New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1855-12-05

II q i Z 81 y
Amounting in the aggregate to-. ss5 ss7 5a
The steamboat and marine interest Of til,
West, it will be seen, is enormous, reaching
according to the foregoing figures, to the sum .
SS5 .5o1 ,547. Such an interest-contributip
as it does, materially to the development Of !
vast extent Of fertile country; to the conye
nience, wants and prosperity Of millions inhab.
iting nearly half a continent, and conveying
from point to point 3 commerce worth $780,
100000 annually -would, in any other nation
under heaven, be fostered, encouraged ana pro
| NOTED, BY the watchful care and generous libe-
rality Of government
Unfortunately, however, for this great inter
est, and for the millions residing on the banks
Of the Mississippi and its tributaries, and along
the margins Of the great lakes of the North
west, the policy prevails at Washington, and has
prevailed for msny years, that Western COM
merce, being internal commerce, and Western
rivers internal streams, there is no reason why
the one should be protected, and the navigation
Of the other improved and made safe Any
number Of millions may be spent on the Attain
TIC coasts. and all is proper and right and con-
stitutional Presidents sign such bills with little
Or no scruple; but speak Of appropriations for
the Great West, and constitutional bristles at
once erect themselves, and Executive vetoes
usually follow. And all is done, too, with the
most complacent air imaginable, in face Of the
smmovable fact that the internal commerce Of
the country is Of infinitely more Importance
than its foreign commerce, and, consequently,
deserves larger amount of protection.
There would be precious little foreign com
merce but for domestic commerce and produce
tion. Then. why protect the one and neglect
The other? We can see neither sound sense nor
Justice in the pursuit Of such contradictory
policy
Of this thirty-fve millions Of dollars invested
2 the steamboat interest, it is estimated that
no millions, or about one-seyenteenth of the
ntire capital, Is annually sunk as q sacrifice to
nags, saWyers, rocks and other distractions, |
Vnich might be saved we're the aforesaid snsgs |
nd rocks, etc, removed This, too, without
aking into calculation the annual loss of human |
ne, more valuable than all, nineteen twentieths
which might be saved if the Federal Govern
lent would only perform its plain duty in the
remises.
Bat it is idle to expect relief from these
eayy Ills during the present or the coming ses-
on OF Congress. No matter how well Congress
lay be disposed, there is little doubt President
ierce would veto any general bill of internal
Improvement that could be passed He has
ways been bitter opponent of internal i'm
'oyements. As Representative and Senatorin
'ngress he voted against bills that received
2 sanction Of Gen jackson, and as Presi-
mt ne vetoed most admirable bill, which,
1t had become law, would have done an inn
snse amount Of good.
These facts, all the parties directly Or indi-
silly interested, should bear in mind at the
III PRESIDENTIAL election. No matter what the i
litics Of the individual, let us have man not
posed to Western commerce, Western improve
ny and Western development Let US show
world that there is Vest as well as anil
ssf. {