The weekly Louisianian., 1874-08-01

Representatives interfered to ., cer
tain extent with this programme b.
putting in this proviso:. = .-..::.:'
Provided, That no part Of th,
So. 900 herein appropriated shall
be used in the purchase Of the land.
for the site and appurteaances o
said canal; nor for the strip Of lant
ON either side Of said canal, as pro
vidcd for in section five. ..,-. '....
That prohibition YVES interpolatet
in the House, and asa consequences
the United States was directed t
build the canal in, a certain place
she would not build it until sht
owned the land, and she should
not buy the land. In. the Senate o
the United States, as a lawyer, there
is no man more eminent than RIOS
coe. Conkling, of: New York, and
give You my word that he exercised
his ingenuity over that question az
to how VIC could possibly avoid that
objection. appropriation was sagg'
gested-the exercise by Congress Of
the right of eminent domain -one
that Whenever bruited has engaged
che best. legal minds Of Congress,
and has always induced an exhaust
i've and elaborate debate without
any conclusion whatever. At the
present time there WAS involved in
this the further question that if you
could appropriate land in a State
for q canal, regardless OF State lines.
the government of the United States
might also build a railroad any
where. If it bad the right to con.
denim property for a highway ofone
character, it had also the right to
do it for another purpose. And
you must understand that that was
one Of the most intricate questions
that tho Senate Committee on
Transportation had to engage its at
tention. We had been discussing
some method of relief to the crowd
ed up granaries of the West by
chcapening transportation, either
by land Or by water; and VIC had
considered very seriously the pro-
position-in which we were sup
ported by the Republican members
Of the Committee, but cohtcnded
with by tho Observation-Disclosures
the United States had the power to
appropriate land for such purposes
as arc provided within the scope of
the Constitution.
Now, Sill, what could you do with
that bill as it was on the land ques-
ton? Could T., on the thirteenth
day OF June, the day that I report
ed, and only seven days left of the
session, come in with such a propo-
sitiou? Would it have been posi-
bic to havo carried it? Would it
have been possible, at that late day,
to have induced Congress to assent
to that great cardinal principle that
really the exercise Of SOW
ereignty within a State? And yet
if I had made any minority report
in favor of this bill, its absolute de-
feat, aye, its absolute strangulation
inevitable, and you would have
got nothing at all. Gentlemen who
go to Washington, and who are SO
conversant with the necessary legis-
tation that is required and the easy
practicabiiity of all their yet mea-
surer might find it IN easy task. II
have labored pretty earnestly III
matter, and I did not see my
way to accomplish anything there,
and IN attempt TO do it would have
left you without even a survey Of
the mouth of your river in the
coming year. -.
But there was more than that.
Here was a contract to be let out
eight millions of dollars. Mayor
Howell, in his original estimate,
said that possibly that canal might
De completed for seven million, three
hundred and seventy thousand dol
ars, or somewhere about seven mil
ions. The board of engineers who
revised his estimate ignored his fig
Tres, and said it could not be done
or less than ten million, and some
mi |