The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1876-04-29
Letter from Hon. J. II. Reagan In Re-
ply TO the Houston Telegraph.
d llwAsnalIis,lalroN, D. q, .Aprll a, ls7e.

'oh WASHINGTON, D. O., April "a, 1876.
James b. Simpson, ESQ, Editor OF the Dali
las Herald Nh M NaiHHdns $500 7l
J DEAR SIRr-In THE HERALD of the
Goth Instant | see, an editorial para
graph referring to what the Houston
Telegraph says about my opposition to
the appropriation for the deepening OF
Bolivar channel and about,my voting
against 1t. saw the article In the
Telegraph, and would have asked the
privilege of correcting its errors
through that paper, but for the reason
that whoever wrote that article, which
appears as an editorial, had manifestly
seen my letters to citizens of Houston,
stating my action on this subject, and
my reasons for it; and as l believe the
editorial to be. a wilful perversi0n of
the facts, ] felt that any attempt on my
part to correct thelerrors of that edi.
torial would but subject me to addl-
tlonal perversions and wilful injustice
from, the same source. ygesorlsl aa 2ni
All that I want to say now is that, as q
member of the Committee on Com
merce, i did all I could to secure liberal
appropriations for the improvement of
our navigable waters, and, In conjunc-
tion with my colleagues, get an appro-
priation allowed by the House of one
hundred thousand dollars for o ship
channel through Galveston bay, for
the benefit Of the commerce of Texas,
passing between Houston and Calves
tOn--seventy.five thousand dollars
more than was obtained for the same
purpose last year. And my reward for
my efforts In this matter Is an elabo-a
rate attack by the Telegraph. u, IA.
\ 4, The reason for this Is that there Is a
pending controversy as to whether
this ship channelshall extend directly
from Bolivar channel, or shall extend
from Galveston harbor. The people of
Galveston fear that to extend the ship
channel from Bolivar, instead of from
Galveston channel would cause the
main currents produced by the ebbing
and flowing tides from and to the bay
to leave the Galveston harbor and
channel, and flow through the Bolivar
channel; and that the loss of the seour-
ing powers of these currents would
cause Galveston harbor 10 shoal and
gradually to fill up, and so destroy that
place, and its commerce.
! To get further time and fuller infor-
nation on this subject, the Commerce
Committee, upon an agreement be-
tween Colonel Mills and Judge Han
cock, the one representing Houston
and the other Galveston, agreed, that
the present appropriation should be
expended north of Red Fish bar, SO as
not to affect this question, and that an
additional survey and report should be
made by the United States Engineer
corps, before the location Of this ship
channel south of Reddish bar should
be made. We all agreed to this, and
It was incorporated in the bill and
passed, allof the Texas members in
the House voting for 1t. This Is the
only vote / gave on this subject, my |
colleagues all voting with me. / have
reason to believe all these facts were
fully known to the writer of the arti-
ole In the Telegraph. relate halfHi
\ b II you should then enquire why then
this unfriendly article, / would say,
because In the discussions about this
Appropriation, / objected to It's being |
made subsidiary to, and o part OF, the |
Morgan ship channel, and both here
and In my letters to friends In Hous.