6 AUGUST 1927, Page 2

• It is some time since we expressed . any._ sympathy,

which we have not ceased to feel, with the sufferers .. throUgh the Mississippi floods' and the people generally of the' United States, who all share in some degree in that stupendous disaster. Mr. Hoover, in whom the Belgians had cause to recognize a great organizer 'of relief, reported recently to 'President Coolidge that the Red Cross Fund had pa§sed "23,000,060 and would provide relief for thiee months More; He estimated that the engineering works to control the floods in -future would cost anything up to E4,000,000 a year for ten years besides £3,000,000 a year for maintenance and service. There are still 20,000 people in refugee 'camps, though 600,000 who had been sheltered were now back in their houses. Half 'of these were still fed by relief agencies. ' In spite of late planting of as much land as possible a million and a half acres could not be planted with anything this year as they were still under water. This stagnant water breeds only mos- quitos. It has been a tale of horror' met by courage and resource, but there is 'yet a long and costly work of restoration and prevention to be faced. * * * *-