Consider, for example, the situation in the State of Louisiana. Here
control is, broadly speaking, in the hands of three separate bodies: (1)
the United States army engineer, who disburses the money appropriated by
Congress for levees and bank revetment, working under direction of the
Mississippi River Commission; (2) the State Board of Engineers, which
disburses Louisiana State funds wherever it sees fit, and which,
incidentally, does not use, in its work, the same specifications as are
used by the Government; and (3) the local levee boards, of which there
are eight in Louisiana, one to each river parish--a parish being what is
elsewhere called a county. Each of these eight boards has authority as
to where parish money shall be spent within its district, and it may be
added that this last group (considering the eight boards as a unit) has
the largest sum to spend on river work.
The result of this division of authority creates chaos, and has built up
a situation infinitely worse than was faced by General Goethals when
Congress attempted to divide control in the building of the Panama
Canal. It will be remembered that, in that case, a commission was
appointed, but that Roosevelt circumvented Congress by making General
Goethals head of the commission with full powers.
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