The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1852-08-28
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JOHN WILSON,
Acting Commissioner.
To Hon. Thompson CAMPBELL,
Hous< of Rfur< xsa foI,r,r

To Hon. THOMPSON CAMPBELL,
House Of Representatives.
The statement TO which have Just referred is
valuable in this IL gives tangbeness TO the great
interests which are TO be benefited by the proposed
improvement. | have taken an area Of country
the products Of which seek the banks Of the Mis-
sssipp for shipment 10 their destined market and
must Of necessity pass both the rapids, taking
from the profits Of the producer the additional
cost, which IL has been shown these imped,menls
add To every thing transported up and down the
Mississippi river. The large sum which the Gov
crnmcnt has already realized by the sale OF lands
lying between the points indicated in the letter Of
the Commissioner, and the immense territory stil
remaining unsoid, the sale Of which would be
greatly fastened by the improvement being made,
the true policy Of the Government, it would seem,
is plainly marked out. Has NOT this great inter
est, which has paid into the common Treasury
more than $40 900 600, a right to claim moiety
of that sum, TO be used IN relieving it from tax,
which otherwise must be perpetuall
Time will not permit me to dwell upon the i'm
portance Of this great work the magnitude Of the
interests be affected the vast extent OF country
To be benefited. The incaculnbe resources to be
developed, when concentrated, speak in a language
more eloquent and persuasive than | able to
command
Before leave this branch Of the subject and
proceed to the discussion OF the po,oer which this
Government possesses TO make the proposed i'm.
provement, and others Of a similar character and
the necessity and expediency Of prudent and
discreet exercise Of that power, permit me to refer
to n single authority, which, | am sure will be
acknowledged az having emanated from a source
entitled to the highest respect at least this side
Of the House.
Silas Wright, whose opinions on every subject
upon which they we're expressed had great weight
with the American people, and were little lcss than
absolute law 20 the Democratic party throughout
he MI cd M dnYh N he naft-
tutionsl power in Congress to make appropria-
tons for the improvement Of rivers and harbors
the lakes and in his letter to the Chicago Con-
vention, in speaking Of the difficulty Of drawing
distinctions between objects for which nppropria-
tons should be made, and those for which they
should not be made, he says;
"Therc has appeared to me to be one broad dis
tinc,ion between these cases which has not always
been regarded, but which, I think, always should
be. II is between the applications to protect and
secure the safety Of commerce upon rivers, where
,sxists and is regularly carried on in defiance Of
hAoeoS-petions sought to be removed, and in the
thoS snnI;csiinSsgers they place IN its way, and
Of riyss INT comiAi ask for the improvement
the"' Ware II IL not" NPV''
Could N. ,bjec,s sought 70 be improvea :,
OH before us n,-e been more dearly pointed %
y that great states'',n had designated them bY
nome ~ Illustration OF the ii~a he VIVA expressing
How forcible and opposite his @stinction--" "a
secure the safety Of commerce where " sxir's, and
yhere i is carried in defiance Of obsiruofio's.'
les, -, the commerce Of NE Upper MisaissIPP