Arkansas true Democrat., 1859-07-06

mendatlon say to proposition to divert these grants, or either of them to the build ing of levees on the Mississippi river? The mere statement of the question indicates the answer. l consider, however, that the swamp lands like the internal improvement lands have been very effectually wasted, and that there is not much now to be made out of them towards the objects for which they ware granted. In this connection I wish to call attention to the fact that the grant ofinternal improvement lands author izes their use in the drainage of swamps,' whleh proves that Congress had in contom- plation in that act, as well as in the swamp Ian.l grant, the subject of drainaqe, and vet the administrators of our swamp land and internal improvement funds, and of our local levee tax have refused or neglected to spend any thought or money on the droin- aye of sudmpS. l have already indicated my opinion on this point that the first and greatest drain is the Mississippi itself, which if strengthened and shortened three hundred miles, would run off it's water in halt the time 1t does now. and believe it could be done 1t one third the expense of the present levee system. The next point would be to leave open all natural outlets. such as the lazoo pass and others, and to make additional outlets if necessary The county of Chicot is better provided with outlets for drains than any county orparish within my knowledge in the whole valley of the Mississippi. The Bayou Mason luns parallel with the river through the whole length ot the county, at an average distance otabout six miles west, and receives not only all the rain water that falls between it and the river, but also, all the water that escapes from the river where there are no levees, or when the levees break. The Bnuff runs parallel with the Mason, at an averge dis tance of ahout three miles further west and m times of high water, receives the wate:- of the Mason. Any man with half an eve can see the importance to Chcot cauntv of clearing out and keeping these streams open. and of extending the channel of the Bnutf further north, So that ditches can be made from either side into these streams. IfIam not misinformed, Louisiana has set us a good daXample by cleaning out these streams, and also the Bayou Bartholomew, up to our southern boundary.
 To the people of Drew and Ashley. I would say that although you are not 50 di- rcctly or deeply interested in the proper ap- plication Of the swamp Ianl fund as the people oiChicot you are still intercSted. l have tried to collect the necessary facts on which to found an opinion as to the loss sustained every year bv Drew county, for want ot a good road across the swamp, on which to transport their proluce to market and receive in return such necessaries and
 uXurleS as they might want l have not succeeded to my satisfaction, but from the best gacss can make, suppose the actual loss every year tO that county alone cannot be much less than @100. coo, and less than that amount with the means already in the control of your railroad company, ought certainly to finish the road to the cutoff, during the summer of this year. Indeed the president of the company assured me last winter that with the means under his control he would give us a ride on the rail- road on the 4th of July next. He ought not, however, to be held strictly to that promise, as he did not then know how far the water of the Mississippi would interfere with his work. The plank road has an Swered good purpose, but its owner will scarcely feel justified in going to the ex- penSe of rebuilding 1t in view of the plos poets which are held out of an early com pIetion of the railroad. in which event the profits of the plank road would be greatly inInpnF l-apt,- l,,, <,f, views or'intentions Of the owner of the plank road. Ton ought to have the railroad and you ought to have had it years ago. Every one who knows my private opinions, knows that have not thought tayorablv of the management of the road; but every one who knows anything Of my course as your Sen ator knows that l have not allowed my diSapproval of its managementto influence my votes in the Senate. At the first ses- sion i served, l introduced and got passed an amendment to the charter, such as the county wanted. At the same session in. trodnced and advocated a bill to repeal the present law distributing the internal i'm provement fund among the countles, and give 1t to the railroads in some just propor- tion to the work they had done, which it was
 thought at tho time would give the first di. vidend to the NJ. o. & R R. railroad. I offered precisely the same bill at the last session, and when the last bill in favor of the Memphis and Little Rocl, road came Up in the Senate, Mr. Aallew offered my bill aS amendment. It was adopted, and the bill as amended, passed the Senate. Itwas supposed this bill would have given your road about $I00, GOO, in addition to the previous appropriation of $40, COG How much it would have given if adopted in lSo6, have no means of judging. On the occasion of passing the $40 900 appro- prlatlon m the Senate, we had no authentic report from your railroad, and l was com pelled to read and comment on a private letter written by Mir. Harrison, the opinions ot which he regrets as well as myself, have not been verified. On the second occasion we had printed report which I read and commented on at some length, setting forth as well as l was able the claims ofthe road to support and assistance from the State, out of the funds granted by Congress, which could be legitimately applied to that object
 Another que ,tion connected with the in- terests of your railroad, demands my atten- tion. Early in the last session Mr. Hooke, came to Little Rock, and requested me tc introduce a bill which he had prepared ennbIlng Drew county to tax herself for the benefit of the railroad, which I declined doing unless instructed by at least, respecta. Die minority of the voters of the county; ana think stated that l would consider one
 fourth or three hundred of the voting popu. lation sufficient, stating at the same time that 1 believed in the right of the county tc
 tax herself for this purpose ifshe chose to dc So, that the constitution gave this power tc the county court, and that if such bill wa: offered by any other Senator I would vote for it, if 1t guarded sufficiently the constitu
 tional power Of the county court; althour} as tax payer in Drew, l should in all probability, vote against the tax if 1 wa. entitled to vote. The constitution say,
 m substance that there shall be a court i, this State, called the county court, composee cf Jastlces cf Me peace vhich shall hage ju
 rtsdoa5on of oH matters relotinq 10 count, tares, anatae internal Improvement and loca
 concerns ct the county. This language ad
 mlts of no doubt, first the court shall h,
 composed of justices of the peace, second | hA tel,.