The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-05-27

GRANTS FOR RAILROADS AND FOR INTERNAL I'M
rRovEMENTs---Under the high pressure opera
tons Of the omnipotent lobby at Washington,
Congress has passed this session some four bills
donating several millions of acres of the pub
lie land to aid in the construction of railroads
in the West and Southwest. Forced through
without debate and in defiance Of everything
like propriety or decency, they have received
the approval and signature of the President
and have become laws The grant for one
State alone-Iowa-ahsorbs between four and
FIVE million acres, and the consequence ia that
the public lands there have had to be closed to
private entry until the rapacious Spectators
shall have had their claims satisfied. Two bills
deepening the channel over the st. Clair fats,
Michigan, and for removing distractions ia the
mouth Of the Mississippi-have been also pass
ed this session. They involved q drain upon
the public treasury Of perhaps one-twentieth
the amount Of that which it will require to
satisfy one of tn ose villanous railroad grants
hut Mr.. PIERCE consistent man that he is
vetoed them on the ground Of constitutional
impediments to the prosecution Of system of
internal improvements by means of appropria-
tons from the United States treasury"
Now, it would require the acuteness Of
Philadelphia lawyer to discover how it is that
it is unconstitutional to improve the tracks of
commerce by the aid OF the general govern
meDt, and not unconstitutional to donate the
public domain in aid Of the building Of
railroads The mouth of the Mississippi is
as much highway Of national commerce
as 10 the Gulf Of Mexico, and the value Of
the products that annually cross the
st. Clair fats has been estimated at some
hundred millions of dollars. Yet the national
government, with Mr. Pisrce at its head has no
power to make appropriations for the deepen
ing of these channels, and can, nevertheless,
recklessly ALLEVIATE the public property for the
benefit OF few unprincipled railroad corpora
tons. The one may be necessary for the secu-
rity of life and property, for facilitating com
MERGE, Tor benedting ths farmers, the manu-
facturere, the producers, and the mercantile
classes Of those sections Ct country more init
mately affected thereby; nut such considera-
tons have DO weight comparable to the in.
tiuence exercised by corrupting lobby when
set in action by scnemers, plunderers and mo-
nopolists. Therefore, the internal improve
ment bills are vetoed, and the landjobbing
railroad bills approved and signed.
Now, can any rational, clear-headed man
discover the shadow of reason which could
have honestly operated on the President il
making this odious discrimination? We can
not believe so. If the constitutional objec-
tons to the one were, in Mr.. Pierce's mind,
insurmountable, those same objections applied
with ten times more force to the other. The
mode, too, in which the railroad swindles were
effected was not unknown to him. II was NO
secret in Washington. The Spectators and
their agents were there in full force; and the
few honest men left in Congress were, under
the operation of the new gag law, debarred
from the opportunity of exposing the nefarious-
ness ofthe schemes That fact alone would have
constituted good ground for vetoing them
But with the full knowledge of the enormity
Of these swindling measures, snd of the mode
in which they were passed-at least in the
House of Representatives, President ap-
proves and signs shem and the land, which is
the property of the people, is handed over
IN quantities larger than some German princi-
palities-to spectators, who regard the gene
raj government as but mere institution ~
be plundered ny such cheats as themselves
The creation by such means of system of
landed mopopolies in this country is sincerely
to be deprecated 1t will in time lead to de-
plorable results But perhaps the worst effect
of this overshadowing cloud of corruption at
Washir gton is, that 1t cannot but react upon
the moral atmosphere Of the country at large.
The example Of cur public men must sooner
or later spread it's contagon through the peo-
pie; and when that effect is once produced,
then farewell republcanism and liberty; for
without public and private morality republic
cannot exist Let our citizens see to it that
the great governmental fabric raised by our
fathers, cemented by their blood, and rendered
sacred by their virtues, be not undermined
ard demolished by the dishonesty and corrup
ton which faint the very atmosphere OF the
national capital.