The Portland daily press., 1867-02-09

WIN these remarks, as the matter hoe =,
ready been FULLY explained, leave The o,as-
ton. Iy "e 9ues-
Mr.. Hill desire to enquire of the os,,lo
man from Maine MIR. Lynch Whether ba
knows oil any estimates having been made by
competent parties as TO the entire cost of these
proposed Notifications. This proposition is to
appropriate $I50,000 to begin with Now. I
would like to know what amount it is going
TO take to end this matter; how much We may
expect TO appropriate for this purpose before
we get through.
Mr. Lynch cannot answer that question
l do not know what is to be the entire cost Of
these fortfcations L suppose that with these,
as other notifications, the engineer depart
ment estimates the amount necessary to COM
mence them; and the work goes on from year
10 year until completed.
Mr. Hlll-Then. for all this House knows,
tie erecnon of these iOrtifcations may in
lars. .''' i-''-1 -
MIR. Lynch suppose that the enoineer de-
partment and the War Department assume
that IL Is necessary to protect our cities and
harbors, cost whatever it may; that they re-
port in favor of such works as will be easet;va
for that purpose, the cost being a secondary
consideration. The gentleman, | supnose
will not take the ground that it iortiication
is, necessary in order to protect our coast he
ought to vote against 1t, even ii it cost S10,-
O0O,0OO. submit that the only question in
such a case as this is whether the work is alb
solutely necessary; it is not a question of
cost. r. 'i'.'''i'i ~
Mr.. Hill-Mr. Chairman, / desire to say in
reply to the gentlemen from Maine that am
not disposed to be niggardly upon the,subjeet
OF Notifications; but do think that before
gentlemen bring in here propositionss for the
appropriation of hundreds OF thousands of
dollars to begin work, it is due TO this House
that they should take some steps to ascertain
what it win probably cost to complete The
work.
Mr.. Lynch-I would inform the gentleman
from Indiana Mr.. Hill hat gentlemen of this
House did not bring this matter here. 1t is
brought to our attention by the Government,
within whose charge this matter comes. sItais
not proposed by any individual member OF the
House, but by committee acting on the rec
ommendation of the Secretary OF War.
Mr.. Hill beg leave to say that, when
spoke of gentlemen bringing i'm PROPOSE
tions," did not mean to make any reflection
upon the gentleman from Maine. simply
meant to refer to the persons concerned in
bringing this forward, whether members of
this House Or connected with any other de-
partment of the government.
Mr.. Paine-ltwill state for the Information
OF the gentleman from Indiana and other
members, that one very good reason ahy no
committee has presented statement of the
cost OF this work is that up to the present time
no detailed plan and no estimate of the ex-
pense have been been mace by the War De-
partment itself. ai lft i"s
Mr. Maynard-Mr. Chairman, it seems to
me this is an inopportune time tor us TO en-
gage in building Notifications upon the sea-
| coast. / presume there is less possibility OF
war now on the part of this country or any
other than at any preceding period of our
history. Besides, if this particular work Is as
important as its friends insist, let us see the
magnitude of the work and the ultimate ex-
pense SO that we may judge understandhlgly.
Such estimates can be made. There is no ne
cessity of passing this at once. In former
short sessions, when current appropriations
only extended to the first Of the ensuing July,
there may have been such necessity. but as
| the next Congress will commence in time to
pass the appropriation bills for the next fiscal
| year, l think we can leave this matter to be
determined by them.
am opposed to this whole thing, and will,
at the proper time, move that the bill be laid
| on the table, so the whole subject may 90
over to the next session.
The amendment was rejected, only twenty
| five voting in the affirmative. ..ll I-If
Mr.. Kasson next offered a batch of amend
ments, including appropriations of SIS 900 for
Fort Knox and S150OOO for Fort Preble, omit
ted because the Appropriation Committee
were under the impression that these and
half dozen more partly finished works were
new. Rejected. .aa. .,5..s.
Mr.. Bergen wanted an appropriation Of
$1,000 to drain government lands at Fort Ham.
ilton, New York, ''if fol no other considera-
ton than the preservation of the health of the
garrison" Rejected.
Mr.. Schenck moved three or four amend.
ments, which the House treated with the ut
most impartiality. rejecting them all.
Mr.. Morrill, offered an amendment with like
success
Finally, on motion Of Mr.. Scofield, the en-
acting clause of the bill was stricken out by 6
vote of 5S to 40. 1t is now thought that the
measure will not come up again in any form
before the Thirty-ninth Congress. 1t is to bt
hoped that the Fortieth will have Commit
tee on Appropriations which will consider il
becoming to know something about the bills
they report. The estimates OF the War De
partment are perhaps too large; but the coun
try can neither afford to suspend work upo1
the Notifications already begun, nor to neglec
wholly the advice OF competent engineer
| with IT,. 20 EfuilfE gnf