Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1859-02-04

Sooeu ana we KNOW That members OF both houses are
anxious to get home 1t will be very hard to keep them
together beyond the middle of the next month"; and a
good deal of business remains yet to be done The
Revenue Bill and the Bank Bills remain yet to be dis
posed Of besides which, provision must be made to meet
certain State bonds falling due before the next session
of the Legislature There are other matters pressing
upon the attention of the General Assembly, which,
Think ought to be DONE but these as we have already
said, must be.
There is general fear of expense at least of fur
ther debt obligation matter how remote, on &C
ccCunt of internal improvements. AS imposing sau-
tary check upon undue expenditure and reckessne this
is right and desirable but think it may be carried to
an excess and perhaps be productive of amount of
evil only less than that which it operates to prevent.
We really believe that majority of the members of
both houses would like to the Fayetteville and Coal
fields Road bill pass and also some proper and just
for the completion of the slack water navigation the
Cape Fear and Deep Rivers but there does not
to be majority willing to take the individual response
bility of voting for these measures.
If we know anything of the general feeling of the
Legislature in reference to the Deep River it is that OF
opposition to all mere temporary expedients-to the
making of inadequate grants of money from the expen-
iture of which certainty of success could be realized
It was from this knowledge this belief that while
publishing the memorandum of Col Morel we regretted
the position he had taken. For years that form no
small segment in the circle Of human life, we have
written about it, have talked aboutt have thought
about it. We have seen how drblet by driblet public
and private funds have gradually oozed away without
definite result, in exhausting public patience and
all but running public confidence The time for that
sort of thing is past. Move around little among the
members of the Legislature and you will find it so.-
Look &c the thing as it really stands and you will
that it is right that it should be so.
During something like ten years past, between seven
and eight hundred thousand dollars have, one way
another been paid out on account of this work Long
years ago it became painful duty to raise our voice
against the original misconsruction of the works and
the evident to u.s. mismanagement of the whole affair.
We refer to the thanks got then, not with any feel
ing, but simply illustrating part of the history OF
the work. We have recently been asked our opinion
of the present condition of the work regarded what
had been done as lost. We then said we say now
No. The dams appear to be sufficient for all purposes
and may last any length of time The locks valuable
as frame work scaoldng, if the expression is ap
pcabe to facilitate the construction of permanent works
which they themselves are not.
Regarding, as we safely may, the dams, with one ex
cepton as safe and permanent and the temporary locks
as an almost indispensable arrangement to forward the
construction of stone locks do think that the actual
loss from all sorts of accidents and mismanagemen if
except the loss Of time and public confidence not be
put at over 25OOOO. We think that the dams and the
lock facilities as assistants in the transmission of ma
terials will be worth $5OOOOO 1t would cost that much
more to begin ab lnHio.
OF course if the work sold all this will be pretty
much lost to the State and her citizens If it is at
tempted to keep the thing moving along with appropr
ations of little drbets all this and will be lost
Unless some plan be devised by which the State
can be secured eventually in making sufficient advance
to construct, not platform, skeleton, plar
of work. but arOrE in fact, not how loss car
be avoided and the this loss is submitted to- The
better for the smaller it will be- The works themselves
cannot now afford guarantee to anybody Unless some
guarantee is to come from the immense wealth to be de-
veloped we see not how it is to come-let be guar
antee contingent upon Developments guarantee of nc
profit but Of simple indemnity to the State and no more
If the work is to be productive then there no risk
If if is not to be So surely those who are to be directly
benefited ought not to object to sharing portion
the risk such portion to be contingent their
dramatically JOURNAL 3lst uh.
Hgg~The manufactures of the United States for tht
year ending June lst 1850, thus reported by thu
q. S. Census, taken nearly nine years ago. and nov
published:
Number of manufacturing establishments, l23,O25
capital invested 1888 ,345 35l cost of raw material
$555,l23,822 number of male hands employed, 731,
1877 number Of female hands employed, 225,922 cos
of labor per annum $780, 755464; value of products