
 We take about £4,000,000 for the debt. There is a debt of £100,000,000. 
 The railroads take a lot of it. The railroads belong to the Govern- 
 ment. Everything belongs to the Government in that country. There 
 is a good deal paid for the Army and for education, and we spend 
 about £2,000,000 a year on new works. 
 
 Mr. Small. About what proportion of it is expended for purposes 
 of maintenance of the drainage projects? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. About a million. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. You say the railroads take a part of it? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. Are they not self-sustaining? 
 
 Sir WiLMAsr AYillcocks. They belong to the State. We have given 
 up any etfort to compete against the railroads by trying to keep the 
 river going. The difficulty of keeping steamers going, and every- 
 thing — if a man Avants to run a steamer on the Nile, he does it, and 
 there is no effort made at navigation, because the railways are con- 
 sidered capable of doing everything. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. How wide is the Valley of the Nile, above the 
 point where the delta begins ? 
 
 42635—14 4 
 
50 FLOOD PKOTECTION" AND DRAINAGE. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. There it is rather narrow. It is only 
 about 4 miles ; 12 miles is the widest. 
 
 Mr. Kettner. Then the river can not compete with the railroads 
 with regard to transportation^ 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. No ; because you see the railroad belongs 
 to the Government. We say God made the rivers for irrigation and 
 the railroad for transportation, and so we do not Avorry about it. We 
 say. because you can run your railroads without water, but you can 
 not irrigate without water, therefore the Government takes control 
 of the water. There is no more eifort made now to keep navigation 
 open throughout the year, so that for three or four or five months the 
 boats do not run. 
 
 Mr. Small. Then the primary purpose in using the river is for 
 irrigation ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Yes. 
 
 Mr. BooHER. Do the boats on the Nile belong to individuals? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Yes. The wind is alwaj'^s from the 
 north and the navigation is very pleasant. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. What is the method of farming in Egypt; how 
 is the land farmed? 
 
 Sir WiLLiA^i Willcocks. We generally rent it. Many people take 
 it at a fixed rate. A man will say he will take 5 acres at, for instance, 
 £12 an acre. Then, he may take it at half-and-half, and we provide 
 the seed and the cattle. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. He rents it at £12 an acre? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Yes ; and out of that the taxes are paid. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. Yes; and he has to support himself and furnish 
 his own teams. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. That is very good land. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. And on that he ran make 500 pounds of cotton? 
 
 Sir WiLLiAjr Willcocks. He can not on all of it. If he only pays 
 £5 for the land, it will not be as good land as the higher-priced land, 
 and he will only make three and one-half cwt. The Egyptian 
 peasantry is the most courageous peasantry on earth. 
 
 Mr. BuRGE.ss. Who owns the land ? 
 
 Sir WiLLiA?.r Willcocks. The Egv])tians own nearlv the whole 
 of it. 
 
 Mr. Burgess. What is the value of th.e land? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Alxmt a thousand dollars an acre, 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. What is the size of the plantations? .Vre they 
 large or small plantations? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. They are small. Everything is small. 
 It is very much like in a market garden. Two million acres are 
 owned by a million and a half people. The average holding is 
 about three-quarters of an acre. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. About 2,000.000 acres are owned in larger tracts? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. How much is owned by large corporations? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. I speak without book when I say about 
 600,000 acres, but not of the peasant land. We own very little of 
 the good land. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. What do they plow the land Avith ? 
 
FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE, 51 
 
 111 
 
 Sir WiLLiA.u WiLLCociv«. We plow with machinery; with stea 
 machinery when we begin reclamation, but afterwards cattle. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. When they work a cotton crop, what do thev 
 use? ' 1' J' 
 
 Sir WiLLiAJi Wn.LcocKS. (Jxen. 
 
 Mr. HuaLPHEEYs. What sort of a plow? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. A wooden plow. 
 
