The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-12-06
CONGRESSIONAL JODBERY


In addition to the profitable work laid out for
the present session of Congress, a sketch of
which is given in another article, there is an
infnitude of jobs on hand, over one hundred
bills and resolutions having been introduced
at the spring session and being now pending,
which provide for aiding the construction of
railroads, canals, and similar public and pri-
vate enterprises. summary of the amount
of public land which the Congressional advo-
Gates of these different schemes propose to
give the persons interested in them may we'll
startle the reader who imagines for mo-
ment that the public domain is not
intended for the exclusive benefit
of spectators. The proposed railroad grants
involve the construction of 13, 400 miles of
road in the South and West, by the aid of
subsidy which foots up an aggregate of
216, 454, 746 acres! And this vast extent of
territory, which is equal to .fuNy seoen and
0aG-tbjrd times tile entire area Of PenaSyI-
cGniG, does not include an acre of the grants
to railroads which have fallen through by
lapse of time, but which it is proposed to re-
vive to the extent of several millions of acres!
In addition to the proposed railroad grants,
bills are pending which give away 2, 2,721 200
additional acres to canal enterprises and river
and other improvements; while by one
other measure it is proposed
to appropriate 10, 100000 extra acres
to assist in the construction of the China and
Pacific Telegraph Gable, which, it is esti-
mated, will be not less than three thousand
miles in length. An additional 10, 200, 600 of
acres is allotted by various other bills, swell
ing the grand total to 24S,375, 74G acres,
equal to nearly eight and One-half times tile
area Of Pennsylvania, or to the combined
areas of the six New England States, New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, In
diana, Michigan, Illinois, and Kentucky! And,
in addition to all this grand gift of territory,
the proposed measures involve the guarantee
ing by the National Government of the inte-
rest on railroad bonds aggregating principal
of $104, 100000, the annual interest of which
will amount to So, 258, 900, Independently of
the proposed Mississippi River Levee bonds,
the amount of which can not be estimated with
any degree of precision. In view of this
startling statement, it will be well for the
people to keep their eyes on the doings of
their representatives at Washington.
The GRAND JURY, in their final present
ment, call attention to the habitual violation
of the law of separate confinement in the
County Prison, owing TO the insufficient accom-
modations In the male section there is
nearly double the number of prisoners that
there is cells, and, owing to the positive ne
cessity which exists sometimes for keeping
some of them alone, the Superintendent is
obliged frequently to crowd three persons into
one cell. This is a wrong to the prisoners as
well as to the community 1t effectually pre-
vents any good effects resulting from the law
of separate confinement, and it makes the
prison breeding-place for crime instead of
a reformatory institution, as it ought to be.
This matter has been referred to time and
again by the Grand Juries, and the necessity
for increasing the number of cells urged by
the newspapers, but nothing whatever has
been done to correct the evil 1t is disgrace
full that such state Of things should be per-
mitted to exist, and we hope that some mea-
sures will be speedily taken by Councils to
enlarge the County Prison sufficiently to
allow the Law to be carried out