Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1848-01-11
JOLIET. ILLINOIS, JANUARY IL, 1913.


| ing the period thar Congress exercised
the power Of appropriaiing the public
money for internal improvements, is full
OF eloquent warnings. It seems impossi
Bile, in the nature Of The, subject. as con.
nected with local representation, that the
several objects presented for improvement
shah be weighed according to their res.
Pective merits, and appropriations con.
fined to those whose Importance would
Justify tax on the whole community to
effect their accomplishment.
In some of the States, systems of inter-
nal Improvements have been projected
consisting of roads and canals, many OF
which, taken separately, were not of suf.
licient public importance to Justify tax
on the entire population of the State to ef.
feet their construction; and yet, by a
combination Of local interests, operating
on majority of the Legislature, the whole
have been authorized, and the States plum.
ged into heavy debts. To an extent so
ruinous has this system of legislation been
carried in some portions ofthe Union, that
the people have found it necessary TO their
own safety and prosperity to forbid their
legislatures, by constitutional restrictions,
to contract public debts for such purposes
without their immediate consent. -.
Ii the abuse Of power has been so fatal
in the States, where the systems of taxa
ton are direct, and the representatives
responsible at short periods to small mas.
ses OF constituents, how much greater
danger of abuse is to be apprehended in
the general government, whose revenues
ale raised by indirect taxation, and whose
lunctionaries are responsible to the people
in larger masses and for longer terms ? !,
Regarding only objects of Improvement
of the nature Of those embraced in this
| bill, how inexhaustible we shall find them.
Let the imagination run along our coast,
from the river St. Croix to the Rio Grande,
and trace every river emptying into the
Atlantic and Gulf Of Mexico to it's source:
let it coast along our lakes, and ascend
all their tributaries let il pass to Oregon,
and explore allits bays, inlets,a land streams;
and then let it raise the curtain OF the fu,
ture, and contemplate the extent of this
republic, and the objects Of improvement
it will embrace, as it advances to its high
destiny, and the mind will be startled at
the immensely and danger of the power
which the principle Of this bill involves.
Already our con(ederacy consists of
twenty. mine States. Other States may at
no distant period be expected to be form.
ed on the west of our present settlements.
We own an extensive countryiin Oregon,
stretching many hundreds OF miles from
east 10 west, and seven degrees of latitude
from south to north. BY the admission
of Texas into the Union, we have recent
| ly added many hundreds Of miles TO our
seacoast. In all this vast country, Dor.
dering on the Atlantic and Pacific. there
are many thousands Of bays, inlets, and
rivers, equally entitled to appropriations
for their improvement with the objects
embraced in this bill. 5u.ir ai5 q
We have seen in our States that the
interests of individuals or neighborhoods,
combining against the general interest,
have involved their governments liz debts
and bankruptcy; and when the system
prevailed in the general government, and
was checked by President Jackson,
it had begun to be considered the highest
merit in member of Congress to be able
to procure appropriations Of public money
to be expended within his district or State,
whatever might be the object. We sho'd
| be blind TO the experience of the past if
we did not see abundant evidences that, if
this system of expenditure is to be indulg-
! ed in, combinations OF individuals and To-
cal interests will be found strong enough
to control legislation, absorb the revenues
ofthe country, and plunge the government
into hopeless Indebtedness. ~. J.. Ig-.
What is denominated harbor by this
system, does not necessarily mean bay,
inlet, or arm of the sea on the ocean or on
our lake shores on the margin of which
may exist commercial city or town en-
gagged in foreign or domestic trade, but is
made to embrace waters where there is
not only no such city OF town, but no com.
merce of any kind. BY it, bay or sheet
of shoal water is called a hdrbor and
appropriations demanded from Congress
to deepen il, with view to draw CON-
MERGE to it, or to enable individuals to
build up a town or city on its margin,upon
speculation, and for their own private ad.
vantage 100! afi T3 ,aig
Whatyis denominated river, which
may be improved, in the system, is equal.
4 ly underlined in its meaning. 1t may be
the Mississippi, OF it may be the smallest
and most nbecnro and Ifnirnncrtant stream
bearing the name of river which is TO be
found in any State in the Union. ar
Such system is subject. moreover, to
be perverted to the accomplishment ofthe
} worst of political purposes. During the
few yearssit was in full operation, and
which Immediately preceded the veto Of
President Jackson of the Maysyille road