 Mr. liuMPiiEEYS. A wooden plow ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Yes. It is a very good plow, and they 
 are so pleased with it that they are introducing it into India. 
 
 Mr. Humpmkeys. Do they hire any farm labor there at all ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Oh, yes; and they pay a shilling a day, 
 and they get very good labor. Everybody works there. The man 
 works and his wife works, and his children work, and hv the time 
 the day is over they make quite a lot of money, 
 
 Mr. Perkins. Where do they get the capital with which to work 
 the land ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. They have it. If you engage a man to 
 work for you, you have to pay him £20 down. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. When you pay a man a shilling a day that in- 
 cludes his board and keep ? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Oh, yes; he looks after himself. He 
 buys biscuits and onions. 
 
 Mr. Humphreys. Biscuits and onions? You give him those? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. No; he buys those out of his shilling. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. Who are their local bankers? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Their wives. The Egyptian women are 
 the bankers of Egypt to-day. 
 
 I will tell you a tale which is something new. It sounds like ro- 
 mance, but it is true. 
 
 When the agricultural bank came into Egypt some years ago it 
 brought £10,000,000 sterling, to be loaned at 8 per cent. That was 
 the first time they had had cash in their hands — ^the first time they 
 had had real gold in their hands. Everyone who owned an acre of 
 land could get a loan of £50 on it, and they took this money. The 
 first thing every fellow did who saw that he had money was to go 
 home and divorce his wife. That is what actually happened in 
 Egypt. Then his wife would say to him, " You can not divorce me, 
 because my dowry is £8." He said, " You think I can not give you 
 £8? There you are. I will divorce you and go away." And he 
 would hand her the money and get out and she would put the £8 
 in her pocket. 
 
 Then he went down on the corner and he met some new young girl, 
 and when he went to see her father about marrying her her father 
 would say " You are an old man. That girl is young and beautiful. 
 She is worth £12." And the Egyptian would say " Well, what is 
 that? Here is the £12." And he paid it down and married the girl. 
 
 Then the first wife immediately took the £8 she got from him and 
 she loaned it at 20 per cent. Then he said to the second wife, " You 
 let me have this money for joint purposes." She said "No." She 
 said "This foolish old fellow divorced his first wife, and the first 
 thing I know he will divorce me." She would not do it. 
 
52 FLOOD PBOTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 
 
 That was about what he did. In about six months he would go 
 back to his old wife. He would get tired of the new wife and he 
 would go back to his old wife and he would say to her " I want to 
 marry you again." And then the old wife would say " Well, my dear 
 husband you paid £12 for the other wife and you only paid me £8. 
 Now, you give me the £4 diiference." He said "All right ; I have it." 
 
 So that half the money got into the pockets of the women, and 
 they routed out the old Greek usurers, and in a short time these wives 
 became the money lenders of the country, and they are the money 
 lenders of the country to-day, and that is absolutely true over the 
 whole country. Thej' do not worry about accounts, because on the 
 15th of October the loans must be paid. If you borrow money in 
 September, you have to pay it on the 15th of October just the same, 
 and they get 20 per cent. 
 
 Mr. Small. How do they enforce payment? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. They have made it a debt of honor. If 
 a fellow will not pay his debt, they clear him out of the village. It 
 is just the same as in the case of a man who does not pay his debts 
 at his club. The women also have the market for milk and cheese 
 and butter in their own hands, and they won't sell for cash ; they sell 
 on credit. 
 
 Mr. Kettnek. Does this money jfind its way back to the bank? 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. The bank gets 8 per cent, and these 
 people are lending half of it at 20 per cent, and they have routed 
 out the usurers. The women of Egypt have taken the lead on all 
 the women of the world. They do not break windows or burn build- 
 ings or do anything else of that kind, but they have the mastery of 
 the situation there. 
 
 Mr. Small. They are masters of the economic situation. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks. Yes ; in fact, the whole business is getting 
 into their hands ; the men are sitting down and doing nothing. 
 
