Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1842-05-17
Tuesday, Nay TO.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,.
| On motion by FlLLMORE,
The House resolved itself into Commute OF lnp
Whole ON the state of the Union, (Mr. Thompson OF
dana in the chair and resumed the consideration Of
the civil and diplomatic appropriation DILL
The amendment OF the Senate increasing the npprn.
uriation for the marine hospital al hoo'!e rom n'e "
| fifteen thousand dollars, was concurfed IN.
The nc xt amendment considered was Tor The custom,
house n, Bosou-SG0 900 instead of $4,000, and strk-
;ur on, the words "for conn leng, and also STRIKING
n the proyso that the appropriated should be e1
rondd IN Glng and preparing the building tor the use
of the collector and his officers and not III the cohhu
alton of any ornamental parts thereof.
| NJ Ell MORE moved that the committee concur
IN Tho amendment Of the Senate, increasing the appo-
nr;a,on 10 100000 and not concur IN striking out the
| rnrovso ard the words "for completing
| MIR JONES Of Virginia opposed The ncrease OF the
,,,,opripton and showed that the building had al
ready cost over SG0000O, although the original estl
r,a,e under which the passage OF the hfsI apProPra,
| inn was obtained, was but Soo,oOo. Inc original
I.v .e sad authorized the purchase oil site and lie
huairp of this custom house, and appropriated S50OOV
for completing the whole work; provided that those 10
whose ma nngement the subject should De ntrusted
.bould be of opinion that it it could be completed ioI
tina, sum- added TO the proceeds OF lie SAFE Oh Tue ou
custom house. :,
Mr. ] referred to and read the original law. He
said he was not sufficiently acquainted with the pro.
qress of the work to form estimate oil the sum tha'
wouId be necessary for the completion OF the oucine
but he should suppose mat nilel Sooo,ooo "1o ee -
peuded, $4,000 ought now to be enough 900
| MIR. FILLMORE replied, contending that So0,ooC
would not be sufficient to complete the building, ana
nrnh,hv five or six times that sum would be required
He thought it would be matter OF economy, al thls
time, to appropriate 100000 instead OF Sol. oou.
Mpssrs ADAMS, WHITE, and PARhENTER
seyerally spoke in favor of Increasing The
| Mr. MERIWETHER opposed the Appropriation as
exrnvagant and unnecessary, and commended That 'he
practice of running up the expenditures on pubic
I with IL
,horliy of law and in the absence oil appropriations,
was an abuse that ought TO be corrected and IN con-
clusiop conrasted the prodga expenditure OF seven
or egt hundred thousand dollars for the Boston GUS
tom house with the economy that refused an appro'
priaton of twenty thousand tor the custom-house al
Savannah.
Mr. JONES, Of Virginia, confessed that he was as
,onishrd when he heard the Chairman OF the Commit
tee of WAYS and Means say that five or Elk tunes the
amount appropriated by the House would be necessary
to COMPLETE the building particularly when he consi'
dered ,ha, over 5000 900 had already been expended
|, must be opparent that there was something radically
wrong in the manner of pending the public money on
the public buildings 1t had generally been the case that
the expenditures on them were run up 10 an unnteo
amount beyond the original estimates by those VINO
had the charge Of the business and his object was 10
do something TO cure this evil 1t seemed that 1t had
hitherto been only necessary 10 get the sanction OF
| CONGRESS- in the first instance, by submitting low
estimate; commence the work; make the contracts
10 any amount and then Congress was told that, un-
less the approrria6pn continued, great INJURY
would be done particularly the laboring class OF the
community No one more deslrous than he was
To avoid ncting injury on that class OF his fellow CT
ITEMS he would not inflct II on any class; ont ne
thought it high time TO do something 10 arrest l'is
GREAT and growing evil lie knew of 10 mode OF arrest
nr il bu, by withholding the appropriations and, as he
was desrous Of keeping the public expenditures under
the control Of Congress, he wond not hesitate 10 do so
when the public agents entered into expenditures mol
authorized by law. ~
! After some remarks from Messrs. Satonstall, Profit
| Parmenter, Adams, Mckay, and Calhoun
Mr. SMITH of Virginia, after @ few observations
said that il was agreed all hands that it would cos
at least $780, 600 to finish the building according TO the
plan which had heretofore been ollowed and when u
was known and nobody contested IT, that the build
inv a, present used a custom house, was amply
sufficient for the public service, he submitted 10 gen
,emen on the other side, whether 1t was not un'
necessary to make this large outlay OF money, nt a
time when the Treasury was so much embarrassed
He did not speak at venture when he asserted that
the expenditure was unnecessary lie truly inform
ed that the custom house nj present used was amply
sufcien; 10 accommodate the collector and all his Off
GERS; and gentlemen could not get over this iact IL
was an old fashioned notion of the pilgrim fathers
of New England, when they got out an expenditure
that exceeded their MEANS to stop II and wait for bet
ter times. II was rule that met his hearty concur
renee and he hoped it would be followed up on The
present occasion. But the gentleman from Massachu.
settS on hIB elt MI SusHHSJ hehcu SoheneuS
il would not be unjust Boston TO cut down the aPpro'
praton 10 $50 900; and in the same BREATH SAID thai
the extravagant appropriations already mace LOT inns
object were the acts Of his colleague and his trends
and not Of him and his friends. 1t would be sulcIent
answer TO this 10 say that times essentially different
now from what they were when these appropriations
were made. Them the Treasury was full 10 overflow
| ing; and now, it was bankrupt. He would, however,
ask the gentleman if be did not 90 heart and hand Tor
these appropriations Mr. S. would venture 10 assert
| ac,La Eprl apd f1ptu
them and yet the gentleman endeavored to throw oil
the responsibility the party then in the nscenduncy
He would pu, i, to the gentleman HIMSELF II ii was not
unjust in HIM throw off the responsibility on others.
Mr. S. was willing that appropriation OF SluuOoo
should be made with proyiso that should restrict the
expenditure to enclosin the building, and protecting
il from the weather. He wished to stop further aPpro-
patons till the Treasury should be in better condi-
ton.
MIR. FILLMORE appealed to the committee 10 con-
sent 10 take the question: and proceed with the other
amendments.
Mr. SHIELDS addressed the committee in OPPOSE
ton 10 the amendment; after which,
The question put concrrrng in the hrsi
amendment, striking out the word 'completIng; ana
no quorum voting,
MIR. CUSHING called for tellers, which were order
ed and the question again taken, resulting IN ayes
20, noes "a. No quorum voting.
The committee and reported the fact 10 the
| House
Mr.. WELLER moved a call of The House, which
ordered; and calling the roll, appeared ihat
126 geni lemen answered to their names.
Mr.. FILLMORE moved that further proceedings
under the call be dispensed with; which was agreed to-
The question again put by tellers on concurrng
in the ndment striking out the word "completIng,
and carried.
The next question concurring in the amend
ment increasing the appropriation from S3O,Ooo 10
Sl00 000 and, being taken by teers, was disagreed TO
ayes 60, noes &C.
| The nort amendment was on striking out the pro-
viso that par. Of the appropriation shall be expended
on ornamental parts Of the building hut shall be res
trctcd putting il in suitable condition for the &C.
cupation of the collector and his clerks. This amend
ment was also disagreed to.
The next was new clause, introduced by the Sc
nate, appropria,ng $500 for completing the New
| York custom house.
MIR. FILLMORE, from the Committee Of Ways and
Means. recommended concurrence in this term.
Mr. PROFIT opposed it, and he went through
IL ia