None  of  the  Great  Lakes,  save  Superior,  would  ever
rise  as  high  as  it  now  sometimes  does,  and  none  of
them  would  ever  fall  as  low.  The  Niagara  cataract
would  never  again  carry  the  volume  that  rushes  over
it  now  when  the  lakes  are  at  their  greatest  height;
but  it  would  never  dwindle  to  the  scantiness  sometimes
seen  at  low  water.  And  all  the  time  Chicago  could
be  taking  out  her  fourteen  thousand  or  twenty  thou-
sand or  even  twenty-five  thousand  cubic  feet  per
second  with  which  to  dilute  her  sewage  and  keep  her
people  free  from  pestilence,  and  at  the  same  time  sup-
ply the  Lakes-to-the-Gulf  Deep  Waterway  with  water
for  the  greatest  inland  channel  in  the  world,  connect-
ing the  lakes  and  all  their  ports  with  the  Mississippi
and  its  ports,  and  opening  a  passage  from  the  Gulf
to  match  Canada's  from  the  Atlantic.  The  lake  levels
are  important,  and  must  be  preserved.  An  abound-
ing commerce,  both  ours  and  Canada's,  requires  this,
and  natural  right  demands  it;  but,  on  the  other  hand,


Bringing  the  Sea  to  the  Farms  51

Chicago's  rights,  with  her  increasing  millions  of  people,
must  be  recognized.  Above  all  these  are  the  needs  of
the  nation  for  a  perfected  system  of  water  communi-
cation. This  is  the  largest  of  all  projects,  and  it  must
control.  Water  must  be  diverted  through  the  Drain-
age Canal  to  the  full  extent  which  other  interests  will
permit,  and  then  if  there  is  not  a  sufficient  supply,
resort  must  be  had  to  locks  and  dams  in  the  Illinois.
That  the  project  of  such  a  channel  as  we  have  urged
is  an  engineering  possibility  from  Chicago  to  St.  Louis
the  best  engineers  admit.
