Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-01-15

TO the exclusion Of State authority and individual
enterprise In that event, does any one beev,
we would now have in the United States fourteen
thousand miles OF railroad completed, and fifteei
thousand miles in addition under contract. Is
70 be presumed, that il our own State had pros
traied Itself in humble supplication al the feet o
the federal government, and with folded arms
had waited Tor appropriations from The nationa
treasury instead OF exertng State authority, ant
stimulating and combining Individual enterprise
we should now have in Illinois three thousant
mics OF railroad in process of construction! LIE
the history OF internal Improvements by the fed
erai government be fairly written, and il will fur
nlsh conclusive answers TO these Undergraduates
For more than a quarter of a century the enerpie,
Of The national government, together with all the
spare funds IN the treasury, We're directed TO the
construction of McAdamized road from Cum
berland, in the State Of Maryland, to Jefferson
cny IN inc state OF Missouri without being able
TO complete one-third ofthe work. If the govern
ment were unable 10 make three hundred miles Of
turnpike road in twenty-five years, how long
would Il take TO construct a railroad to the Pacific
ocean, and to make all the harbor and river i'm
proyements necessary to protect our widely ex-
Tended and rapidly increasing commerce on q sea-
coast so extensive, that in forty years we have
not been able TO complete even the survey of one
half oft, and on a lake and river navigation more
than four times as extensive as that seacoast
These questions are worthy Of the serious con-
slderation Of those who think that improvements
Grafton as well as for our remote posterity; for i
am not aware that the federal government ever
completed any work of internal Improvement COM
menced under its auspices.
The operations OF the government have not
been sufficiently rapid 10 keep pace with the spirit
Of the age. The Cumberland road, when com
inenced, may have been well adapted TO the pur-
poses for which il was designed; but after the
lapse OF quarter OF a1century, and before any
considerable portion Of il could be finished, the
whole was superseded and rendered useless by
the Introduction of the railroad system. One
reason, and perhaps the principal cause, of the
slow progress Of all government improvements,
consists in the fact that the appropriation for any
one object is usually too small to be of material
service. Il may be sufficient for the commence
ment OF the work, but before il can he completed,
or even SO far advanced as to withstand the effects
OF storms, and floods, and the elements, the appro-
priation Is exhausted, and large portion Of the
work swept away before funds can be obtained 10
finishing 1t or even protecting that which has
been done. The ruinous consequences Of these
small appropriations are well understood and se-
rlousy deprecated, but they arise from the neces-
sIty OF the case, and constitute some Of the evils
lnseparable from the policy. All experience proves
that the numberless items of river and harbor or
internal Improvement bill cannot pass, each by it.
SELF and upon its own merits and that the friends
of particular works will not allow appropriations
to be made for the completion OF others which are
supposed TO be Of paramount importance, unless
theirs are embraced in the same bill Each mem
Der seems 10 think the work in his own district to
be OF the sternest necessity and highest import
ance, and hence feels constrained TO give his own
the preferences or to defeat any bill which does
not include it, The result is legislative omnibus,
IN which all manner of objects are crowded TO-
gether indiscrmnately; and as there never is,
and never can be money enough in the treasury to
make adequate appropriations for the whole, and
as the bill cannot pass unless each has something,
OF course the amount for each item must be re-
duced so low as 10 make il Of little or no service,
and thus render the whole bill almost total loss
In this manner large portion of our people have
been kept In a state Of suspense and anxiety for
more than half century, with their hopes always
excited and their expectations never realized.
repeat that the policy heretofore pursued has
proven worse than failure II FIVE expect to pro-
vide facilities and securities for our navigating in
terests, we must adopt system commensurate
with our wants-one which will be Just and equal
IN It's operations upon lake, river, and ocean
wherever the water is navigable, fresh or salt,
tide or no tide--a system which will not depend
for its success upon the dubious and fuctuating
issues Of political campaigns and congressional
which will be certain, uniform,
and unvarying in its results. ! know Of no sys-
tenn better calculated TO accomplish these objects
than that which commanded the appreciation or the
founders ofthc Republic, was SUCCESSFULLY atopted
on various occasions since that period and directly
referred 10 IN the message ofthe President. II is
ofthe Constitution when they Incorporated intothat
instrument the clause in relation to tonnage duties
by the States with thel assent of Congress The
debates show that this provision was inserted for
the express purpose Of enabling the States 10 levy
duties of tonnage 10 make harbor and other i'm
for the benefit of navigation II was
objected that the power to regulate commerce
having already been vested exclusively in Con-
gress, the jurisdiction Of the States over harbor
and river improvements, without the consent or
supervision OF the federal governments might be
so exercised as TO conflict with the congressional
regulations in respect to commerce. In order to
avoid this objection, and at the same time reserve
10 the States the power of making the necessary
improvements, consistent with such rules as
should be prescribed by Congress for the regula-
lion OF commerce, the provision was modified and
adopted in the form in which we now find il in
he Constitution, TO wit $40 State shall lar duties
y tonnage eaeept by tie co,seat Of Congress- II
8 evident from the debates that the trainers Of the
Constitution looked to tonnage duties as the
source from which funds were to be derived for
improvements in navigation
The only diversity Of opinion among them arose
ipon the point, whether those duties should be
evicd and the works constructed by the federal
government or under State authority These
doubts We're solved by the clause quoted provid-
ng, in effect, that while the power was reserved
Q lne states, It should not be exercised, except
~ the consent of Congress- in order that the local
egislation for the Improvement Of navigation
night not conflict with the general enactments for
he regulation of commerce. Yet the first Con-
,ress, which assembled under the constitution.
that series of contradictory and partial
nactments which has continued 10 the present
inc. and proven the fruitful source of conflict and
issention. 93e
The first OF these acts provided that all expenses
or the support oflighthouses, beacons, buoys and
'ubc piers, should be paid out Of the national
reasury, on the condition that the States in which
he same should be situated respectively, should
.ede to the United States the said works q tope-
her with the lands and tenements thereunto Be.
ongng, and together with the jurisdiction Of the
anne. A few months afterwards the same Con- |
,ress passed an act conserving that the States Of
Rhode Island, Maryland, and Georgia, might lew
onnage duties for the purpose Of improving Ger.
ain harbors and rivers within their respective
limits. This contradictory Legislation upon a sub
ect OF great national importance, although CON-
nenced by the first Congress, and FREQUENTLY sus
'ended and renewed at uncertain and irregular
'eriods, seems never TO have been entirely aban-
oned. While appropriations from the national
reasury have been partial and irreguar-some-
ines granted and at Others NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
opcs only TO be succeeded by disappointment,
onnage duties have also been collected by the
onseut Of Congress, at various times and for
United periods, in Pennsylvania, MARYLAND, Vir-
inia, North Carolina, South Carolina. Georgia.
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