There is a new break in the levees near New Orleans.
Since the Mississippi River began to fall, the danger was supposed to be over, and the guards and inspectors who had been patrolling the levees became a trifle careless.
The present break, therefore, found the people quite unprepared to deal with it; and it was some hours after the trouble had occurred before help could be obtained.
This new crevasse is said to have been caused by the caving in of the bank, a thing which often happens as the waters subside.
The engineers had been warned that this might happen, but unfortunately did not heed the warning.
The direct result of the Mississippi floods will be an appeal to the United States Government to take
charge of the levees along the entire length of the river.
These matters at present are managed by Levee Boards, who control the banks of the river for certain distances, and through certain districts.
Each Board has the power to do the work for its own district in the manner that seems best to it.
There has, so far, been no general meeting of the various Boards to decide on the best kind of levee to build, but each has done the work independently of the other, and put up the best levees it could afford with the funds it had.