The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1853-12-15

within the States. Memorable as an epoch
in the history of this subject is the mes
sage of President Jackson, of the 9th of
May, 1880, which met the system of in
ternal improvements in its comparative
infancy; but so rapid had been its growth,
that the projected appropriations in that
year for works of this character had risen
TO the alarming amount of more than one
hundred millions of dollars,
In that message the President admitted
the difficulty of bringing back the opera
tons Of the government to the construc-
ton of the constitution set up in 1898,
and marked it as an admonitory proof of
the necessity of guarding that instrument
with sleepless vigilance against the au-
thority of precedents, which had not the
sanction of its most plainly defined pow
ers.
Our government exists under awritten
compact between sovereign states, uniting
for specific objects, and with specific grant.
If then, in the progress of its admis-
tration, there have been departures from
the terms and intent of the compact, it is
and will ever be, proper for us to refer
back to the fixed standard which our
fathers left us, and to make a stern effort
to conform our actions to it, 1t would
seem that the fact of a principle having
been resisted from the first by many of
the wisest and most patriotic men of the
republic, and a policy having provoked a
constant strife, without arriving at con-
clusion which can be regarded as satisfac-
tory to its most earnest advocates, should
suggest the inquiry whether there may
not be plan likely to be crowned with
happier results. Without perceiving any
sound distinction, or intending to assert
any principle as opposed to Improvements
needed for the protection of internal COM
merce, which does not apply to improve
ments upon the seaboard for the protec-
ton of foreign commerce. submit to
you whether it may not be safely antici-
pated that, if the policy were once settled
against appropriations by the general gov
mcnt for local improvements for the bene-
fit of commerce, localities requiring ex-
pcnditures would not, by modes and
means clearly legitimate and proper, raise
the fund necessary for such constructions
as the safety or other interests of their
commerce might require.
If that can be regarded as system,
which, in the experience, of more than
thirty years, has at no time so commanded
the public judgment as to give it the char
acter of settled policy, which, though it
has produced some works of conceded
importance, has been attended with an
expenditure quite disproportionate to their
value, and has resulted in squander-
ing large sums upon objects which have
answered no valuable purpose,-the in
terests of all the states require it to be
abandoned, unless hopes may be indulg
ed for the future which find no warrant
in the part.
With an anxious desire for the compile
ton of the works which are regarded bv
all good citizens with sincere interest, |
have deemed it my duty ia ask at your
hands deliberate reconsideration of the
question, with hope that, animated by
a desire to promote the permanent and
substantial interests of the country, your
wisdom may prove equal to the task of
devising and maturing a plan, which, ap-
piled to this subject, may promise some
thing better than constant strife, the ex-
citing of vain hopes, and the disappoint-
ment of cherished expectations.
In expending the appropriations made
by the last Congress, several cases have
arisen in relation to works for the i'm
provement of harbors, which involve
question as to the right of soil and juris-
diction, and have threatened conflict be-
tween the authority of the State and gen
eral governments. The right to con-
struct breakwater, jetty, or dam, would
seem, necessarily, to carry with it the
power to protect and preserve such con-
structions. This can only be efectually
done by having Jurisdiction over the SOIL
But no clause of the constitution is found
on which to rest the claim of the United
States to exercise jurisdiction over the
soil of State, except that conferred by
the eighth section of the constitution. 1t
is, then, submitted, whether, in all cases
where constructions are to be erected by
the general government, the right of soil
should first be obtained, and legislative
provision be made to cover all such cases.
For the progress made in the constitu-
ton of roads within the territories, as pro-
vided for in the appropriations of the last
Congress, Irefer you to the report of the
Secretary of War.
There is one subject ofa domestic na-
ture, which from its intrinsic importance,
and the many interesting questions of flu
ture policy which it involves, cannot fail