National Republican., 1878-04-30
THE RIVER AND pAnpoR nuL,

The people along the Northern lakes get q
very large share Of the public funds for their
little harbor improvements In this years ap-
portionment. Duluth gets $4,000; Chicago,
about 800, 900; Cleveland, 800, 600; saudusky,
10000; Michigan City, $4,000. Altogether
the towns on the lakes get over ~ 10000 for
breakwater chiefly; aud these improvements,
be It noted. are designed to protect harbors and
shipping (private property from the action
OF the water. This Is the protection which
the lower Mississippi people want with levees,
but every Northern Republican journal along
the lakes Is bitterly hostile 10 the construction
Of Southern breakwaters while clsmoring for
public money to be expended on their own.
Why doesn't Chicago build her own breakwa-
ters, aud why don't the Michigan City people
improve their own harborf That Is the way
these people talk to the South, but they take
good care TO make the Government effect all
their own local improvements for them. Lou
tsriHe Coarier-Joarsdl
This whine Of our Louisville cotem-
porary is unbecoming statesmanlike, lib.
ernl, and intelligent view of the question
discussed. When the Courier-Journdl casts
q grudging eye upon the little harbor
improvements relating to the lake region,
1t does so from q jaundiced and illiberal
standpoint, to say nothing Of the want OF
proper intelligence relating to the points
and harbors in question, to qualify it for
Just criticism when the Government de-
mands of thc4ake commerce contributions
for its own support, II virtually contracts
with that commerce to provide 1t with har-
bors for refuge and shipment. The appro>
priations OF which the C-J. complains are
for this purpose, and are made upon the
same principle that appropriations are for
the erection and support of lighthouses to
guide the mariner into port with his ship
and cargo. They are not made, as our
contemporary intimates, ito protect harbors
from the action of the water" but toafford
a safe channel for the egress and ingress OF
vessels engaged in commerce.
The Courisr-Jouraai complains that the
journals along the lakes are hostile to South
ern breakwaters, while they arc clamoring for
public money to be expended on their own
The cases are not at all analogous, as our
Cotemporary must be aware. The break
waters in the South to which it alludes nrc
not for the preservation Of or in the interests
of commerce, but they are levees to protect
the plantations that skirt the lower Missis-
sippi, and which are overaowed by the
spring and fall foods. The farmer who
purchases O farm onIthe banks of either OF
the great lakes and has water frontage
exposed to the dashing waves Of these in
land seas, has never asked the Government
to protect his lands from the incursions
Of the elements. If he wants q sea-wall he
must build it himself or go without. So
also 1t should be along the Mississippi val
ley. If the channel of the Mississippi be-
comes filled so that it is inadequate for pur-
poses of navigation. then the Government
should improve the waterway and render
it navigable. But when the region of coun-
try that skirts the Mississippi asks the peo-
pie Of the United States to pay for the pro-
lection of their plantations from floods
which come from Providence, they might
Just rs properly ask the Government to in
sure their houses and barns against destruc-
tion by fire. 1t is the absurdity, not the
merit of this question Of building levees on
the Mississippi, that excites the hostility of
the people in the lake region and elsewhere
to the measure.