Wheeling compiler. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [i.e. W. Va.]) 1829-1831, 1830-12-29
- ~ NaLional Ga.ciLe.

i From tie NGtlOHGl GG-ctte.
The President has questioned the power
of Congress TO construct roads and canals
within a State, (eyen with the assent of a
tSlate;) or to appropriate money for i'm
provements Of a local character; and he
admits the constiluiionalily Of approPria
| tons 70! such as are of national Charac-
ter, merely upon the ground OF PrcscrlF-
/ ton, "long acquiesceuce by the Federal
and State goyernments''-"cO continued u
sage, " considerations which, however, he
| will not allow TO be available for the Bank
Ior the United States. But another sirI-
/ king inconsistency is between his whole
doctrine as TO such appropriations, and his
plan of distributing among the States the
surplus funds which may at any time re-
main in the national treasury, after the
public debt shall have been paid. lie
saws nothing of an amendment Of the Con
stitution to empower Congress to make
such distribution; and yet, as to the ques'
ton of power, it is not to be understood
why Congress may not, as properly, make
direct appropriations for improvements OF
local character with the assent of the
State and a f0rti0ri for those OF a ma,
tional character, as distribute the national
funds among the States for the same PuF-
poses.
This project seems to us to be more adj
verse TO the design of the constitution,
which is-;hat the general government
should not divest itself of the application
of lis peculiar means; that It should be
immediate and supreme in.lts financial &C
too, not less than in the use OF IT'S proper
resources aud attributes. With Ih's de-
sign, direct appropriations or subscriptions
: 70 b9 dreaded from the influence Of the
general govcrnmcnt,-or Tor that govern
ment-2xertiug any constitutional power
No faculty has been impaired TO 1t, winch
if may not directly exert more useluIly Tor
the nation than by asslgnees, proxies or
;nterloocrs. I'm behalf of the plan OF sha-
rinr the surplus funds, there IS no expert
ence, no prescription, no acquiosceHce,
and in fact Notwithstanding the general
complaints and prognosucs IN the Mes,
SAGE, against the Prescnptiye Pracuce oi
anDroDrIatlons, no such evils, or ABUSES
can he proved upon it, as would warrant
rocnnt to an untried scheme more DOUBT
f,l in point of unconstitutonallly hNpc-
rience may teach mode OF preventing lle
reoitiuon OF abuses, and avcrhug other
miscellaneous concommitants or consequent
cos remedy and safeguard might be
fonrd IN a National Board OF Public
Works, organized upon a comprehensive
scale: composed of able members, with
ADEQUATE responsibility; and suitably con
lnected with the General Land Othce and
the Department of War. Its main bust
ness should be. TO study the whole surface
and intercourse of the Union, with the AID
of practical engineers; to report TO Con
rrcss upon the desirable Improvements oil
= national character, and such merely To-
cal enterpriscs as might seem TO merit as
sistance for the good of the whole. II Is
well suggested in the Message, as saie
general rule, that such improvements as
serve to increase the prosperity oil INC re-
spcctiye States in which they are made oy
giving new facility to trade, and thereby
aurmenting the wealth and comfort oil
their inhabitants, constitute 4 sure mode
of conlerrlng permanent and substantial
advantages on the whole. And II Is not
less Justly observed, that there are "dl'erSI-
ties IN the interests of the several States
greatly exaggerated by jealousles, and that
spirit ofriyalry so inseParable from nelgn-
4 ,,,r,,r,ftptttas. -
Those diyersities and jealousles would
be great obstacles to the employment OF
the surplus funds of the national treasury
by the States themselves, IN a way 10 ac-
complish the the most advantage for the
whole. For this paramount object, we
would in preference uast Congress and
the President, acting with the advice ana
assistance Of such board as we have de-
lsignated, responsible to both, than the or
binary managers OF affairs in the States
who might convert the whole matter INTO as
many political ana exclusive Jobs as there
would be members of the Union, and en-
Iploy the several coalIngcnts from The ia
uonal treasury for the qualification OF the
liealousies and rivalry aboye-menloned'
Instead Of the good cf their neighboFs OF
1.-THE natioaa! veal,