The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-06-04

INLAND C0AiMERCE--HARBOR AND RIVER
APPROPRIATIONS.
SPEECH OF HON. l. T. HATCH, OF BUFFALO,
In the House Of Representatives. Nay 81, 1858.
Tbs House being the Committee Of the Whole the
s,uts Of the Union Mr.. HATCH said:
Mn caAlAxAs: shall ask ths attention Of the
ittee for brief tune to the consideration o! the subject
al river and hnTbor appropriations.
No general appropriation since the year 1851 has been
made fol- the Improvement Of harbors the Northwest
orn lakes and OF the navigation Of North and South
western rivers
Tre millions Of property and the thousands Of lives
lost upon these waters through tho neglect Of the govern
neut would seem should arrest public attention The
los, Of life and property IL still annually increasing 1t
is doubtful, now, whether the bill reported by the Com
ttee Commerce for the repair and preservation
Of the public works on the Northwestern lakes will
ceve any consideration proportionate to the magnitude of
the interests involved.
Your Committee on Commerce say, In their report,
they accept for their guide this occasion that legis
stion Of their predecessors which, having been
nearly contaminated by appropriations appeals not only
to thsr Judgment with the force Of pr0ess, but pre-
en TO their discretion the impropricty Of suffering,
through neglect the sacrifice Of the millions Of money
already expended The vast expanse of commercial
erpse which occupies the extent Of the country and
employs the myriads engaged in M pursuits IL well wor
thy Of the fostering hand Of government stretched to
the utmost constitutional verge They also say the
fact has been quite spparcnt that without assistance
the money expended at various points along se
lake. and river lines must become total sacrifice In
many nstances the fruits of repeated appropriations
now peshng for want Of proper attention and In ALL
Hy the works be not only saved ut their present state
of completion by timely appropriations but for
future Improvement Your committee therefore, though
arrested by the exhausted condition of the treasury in
their desire to extend liberal assistance to all works Of
internal improvement, yet have determined to report
bill comprehensive OF appropriations required for the
preservation of improvements commercial at harbors and
in rivers, but in unfnshed and incomplete state
The amount recommended by your committee is ST.
479 $751; amount almost equal to the cost of four
screw propeers proposed to be built
to protect your foreign commerce!
The reason assigned by your committee for
menng this limited appropriation Ia the retrenching pol
talk about rcrencng river and harbor appropriations
As before remarked, general appropriation for these
purposes has been made for six years During this period
your treasury oveosOsd; that II is empty you
ona appropriate because you must rAsenck The rcsump-
ton Of the improvements of the habors and rivers is
not to be determined have seen, by empty or
full treasury not question Of constitutional
equal rights but sir it win have to be determined
question Of political power Persistent refusal to grant
thes appropriations, and ndiscminae opposition to
the forcing this issue every State added to
the Northwest hastens and nsres tho resumption of the
public works. Ny constituency deeply interested in
the inland commerce Of the country and, as their rep
rescntatve am bound to urge these appropriations
shall only now pcset the subject briefly leaving full
Ter yindication Of their justice to the future.
believe will dispute the proposition that the
ternal commerce Of nation is entirely dependent the
internal commerce and trade Foreign commerce cannot
exist without domestic commerce.
Tho history Of the rise and fall Of nat0ns in past and
modern times, attest this truth There Is only one
exoepton among the four powers Of the world, and the
colossal wealth Of that country has been aocumuatng
from national robbery and conquest throughout the
earth.
No nation on this globe has an inland commerce that
equals that Of this country either in the grandeur Of Its
geographical characteristics in the magnitude Of i.s
agricultural and mineral wealth. Nowhere be found
such chain Of inland seasLakcs CHanylnn, Owarso,
Ere 81. Ca1 Hron Xchgan and Saperior--al connected
by rivers canals canals bound to the valley Of
the Mississippi by net work Of railroads But r, it i
only the agricultural and mineral wealth which annually
pours through these inland channels Of commerce
which wish briefly to call attention All the gold that
has passed through the god ga Of Calitona dnoe it
discovery does not equal one years value Of our inland
commerce.
Is origin was the oompleion Of tho Erie canal In 1925
which opened the vast wilderness and boundle praiea
Of the West to eastern emigration such before
has been witnessed in any exodus of the human races.
Hero the industrious poor Of the world found homes and
founded States The products of their labor established
an inland commerce. from which has arisen foreign
sustaining murine that rivals British
premacy the
shall briefly now, SIR, refer to the character, sss,a,
claims, and mode Of protection of this inland commerce.
rHH CHARACTER coxMsRcn.
Chief Justice 1aney says, in IL Howard, page 452.
QS5l:)
Ths.. slos arc In srath inland States border
ths and foreign nation the other and
growing carried upon them between dcrent stss
that attend tho Hostile neets have encountered
hsm pz which existed of
the grant Of admiralty urcon the Oh this Atlantic
s'As applies with equal force 10 the lakes"
rHs EXTENT on rxrAsp co,nracs
For tie szzu8 of the inland commerce refer to the