 Mr. HuMPHEjEYS. Mr. Chairman, Sir William delivered an address 
 a few years ago before the Geogi-aphical Society in Egypt, which 
 I think everybody would find very interesting. It is in pamphlet 
 form in the Congressional Library, and I would like to have it 
 printed as a part of this hearinir, or as a committee document. It 
 is a very illuminating address on the whole situation in Egypt. 
 
 Mr. Burgess. If there is no objection, that address will be printed 
 as a part of this hearing. 
 
 Mr. Edwards. Mr. Chairman, I now desire to present to the com- 
 mittee Mr. E. J. Watson, of South Carolina, who is the present 
 chairman of the National Drainage Congress. This is not a general 
 hearing upon the Clark reclamation and drainage bill, but I would 
 like to present Mr. Watson at this time. He wants to be heard at a 
 later date, when we have a general hearing on the bill. 
 
 Mr. Small. Before Mr. Watson begins, I understand that Sir 
 William delivered an address before the National Drainage Congress 
 which has just concluded its meeting at Savannah, Ga., and I under- 
 stand it was a very valuable address, and naturally it was very per- 
 tinent to our situation, and I would like to ask to have that address 
 also printed as a part of this hearing, or as a committee document. 
 
 Mr. Burgess. If there is no objection, that will be done. 
 
FLOOD PKOTBOTION AND DEAINAGE. 53 
 
 STATEMENT OF MR. E. J. WATSON, CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL 
 DRAINAGE CONGRESS. 
 
 Mr. Watson. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I do not care to ad- 
 dress you at any length at all to-day. 
 
 I want simply to express our appreciation for this brief hearing 
 to-day and in giving us the opportunity to present to you a man who 
 has actually done the things we are after. So far as the drainage 
 congress is concerned, we hope at an early date to get the committee 
 to give us a full hearing on the Clark bill. 
 
 At this time I simply want to say that the men who are in the 
 National Drainage Congress and who worked to produce this bill, 
 which Speaker Clark has introduced in the House and Senator John 
 Sharp Williams has introduced in the Senate, are a set of patriotic 
 men, who have no ax to grind in this matter at all, and we think we 
 have produced a bill which is broad enough and big enough to in- 
 clude the Mississippi and Ohio and Missouri Rivers and to solve this 
 great problem, to look after the swamp lands of the country, and 
 which will mean a saving to the Nation of more dollars than almost 
 any tiling we have undertaken. 
 
 This bill has been prepared by our committee, in cooperation with 
 men designated by the Secretary of the Interior and men from the 
 War Department and the Department of Agriculture, and all the 
 points in the bill have been carefully and thoroughly thrashed out, 
 with the idea of giving to Congress something that would meet, as 
 far as it is possible to do so, every condition in the country as a 
 whole of that sort. 
 
 I simply wanted to ask permission to make a part of the record 
 the action of the drainage congress which expresses the opinion and 
 voice of the people of the 40 States involved in these matters. These 
 are resolutions which we adopted at Savannah the other day. I 
 would like to have those resolutions made a part of the record, and 
 I would like to invite the attention of every member of this committee 
 to the sentiments expressed there and to the economic reasons con- 
 tained in the brief statement in the resolutions. 
 
 Mr. Burgess. If there is no objection, those resolutions will be in- 
 cluded in the hearing. 
 
