The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1853-04-15

oCCdsions, ny proper sense oil TlEDt und {
duty.
And what, after all, is this power to be vest
ed in the hands of the Executive, which som
honorable Senators seem to suppose so ire
mcndous! Why may we not confide il t
the Executive, and where is the hazard! D.
we not at every session appropriate from for
ty to fifty millions of dollars for various bran
ches of the public service, and is not the ex
penditure Of these vast sums confded, in
great degree, to Executive discretion and Ex
ecutive sgencyi
| In the present instance he will have onl,
to fix the termini and general course OF tht
proposed road; and coming, as he does, from
New England, from the remote East, hi.
mind will be free from all bias, and in a con-
dition to dispose of the question on its true
merits. 1t seems to be On assumption here
that the President is to settle this matter BY
his own unaided judgment; but it is not so
lie will, in the first place, have the counsel
and assistance of his Cabinet. composed of nc
less than seven citizens of the country, q
shall venture to presume) Of high ability and
standing. He will also have the power to or
ganize board Of officers, if he shall be pleas
ed to do so. 1t will be his duty to cause the
surveys to be made in advance, and to obtain
all the requisite information to enable him
and those whom he may call to his assistance,
to determine what should be done. | desire
to know whether results, such as the pres-
dent would be likely to arrive at, with all the
surveys and explorations before him, and with
the assistance of his Cabinet, and, as the
case may be, of board Of officers of distin-
guished ability, would not be quite as likely
to accord with the public interests as any
Judgment we shall get from the two Houses
OF Congress! ! hope | shall not be consider
ed out of order when | say that the two Hous-
es have reduced themselves to such state,
that they are competent to do little more than
pass the general appropriation bills, and that
they do after sad fashion. In the House of
Representatives | believe it is seldom in or
der to do what should be done, and nearly the
whole Of the public business there has to be
in violation of the rules, or, in 9TH
er words, by suspending them. Here we have
no previous question, no means of closing q
debate. Hence nearly the whole of every
session is occupied in discussing few topics,
and those, toe Frequently, of no practical inn
portance, and much the larger proportion of
the business before us we are Obliged to act
on without debate, or not act on it at all. We
have 30 much liberty of debate, that we really
have none at all as to most of the matters
calling for the action of Congress. Hence,
inter many weary months in listening, with
what patience we can muster, to reverend
ing dIsquiSitions, relating TO anything else
than legitimate subjects of legislation, we
find the moment ut hand when the session
must be closed. We then snatch up the ap-
preparation bills and hurl them through the
two Houses, much as shot may be thrown out
of shovel Nobody knows what they are,
or what they provide for, unless the honorable
of the Committee on Finance of the
Senate, and ON Ways and Means of the House
be exceptions. What a rush do we witness,
of secretaries, clerks, and messen gers, to and
from the two Houses, and to and from each
and the Executive, all in hot haste, least this
or that appropriation should be lost by the
advent of the inexorable hour.
Now, suppose all the surveys and explora-
tions contemplated by the honorable Senator
from Pennsylvania should be made, and all
the different routes estimated, planned, and
laid down on maps, (,he world would hardly
contain the books which would be written,1
and the whole of this vast amount of Informs
ton should be pitched into the two Houses of
Congress, what would become of it! What
chance would there be that the subject would
receive dispassionate and a proper examn-
alton! Should we not have interminable de-
bates, and either no result or very unfortun-
ate one, rushed through on the very heel of
the session! And, then, what heart burnings,
what jeslOusies, what sectional dissentiuns
should we not have! Would not the oppon-
ents of this policy, reinforced by those who
are dissatisfied with this or that location, be
sure to defeat the whole scheme! Indeed, on
the question whether the fixing of the termi-
nj and the general course of the road shall or
shall not be referred to the Executive De-
partments, depends, in my judgment, the
question whether we shall or shall not have
railroad to the Pacific. The committee have
hit on the only practicable scheme. With
there will be proper sense of
high intelligence, and just
try. am satisfied there will be no want of
either inclination, ability, or effort, on the
part of the incoming Executive, to make a
wise and safe disposition Of this entire mat
ter. 1t is possible that reference to the
President may cause location contrary to
my present impressions of expediency.
prefer the route by the South Pass, ii practi-
cable, because from thence we can branch to
Oregon; whereas, if the southern route be
taken that will be impossible. But | am for
a road anyhow, whether North or South. Be-
sides, believe we shall have a railroad with
in twenty-five years, between the Mississippi
md the Columbia or Puget's Sound. be-
eve it with almost as much confidence as
10 in my personal identity; and do not con-
,ur at all in the opinion expressed by my
friend from Pennsylvana, INF.
CoorER, the other day, that the SHOWS would
'ender railroad mpractcable at the South
Pass. If such roads can be worked to ad-
vantage in New England, Canada, and even
n Russia, in the winter season, am quite
sure there can be no barrier TO their use at
III times at the point mentioned, and even at
, n,uoh hi che. La;