Wilmington journal., 1874-07-03
aun APPROPRIATION.

Mr.. Ransom. 7 offer an amend
ment Oh page 10, line pa, to strike
out zone, and insert ''two;" SO that
the clause will read:
For continuing the improvements of
the Cape Fear River, North Carolina,
5000, 900.
Mr.. Chandler. I hope that amend
ment will not be agreed to. The COM
NJ ittee did not recommend an increase
of this amount in this bill, but struck
out certain items and added the
amounts that were stricken out for
other works. All the additions that
were recommended have been concur
red in and none of the diminTtions.-
Now have upon my -lesk something
over 81, ,O0O, 600 of proposed amend
ments to this bill. 1t must be appa-
rent to every one that if we begin
to adopt these amendments they Will
load the bill so heavily that it will
sink.
Now, sir. with regard to Cape Fear
estimate of the engineers, which will
read The original estimate of the
Board of Engines was "For Cape
Fear River $15O,O0O." The revised
estimate was 100000, and the COM
mittee allowed precisely the amount
asked for in the revised estimate. [
hope the Senate will staLd by the COM
mittee and by the recommendation of
the Board of Engineers, and retain
the Cape Fear appropriation at $780,,
900, as it stands in the bill.
Mr.. Ransom. Mr.. President, l will
not detain the Senate at this late hour
more than few moments. The state
ments made by the Chairman of the
Committee on Commerce are true.
This amendment for 100000 is not
recommended either 10 che revised or
original estimates from the Engineer
Department. But there is now before
the Committee on Commerce, and L
| have instructed the clerk to have it
here for the information of the SEN
ate, letter from Colonel Craighill, the
engineer in charge of the work. In
| that letter this officer, distin-
guished for his skill and judg-
ment and thoroughly acquainted
with the Cape Fear Harbor, declares
that atanappropriation an of $3.50, 900 ought
to be made for this improvement. 1
will have the lettar read for the infor-
nation Of any Senator who desires it.
The experiences of last year leave
no doubt that 100000 is totally
inadequate for the consummation of
| the work. But, in the opinion of this
reliable engineer an expenditure of
$3.50, 600 promises results that make it
our duty not to hesitate to make the
appropriation. Not only his reports,
but the concurrent reports of all the
officers who have examined the Cape
Fear Harbor, without exception,
abound with evidence that for the
meager amounts appropriated extraor-
dinary results have been accomplished;
and l believe that with the eXpendi-
ture of the sum now asked the highest
expectations of the engineers will be
realized. I shall not undertake to eX-
plain to the Senate the manner in
which this Improvement is TO take
place. I viii simply state that is the
judgement of every competent engi-
neer, fortified by the conclusion Of all
men Of practical sense who have q
knowledge OF the harbor, and confirm
ed by uniform experience for half 4
century.
Nor, Mr.. President is this q mere
local work. Let me assure the Senate
that it is q great national improve
ment. Look at our Atlantic coast
You will see that the Wilmington or
Cape Fear Harbor lies not very far
south of Cape Hatteras, on the great
coast line Of American trade. 1t is
well-kGown to mariners that HatteraS
is one of the most, if not tue most,
dangerous point upon the American or
any other coast. | do not know what
to say of it except that it is the ZEN
dervous for al the perils of the sea.
Cape Fear Harbor, lying just south of
this fearful impediment to navigation
is,a convenient refuge for the crippled
and wrecked vessels that have surviv-
ed its winds and rocks and storms.
/ need not saY to the Senate how i'm
portant, how prudent, how humane il
is that this harbor of refuge for the
whole coast should be cared for by the
Government.
And let me say that in another sense
the port of Wilmington greatly de-
serves our consideration. Are Scna-
tors aware that the exports of Viii
mington for the last year amounted to
S13, 1000, 900 that thirteen hundred
vessels were entered and cleared at her
bar that her shipping-Hst for the
year 1873 increased one hundred and
twenty vessels that her exports of
lumber reached twenty million feet,
her rosin half million Of barrels, her
turpentine two hundred thousand
casks, her cotton fifty thousand bales ?
Situated as Wilmington is in the heart
of the cotton and great lumber region
| Of the South, at the mouth of the
Cape Fear River, which runs back two
hundred and fifty miles to the mex
haustible coal and iron beds of North
Carolina, with three trunk lines of
railway extending north, south and
west, almost in speaking distance of
Cuba and the West Indies, with a coast
line from the gulf to the northern
lakes, she must become the great de-
pot and market for lumber, for coal
for naval stores, and for all the pro
ductions of that section of the country.
Why, there is not city on the waters
! of the Atlantic that is not interested in
the improvement of Cape Fear Har-
Dor. In Norfolk, Richmond, Balti-
more, Philadelphia, New York, Bos-
ton, you will find the naval stores,
the lumber, the turpentine an d
rosln Of Wilmington. The whole
country has an interest in this i'm
proveInent.
There is another consideration which
L visa to address to the Senate. l
have before me-and I regret that
L have not the time to read it--a speech
of Hon. William S. Ashe, formerly a
Representative from the Wilmington
district in the other House of Con-
gress. delivered in 1868. I must say
that I knew him well, and I never
knew man of more intelligence, more
patriotism, or, better common sense. In
that speech he informed the House
that before the erection of Fort Cas-
well in 1923, the bar of at Wilmington
drew from sixteen to twenty feet of
water and sand-drifts soon filled the
channel and left only some nine feet of
| water
The Presiding Officer, CMr. Anotho
ny in the chair.) The Senator has
| spoken five minutes.
Mr.. Ransom. I appeal to the Sen
ate to adopt the amendment.
Mr.. Chandler. Permit me to saw
that the Senator is reading from the
local engineers report. We're we to
take the reports of the local engineers
on all these different work, $50, 600, 900