 (The resolutions referred to are as follows:) 
 
 Whereas there Is no greater problem, from aa economic standpoint and from the 
 standpoint of the preservation of the public health ;ind welfai'e, than the 
 reclamation of the 80,000,000 acres of swamp lauds in the 40 States of the 
 Union, flood protection, and river regulation before the American people at 
 
 this time; and , , ., , ^ 4.,, , 
 
 Whereas because of the interstate character of this problem, so vital to the wel- 
 fare of the masses of the people, rendering Federal action an absolute neces- 
 sity there has thus far resulted inaction, entailing loss of life and property 
 to an extent that can not be estini.ited, and curtailing to an enormous extent 
 the productive power of the United States, owing to the impossibility of 
 cultivating the valuable areas lying in the very centers of population, where 
 the cry for foodstuffs is greatest; and 
 Whereas navigation is affected seriously and proper development of commerce 
 
 is retarded and prevented; and 
 Whereas the National Drainage Congress, now iu tourth annual session, an or- 
 ganization composed of earnest men, considering only tlie welfare of our 
 fommon country, has been end-..yoring in a cooperative way, using the words 
 
54 FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 
 
 of the President of the United States transmitted to it, "To be of service in 
 solving these grent problems — which after all are the problems of national 
 prosperity," and. using the words of the Secretary of the Interior, has fur- 
 ther endeavored to aid the Nation in solving the problems "by outlining a 
 practical way by which flood control and drainage may be effected,, and deal- 
 ing in a large way with these matters, not as sectional matters but as a part 
 of a rounded policy of national development '' : and 
 Whereas in pursuance of this nonseetional and nonpolitical policy, set forth 
 In the platforms of the great national political parties, the National Drain- 
 age Congress has consulted with the heads of the departments of the Fed- 
 eral Government concerned, and, laboring with experts designated by them, 
 has evolved a national measure which has passed through the crucible of wise 
 counsel, experience, and impartial legal dissection ; and 
 Whereas this measure. Icnown as the Clark-AVilliams bill, has been presented in 
 the National House of Re]u-esentatives liy Speiilver Clark, a lifelong advo- 
 cate of such reclamation, and in the Upper House of Congress by Senator 
 John Sharp Williams : and 
 Whereas at this fourth annual session, in the midst of national excitement cal- 
 culated to divert the attention of jiublic men, there has come to the National 
 Drainage Congress most encouraging words from the President and Vice 
 President of the United States, members of the Cabinet, leading Senators and 
 Representatives, and men prominent in walks of life in the United States 
 without regard of party — with not a single discordant note being heard ; and 
 Whereas it is manifest that the present governmental policy is to do those 
 purely constrtictive things for the greatest good to the greatest number: 
 Therefore be it 
 
 Resolved, That the National Drainage Congress, expi-essive of the voice of the 
 people of the 40 States involved, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the 
 Great Lakes to the Gulf and to the Mexican border, insistently but respect- 
 fully urges upon the Congress of the United States the prompt enactment of the 
 Clark-Williams measure, and ^vou]d respectfully further urge the President of 
 the United States, who has t-xjiressed to us his " sincere desire to be of service" 
 in the solution of this vitally important problem, to carefully consider the 
 conditions prompting their action on our part, and if in his wisdom this ex- 
 pression of the voice of the people of these States deserves it, make the matter 
 an administration undertaking', thereby fulfilling the spirit and the letter of the 
 party platform. 
 
 Resolved -further, That the pitiable conditions existing demand that speedy 
 action be taken to the end that further loss of life be avoided, and that the 
 clogging of the wheels of the national progress may cease. 
 
 Resolved, That this congress expresses its appreciation to all those in power 
 who have sent messages of sympathy with the cause, and to all those who have 
 so generously and patriotically devoted their time and energy to the produc- 
 tion of such a measure as the President himself has outlined 
 
 Mr. Watson. Xow. in regard to our proceedings at SaA^annah, I 
 would like to call the attention of the committee to the fact that there 
 were quite elaborate and scientific discussions, and a number of 
 papers were read by men who are experts in the various phases of 
 this problem, and who brought out many striking and vital facts 
 which I think are not brought out anywhere else — not in any Govern- 
 ment document — and I would like particularly to direct your attention 
 to the matter of the great enhancement of the value of agricultural 
 lands, as a result of the reclamation of swamp lands, which will ap- 
 pear from the actual results presented at that meeting. At a later 
 date we desire to have a complete hearing on this matter, if it is de- 
 sired. So far we have not foxmd in the country at large one word of 
 opposition to the Clark-Williams bill. I have talked with men from 
 all parts of the country, who have devoted their life to this kind of 
 work, and I can not find any opposition to this bill anywhere. We 
 are prepared to come here and show you from the standpoint of 
 agricultural production and from the standpoint of public health and 
 
FLOOD PROTECTION AND DRAINAGE. 55 
 
 from every other economic standpoint the immense vahie to the 
 Nation of the adoption and enforcement of this measure. 
 
