Exchange 1-24-40 PREFACE. The articles published in this work-most of them written by ablé engineers and public men, and treating of some of the phases of "The Mississippi River Question "—are reproduced from the columns of the Manufacturers' Record. Only such articles are incorporated in this volume as bear on the science of levees; their necessity as adjuncts to navigation, and the successful treatment of the Mississippi river; and the constitutional questions involved. No attempt is made to include the thorough exposition of the possibilities of development-commercial, mechanical and agricultural-of this vast empire of 26,000,000 acres of alluvium. This is one of the greatest questions that to-day confront the American people; and its solution means millions added to the producing capacity of our country, and millions annually saved to the agriculturists of the twenty-five States drained by the great Mississippi and its tributaries. |