Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1876-07-15
The Reign of Economy.

Since Mr.. Hereford, from the maritime
and commercial State of West Virginia
has taken charge of the national improve
ments Of rivers and harbors, change
has come over the democratic policy
Those of our readers who remember how
in Benton's time, the democratic party
was committed against the policy OF in
ternal Improvements, may well be amused
at the antics of the present democratic
house. There was time when the Ia
nous s.. Clair Flats, and the propo si;ion
to improve the same, convulsed the par
ties of the country, democratic Presidents
in those days were made or unmade on
the general question Of the st. CLAIR
Flats. And President Pierce, it was said,
used to get out of bed at night to talk
with Sidney Webster about his proposed
vetoes of the vcxatious Flats and all that
concerned them. Mr., Hereford, Of West
Virginia, Chairman of the House Com
mittee of Commerce, considers himself
Just as good democrat rs Pierce or Bu-
chanan ever dared to be. Since he has
emerged from the wilds of the kanawha
to run the commerce OF the Republic, he
has taken the liberty of reversing all dem
ocra,ic precedents without so much as
saying, ''By your leave" In the River
and Harbor Appropriation bill. which the
House accuses the Senate Of obstructng
for frivolous reasons, are some of the dis
coveries Of Mr.. Hereford and his demo-
cratic colleagues in the committee. One
who has imbibed the notion that ocean
and sea-coast navigation are Of the first
Importance to the United States will be
disabused of this idea by looking over
the admirable and discriminating list of
appropriations which this prudent House
proposes to make for the i'm provement of
rivers and harbors.
'sThere is river in Macedon'', says
Flulen. There are several rivers in West
Virginia, says Mr. Hereford and we
learn for the first time how highly impor
tant they are. There is the Elk, for ex-
ample, to improve which noble stream the
bill now in dispute proposes TO appropr
ate $4,000. Singularly enough, this is
just the sum given by the bill for the i'm
provement of the Hudson, an inconsder
able stream, Compared with the Elk,) OF
which our readers may have heard, and
which drains a section of country lying
b.tween The Green Mountains and the
great lakes, and forms water highway
to the fiourshng village of New York.
We should be sorry to stir up that section
II, strife which Mr.. Hereford per, nnially
deprecates; but if the jewellers on the
Elk should think they ought to have $50,
900, we should certainly say that Mr..
Hereford aud his fellow statesmen ought
to let them have it This is an economi-
Cal and reform Congress. Peace must
be preserved at any price, however, and
the creeks of West Virginia should be
provided for, il il takes the last dollar in
the Treasury. Does not the St. Louis
platform boldly declare that "Reiorm is
necessary in the scale of public eXpens
esp" Aud is not his reformed scale
which gives $500, 900 to the Improvement
OF the Kanawha and 500 900 to the
works of He'll Gate 1t is notorious that
the scale OF public expenses, 50 far AS the
improvement of rivers and harbOrs is con-
cerned, has heretofore been adjusted on Il
false basis For many years it has been
mistakenly supposed that the barbors Of
Norfolk, Savannah, New York, and Bos-
ton were of prime value to the commerce
of the country. The democratic House,
led by the gigantic Randall, who is ably
seconded by the marine lawyer from the
Kanawha wilderness. declares that the true
seat of navigation lies west of the Blue
Ridge. West Virginia is emphatically a
State of riparian wealth; it gets one
twelfth of all the money appropriated by
this bill. Then there is Big Sandy Creek,
which has an appropriation equal TO that
set aside for the Hudson. The Tombig-
bee, the Clinch. and other classic and inn
portant streams receive the same amount,
To the French Broad River. picturesque