The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1852-10-02


will tell you that the river is in a worse condition
than it would have been had never dollar been
expended uponit
A VoicE If appropriations for this purpose
are Of soiittle service, then why have you al
ways voted IN favor Of bills Of that characterl
Mn. DuuGLAs was just on the poiu, of ex
planning why. While iour.ifths of the money. is
used 10 no useful end one fifth of it may do some
good; and when human life is at stake, " say
nothing of the commerce Of the country, have
always been in favor II making any sacrifice to
preserve IL.
Now suppose this money had been raised by
tonnage duties upon the boats navigating the
rivers, and expended under authority of the 10.
cal jurisdiction is it not evident IN the fra, place
that enough would have been raised to effect
some permanent improvement, aud would not
the expenditure Of this money been entrusted to
u person fully competent TO superniend the i'm
provement, and would not the capt aims and pi-
lots who paid the money have resolved them
selves into committee 10 watch the work at
every step and see that it was judciously con.
dncted aud the money econom'cally expended
Look for another demonstration at Michigan CITY
" That sums Of public money have been rxp-nd.
ed there in the construction Of a harbor and yet
you all know that the marine business Of that
place relies for its accommodation wholly upon
private expense.
Again il is not only true that appropriations
py 49, o----al r"v"-nn,ent nv" :" fo"' -''d f,-'
between, ~ To fail utterly 10 accomplish the ob
ject designed, but they are totally inadequate
in amount, for the purpose. Here are seventeen
hundred mile. of coasts along our Pacific posses.
Sons entirely destitute OF h harbor, light house
or bouy. 1t would require five millions of dol.
lars to improve that coast properly-ten millions
more would bs wanted on this side the Rocky
Mountains. The hill passed ut the last session
appropriated about two millions Twenty thou.
sand dollars were appropriated Tor the harb1r Of
Chicago Why ,,Tcnty thousand dollars will hard
ly repaid the damage which YOUR ha,bor has sui
fered since the last appropriation. Now 1t Is
plain, that the present policy If appropriations
by the general government, for the improvement
Of rivers and hntbors cannot he relied upon. l.
j, not equally true that where States aud CT, es
have undertaken these works by leyyng tonnage
duties that they have been emnently success
Gl
But it had been said by Truman Smith ni
Connecticut, upon the floor If the L. 5 Senate
that under bis tMr. Douglas) hill the money
would come OF. Of the pocket Of the consumer
that n bale Of merchandise from New
York to Chic,g, would pay duty at Albany
Buffalo aud again at Chicago, and that that the
merchant at Chicago would add this duty
to the price, so that the consuner--the farmer
and mechanic. would have it to pay. Granted
The consumer does pay that ddty. And it was
something to get such an acknou Judgement from
wing The opponents Of n protective tariff had
been trying for the last twenty years to convince
the wings of this fact bur never before had the id
mission been made on that side. But they had
made i, new, and the Democrats would hole
them to it,
The consumer would pay the duty under To,
tonnage bill TINT was no, denied But does
not the consumer pay the appropriation under
the present s,s.cm also That would hardl,
be DISPUTED, now that the admission # Mr.. Smith
had been made and had been generally seasi..
cei IN by this Wing party. But there was this
advantage which the tonnage dutie. possessed
over the old .vs'em--ths revenue Of the Cover.
men: is raised by duty on imports alone. I'm
der the old system Of appropriations, therefore
tho consumer pays the rntire srpese Of rivcr and
harbor improvement. But under the plan pre-
posed by his bill. The duty wiH BE- raiHd both up
o. import, a"derports: and as the latter greMll
exceed the iurmcr ~ weight it follows that n,
foreign consnner pW roy more than one hdJhf
sypcnse Of hd'tOr and river Improvements IN our
country under the system Of tonnage duties.
Blu, It had been sad, also. that the system pr
posed by this bill would have tendency to drive
commerce from one State to another, because the
rates would no, be uniform IN different States
This was a matter that would regulate tself Il
Chicago, for example, were to charge an cxccs
sl,e tonnage duty. md Milwaukee n mnderat,
one, Of course It would drive commerce fon
the former to the lstiar. and vice versa, il
Chicago were to levy too small du,y to keel,
her harhnr in safe condition. and Milwaukee
levied higher duty, and kept her harbor in al
accessible state, this too would drive commerce
from Milwaukee to Chicago. Revere 1t aud
commerce is driven from Milwaukee to Chicago
So that i, was the interest u each CITY to- lew
Just enough, and no more than is sufficient to
keep her harbor in good repair, and self interest
would make his a uniform result.
Again, how would this measure. as applied to
the improvement Of rivers effect the consumer !
During the present session in consequence of low
water on the Illinois river, f-eghs had risen To-
ono dollar and half per hundred pounds in a
good stage Of water the ordnory price was fl
teen cents per hundred. II follows. therefore,
that the consumer ia taxed one hundred and
thirty cents for every hundred pounds Of
merchandise brought into the country. Now h.
cents for every two thousand pounds or half n
cen, for one hundred pounds. I, could not be-
higher than this i, might be lever So that
under the present system the consumer pays one
hradrcd and thirty four and half cents per hun.
dred pounds more than he would under this sys.
TEN ol tonnage duties. And yet, the wings all
along the line of that river are ing to convince
the people that his bill would add greatly to
their burdrnsl
Mr. Douglas repeated that he W. willing to &c
before the people with this measure, and that he
designed continuing lis efforts IN congress to pro
cure its passage
N0rv.-We are sensible OF having failed TO dc
Mr.. Douglas justice in the above report Of his re
marks on tonnage duties. We have depended
solely upon orr recollection. no, having taken a
single note Of his speech Mt the time Of its dc
livery. We think, however, we have given the
various point which he made. though the Ian
guage is not so terse aud expressive as that which
he employed.
Tho Celestinis.
The following is the conclusion Of an nble ari
Gle on "rhe Celcstials at home and Abroad in
the last number Of Blackwood's Magazine, As
an elnaupnt exnrsssinn of enlarged and philoso.