 Mr. BooHBE. Is it your proposition that we drain the swamp lands 
 of this country? 
 
 Mr. Watson. In this bill there is a provision made for the handling, 
 of lands of individuals where a community is so large, in the nature 
 of public land, that they can not all be handled otherwise, the land to 
 bear practically all the expense. 
 
 Mr. BooHER. Would drainage districts be formed and the land be 
 assessed to pay the expenses, or do you expect the Federal Treasury to 
 pay the expenses? 
 
 Mr. Watson. The land bears the whole burden. 
 
 Mr. BooHEH. I see that the first section of the bill provides for the 
 sale of certain lands to the Government, the proceeds to be put into 
 this fund, which is to be known as the fund for flood protection and 
 drainage. 
 
 Mr. Watson. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. BooHEE. Is that fund to be derived from the sale of public 
 lands to be used to drain the lands of individuals and corporations ? 
 
 Mr. Watson. Wherever it vitally affects the public health, t(> that 
 extent; but it makes the land repay to the Government whatever is 
 used there for that purpose. 
 
 Mr. BooHEE. And from those proceeds you would pay the Govern- 
 ment everything it costs the Government to drain the lands ? 
 
 Mr. Watson. Yes, sir. The idea is to bring about a complete 
 restoration of that 
 
 Mr. BooHEE (interposing). The reason I asked that is because in 
 my State of Missouri and in Illinois I know they form drainage 
 districts in the river bottoms, taking large areas of the country to 
 be benefited, which are incorporated by the courts, and those lands 
 are assessed, and a man has to pay whether he wants to go into the 
 drainage system or not. The statutes in the two States are about 
 the same. Now, then, they pay that themselves. The Government 
 does not pay anything, unless it is where the Government owns a 
 great area of land, and there is some private ownership in it here 
 and there. If an individual owns it, why should the Government 
 appropriate a single dollar? 
 
 Mr. Watson. The matter of public health makes it a governmental 
 function. In many instances there are large drainage areas. In 
 my own State there is a large swamp area, half in my State and half 
 in the adjoining State, and the two things can not be handled by 
 either one State or the other alone. 
 
 Mr. BooHEE. Is that Government or individual land ? 
 
 Mr. Watson. It is an individual proposition, and yet it is such a 
 menace to the public health that it affects entire districts of the 
 country. 
 
 Mr. BooHEE. Do you think that is such a proposition that the Gov- 
 ernment, under our Constitution, should appropriate money to take 
 charge of that kind of work and do it ? 
 
 Mr. Watson. Some of the best legal talent in the country think so. 
 
 Mr. BooHER. What section of the Constitution would that come 
 under ? 
 
 Mr. Watson. The public-welfare clause. 
 
56 FLOOD PEOTECTION A2TD DRAINAGE. 
 
 Mr. BooHER. That covers a multitude of sins; they may get it 
 under that. 
 
 Mr. Watson. They are doing it in the West. 
 
 Mr. BooHER. But they are Government lands. 
 
 Mr. Watson. No, sir ,- they are reclaiming lands in which the Gov- 
 ernment does not own an acre. 
 
 Mr. BooHEE. They are connected with the Government lands very 
 closely, as you take them in. There is a great deal of arid land being 
 irrigated in the West, and it is sold at so much an acre. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. In the beginning when they started, their intention 
 was to reclaim the public lands that were in conjunction with private 
 lands, but they have deviated from that. 
 
