Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1842-07-02

prominent part IN enactIng ana sustaining Tue ~ D
tenn Of internal improvement. Just as 1t has been
carried An unsuspectIng reader, thus unIn-
! formed regard TO our eglslative history, would
ra Their receive the impression, from the tenor oil
! the Senator'S letter, that he himself had either
had no part lot IN the matter, or else that his
voice had always been raised against these unor-
tunaie measures, the whole respons Ibity for
which he thus assumes TO distribute among 9th.
ers. This conclusion which he has so earnestly
labored 10 insten upon the public mind, and which
/ he NAV consider so essential TO lis future pollt-
| cal advancement, it will be my duty IN self-de-
| fence to disturb, by quoting chapter or two from
! the legislative history Of the State.
Seven sessions of the Legislature have been
| held since the system Of internal ImproVe ments
was adopted. During five Of these sessions Mr..
| Chamberlain has been a member of That body
OF his actions III that capacity, official record
has been kept, which will Indicate with unerrIng
certainty the part which he took in enacting and
! sustaining against all change, those very laws
which have brought this ruin upon the Staie, a.
ganst which he declaims SO eloquenIy.
The system of Internal Improvement was
brought into being at the session Of le,}3-O.-
The Improvement bill then passed; pledged The
State for the construction Of 1900 miles of pub
lie works, which by the reports OF the several
Engineers who had charge Of the surveys and es-
TINA ed to cost fraction less than Sirtecn mil
lions, not including tho Wabash and Eric Canal
previously authorized. (The particular pages
which these estimates may be found given in
Doc. No. IS of Doc. Journal Of lS39-1O) For
this bill IN all its stages, and upon its final pas
sage, Mr.. Chamberlain voted. {See Journal II.
K. lS35-6, page 232)
Here we find Mr.. Chamberlain voting for the
system Of internal Improvement which in It's
tent and cost, as then estimated, and 'rhich cSti-
mates had been reported 10 the Legislature, ex'
ceeds the limit OF ten millions proposed IN the
message of Gov Noble, and previously by The ed
ior of the Indiana Democrat, by the sum of six
,SGI 10
in the Board of Internal Improvement, by which
each member was made peculiarly the representa-
tive Of the work on which he resided, is admitted
by all to have been the cnuse Of much evil, by
securing beyond control, the simultaneous prose-
cution of all the works. This feature
grated IN the bill Of 1886, and was thus sane
toned by the vote of Mr. Chamberlain. If an
affirmative vote for this organic law Of the sye
tenn under which all officers, gents and engineers
wero created, Involves no responsibility for the
present condition Of the State, then indeed are
my perceptions dull in tracing the connection be-
cause and effect.
Other gentlemen 1t is true, voted for the bill oil
1886 and afterwards to sustain II against all mod
lfication but none beside Mr. Chamberlain
so lost TO all sense of justice, proprlety or manly
bearing, to seek escape from the RESPONSE
bility of his own legislative course. by heaping
all the ruinOus results, which were the natural Ell
lects of this law, upon the head OF the individual
who has filled the Office of Englneer-an office
merely executive protestant IN lis character,
and which had being for several months after
that law enacted.
| pass now TO the session of 1S31-S, which
will form the second chapter in this legislative
history. That session formed crisis 10 the his
tory of the State, in respect TO her internal I'M
proven policy, fraught with the most Impor-
taut results for good or evil Through The inhu-
of the representative principle in the orlgi-
nal biI lettings had been made during the year
1896, at eight different points. Many persons
even among the friends of tho improvement sys-
tenn, began to appreheDd that the operations were
becoming too much scattered. 1t was generally
known that a second series of lettings would be
ordered by the board early in the spring of 1888
tho first lettings, made two years before, hav
ing been nearly completed-and the policy OF
the Board in making these lettings would be shap
ed very much in accordance with the ezpre sion of
the Legislature, the action of that BODY was look.
ed to with deep interest. When The session came,
the policy of the State in reference 10 the n
ner of prosecuting the public works, the
chief subject Of discussion. Both the policy Of
classification aud of concentrating the operations
on the most productive portions of The works
were repeatedly voted down In all the various
shapes in which they were presented. The sub
seQuent action of the Board CORES ponded with
this strong expression of the lie gislature. Thr-
teen lettings were afterwards ordered in the
various parts of the State, embracing portions Of
every work; and eonlraea.SX6e thus eo'ered in
ditonal expenditure. exceeding three millions Of
dollars. the most of which is now wholly unpro-
ductive.
Too much censure has been cast upon the
Board Of Internal Improvement for refusing to
adopt the policy of classfcati ton. immed latev af-
ter the Legislature had thus rejected it. The !
laws and those who made the laws. should at leas.
share the respons btv. In a government like /
this, no Board Of public officers or agents, can (
long pursue policy directly opposite to the
pressed Will of the Legislature, whose agents
they are. 1t is only under stonger and less
popular form Of gov ernment than ours that agents
can so disregard the public will. As was not
a member OF the Board Of Internal Improvement.
and am IN no way responsible for their actions, /
may DC Pardoned Tor this passing remark.
This brief reference to the history of that pc