Some believed that the Commission's money ought to be spent only on building and repairing the great system of levees.
3.

Some believed that the higher you build your levee, the higher the river's bottom will rise; and that consequently the levee system is a mistake.
4.

Some believed in the scheme to relieve the river, in flood-time, by turning its surplus waters off into Lake Borgne, etc.
5.

Some believed in the scheme of northern lake-reservoirs to replenish the Mississippi in low-water seasons.
Wherever you find a man down there who believes in one of these theories you may turn to the next man and frame your talk upon the hypothesis that he does not believe in that theory; and after you have had experience, you do not take this course doubtfully, or hesitatingly, but with the confidence of a dying murderer--converted one, I mean.

For you will have come to know, with a deep and restful certainty, that you are not going to meet two people sick of the same theory, one right after the other.