 Mr. BooHER. They are just simply extending the irrigation projects 
 where these people pay for them. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. No, sir; I do not think that is quite correct. On the 
 Rio Grande project there is not an acre of land owned by the Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Mr. BooHER. The Government is not spending a single dollar out 
 of the Federal Treasury to do that work. The Government is simply 
 furnishing the engineers. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. The Government is advancing the funds, to be repaid 
 by the people; and that is what we think ought to be done in large 
 measure in regard to drainage lands. 
 
 You speak of the Illinois lands. I am engineer for certain projects 
 there. We pay 6 per cent for money which we use for that work, and 
 those bonds extend for 20 years. 
 
 Mr. BooHER. Your drainage districts issue the bonds? 
 
 Mr. Perkins. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. Boohek. They are secured by the land to be drained ? 
 
 Mr. Perkins. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. BooHER. Now, the State of Illinois does not appropriate a sin- 
 gle dollar for that work. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. I know that. 
 
 Mr. Booher. We are draining millions of acres of land. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. But the Government is loanino- money to the people 
 of the West. 
 
 Mr. Booher. If you put it on loaning propositions, it is a different 
 proposition. 
 
 Mr. Pbrkusts. That is what we want. 
 
 Mr. Small. That is the only proposition he is talking about. 
 
 Mr. Watson. This bill practically means that the Federal Govern- 
 ment shall underwrite the bonds. 
 
 Mr. Booher. Why could they not form a drainage district and issue 
 the bonds and get the money there ? 
 
 Mr. Perkins. It cost us 6 per cent a year and the bonds run for 20 
 years, and you can see that it would cost us more than 100 per cent in 
 interest, and if the Government loans us the money for 2 or 3 per cent 
 we would save that interest. We would have the advice of the engi- 
 neers of the Government, too. 
 
 In a good many parts of the country, with these small districts, 
 they mill not get $5,000,000 in bonds at 5^ per cent. 
 
 Mr. Booher. They can borrow it at 6 per cent. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. Why should they pay that much when the people of 
 the West get it at 3 per cent from the Government ? 
 
FLOOD PROTECTION AND DEAINAGE. 57 
 
 Mr. BooHER. I do not think they are getting it at that rate. 
 
 Mr. Perkins. They are paying $80 and $90 for some of their recla- 
 mation. We can reclaim it from $3 up. 
 
 Mr. BooHER. I was beginning to study the proposition, und I 
 wanted simply to get some of the ideas of the people who are urg- 
 ing it. 
 
 Mr. Watson. We have a State law, perhaps, in all the -States, but 
 it is a slow process, and for small communities it would take probably 
 a hundred years, and in the meantime the American people would be 
 suffering with malaria, prevailing as it does to-day with a mortality 
 of nearly 100 per cent, which fact was brought out at the drainage 
 congress the other day. People with malaria are dying like sheep, 
 and this bill is designed to bring about an immediate result in the 
 saving of American lives. That is the real essence of that particular 
 phase of the bill, in so far as it is concerned with this drainage 
 proposition, and we think it is a very good business proposition. 
 
 Mr. Burgess. Sir William, we have been very much pleased to 
 have had you with us. 
 
 Mr. DoNOHOE. Mr. Chairman, I move that we extend a vote of 
 thanks to Sir William Willcocks for his very interesting and instruc- 
 tive address of this morning. 
 
 (The motion was unanimously carried.) 
 
 Mr. Burgess. Sir William, we thank you very kindly for having 
 spoken to us this morning on this subject, and we feel very much 
 gratified to know that you were with us. 
 
 Sir WiuLiAM WiULcocKS. I am very greatly obliged to you, Mr. 
 Chairman and gentleiiien of the committee. 
 
 (Thereupon at 12 o clock noon the committee adjourned.) 
 
 X 
 
Syrocuse, N. Y. 
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 Flood protection and drainage. 
 
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