Feb. 6
The news that the dykes along the Ohio River have held and that the flooded river showing no signs of rising above the present high level of '59.59f1. is welcome reading 10 all who have followed the intensely dramatic fight between man and the enormous forees of nature. In the Mississippi Valley a similar grim fight is still being carried on with considerable anxiety as to the outcome, the posst~ bility of more bad weather inspi ug fear as to whether the $1,000, 10,000 dyke system will, be able to withstand the pressure. if more storm waters are thrown into the valley. While there is little doubt that this year's floods exceed any that have occurred since. the white man first went to America, they have not, up to the present at any te, been responsible for so great a Joss of life as that which aMicted Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1889, when no fewer than 2,300 people lost their lives as a direct result of the inundation, But there must always be the fear of epidemics which seem to be the inevitable result of the collapse of all ordinary sanitation as has apparently happened in Kentucky. Tt will be some considerable time before the full tale of damage is ascertained, but from the very incomplete figures which have come to hand it is clear that well over half a million people have been rendered homeless, and material damage done to the value of about $70,000,000. That these Agures will eventually be passed is certain, when it is remembered that no fewer than ten states are involved in inundations which are alt of unusual seriousness.
With their own experiences of! the immense floods with which China has been all too frequently visited, inhabitants in this part of Nie world might be excused if they regarded what is happening in the United States with a feeling that greater "tragedies have occurred here. That is.undoubtedly true, for:
some floods hundreds ' of thousands have died, if not actually, by. drowning—and there are large numbers who have met this swifter fate—at least in the epidemies and famine which have been the sequels. The United States with their enormous wealth have been able to spend: huge sums of money, not to prevent floods, for that seems to be impossible, but to limit the damage they.do. "Ta a very great extent that has been successful, though experience now proves" that very' much more has to be done and a great deal more money to be spent! before there can ever be a complete control over the immense quantities: of water which the rains and snows bring to certain portions of the United States. China on the other and has not had so much money to spend upon works which are equally as imperative as those which have been undertaken in America, A great deal has been done and for a few years China has not been subject to these visita tions on the scale which has done much harm in the past. But hor big rivers have to be the subject of unwavering vigilance in order to keep the damage as low as possible.
It is because of this fact that the gift towards American flood relief, which China has been able to make out of her comparative poverty, is so worthy of praise. It Is not large: as some of the donations which "the generosity of the inhabitants of the United States have repeatedly placed at the disposal of flood relief "workers in this country. Americans would; in all probability, not desire it-to be-so, for the mohey.they: have given was not bread cast upon the waters.in the hope of an ultimate and pro-Atable return, but a proof: of the large-heartedness which is to be found amongst the people of. the United States, The Chinese: have made their gesture "indicative gratitude for past assistance and sympathy with the hundreds of thousands of American homeless to whose ald such donations are devoted. In the meantime it is in~ teresting to note that, President Roosevelt has asked Congress to adopt a comprehensive policy public works to prepare. against similar disasters throughout. the country by providing a. sum: of no less than $2,750,000,000 of which 116,000,000. would be spent.to con-{rol the floods of the Ohio and: Mississippi basins. When the damage which has already been. done by this year's floods is taken into con~ sideration, the astronomical proportions of' the figure which he suggests dwindle by comparison into a very reasonable protection against future losses, Thera can be no doubt that Congress will readily ut supplies. To refuse to do so would be a most shortsighted polley, for apart from the money which should be saved in the {uiure, the amount of suffering which should thereby be obviated would by itself prove ample return for the expenditure "which President Roosovelt now proposes should be made.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.