Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-03-08
RIVER AND HARBOR IMPROVE
MENTS.
speech of Hon. Joseph e. Brown.
OF Georgia, I'm the Senate of the
United states, Saturday. February
26, 1881.


other purposes, Mr.. Brown said:
Mr. President: have no doubt that there
are some appropriations IN this bill that ought
not to be made. You will probably never pass
one without some such appropriations, but IN
so far the general objects of the bill are con-
cerned cordially approve OF them Senators
say we have reached point where we propose
to appropriate say $40 eco 600 for these objects,
and that appropriation is too large. Fifty
years ago, when 81. 0o0 600 was appropriated It
was not regarded very large, and yet it was in
hnitely larger than &c. coo or even $2O,O OO-
900 are now The old Democratic doctrine
am aware was that we were to oppose internal
improvements by the General Governmenf,
and vet such appropriations were mace, pc,
neve at almost every session OF Congress; and
| il is not now worth while to discuss that doc
trine, whether it was right or wrong. dlfr1r-
| ent practice has obtained for half a century
and now prevails and will continue 70 prevail
| The future welfare of the country requires It.
The future prosperity of the country demands
it; and the people will require it OF their rep
/ resentativeS.
Fifty wears ago there was not S1.OoO,COO a
year invested in the construction OF railroads.
| This year there will probably he more than
$50 600 invested in building railroads in the
| United States. We will expend this year In
/ the repairs in additions to the equipments,
| and 10 the operating expense OF railroads
| nearly $500 900. We have not quite ninety
thousand miles of railroads. We have in the
/ United States over thirty thousand miles of
1 navigable streams, one-third as great a dis
/ lance in length as the whole railroad system
i of the United States. Yes, we have thirty
/ thousand miles Of great natural highways al
/ ready built, that only need repairs to make
them ofimmense value to the whole people OF
| this great country.
The people pay annually nearly four hun
| dred million dollars for the repair, improve
/ men,, and operation of railroads. In other
/ words. they pay this enormous sum for rail-
| road transportation, which carries their pro-
auctions to the market. and brings back to
them in turn the productions or manufactures
| Of other countries or places which they require
| for their use or comfort This looks like an
| immense sum, and so it is, to pay 60 the rail-
road corporations of this country. But
| we must recollect what they do IN
| return for it. Let it be borne In
mind that nearly all the merchandise
| OF this country, of every character, is moved
by railroad transportation.
| In 1880 our exports to foreign countries
alone amounted to 1895, 63S. 65S, and our i'm
| ports from foreign countries amounted TO
| S6a7 954, 746. Add the two together and you
| have an aggregate of 81, 500. 500, 404 worth of
| exports and imports handled during the last
| year almost entirely by the railroad companies
| of this country Let il be borne In mind that
| these are foreign exports and imports Then
| the railroad companies have moved probably
| a still larger amount OF internal commerce
| from one section OF the country TO another,
| from one State to another, and from one city
| or town to another, making probably three 10
| four thousand millions of dollars worth OF
| produce moved by them for the convenience
| and profit of our people. This country has
| reached enormous proportions in its business.
| It has become giant. And while its people
| pay very large sums for the transportation OF
| their produce and merchandise, they make in
| return large profits in the aggregate which
they could not make If it were not for the ia
cilities of TRANSFORMATION afforded them by our
| railroad companies
When this vast amount is expended annually
| and profitably by our people for railroad
| transportation, is it to be regarded as some
thing marvellous if the Congress of the United
| States appropriateS ten millions year to the
improvement Of the thirty thousand miles of
| navigable streams within our borders, to say
| nothing Of our harborS, which must be Inn
| proved tt facilitate foreign commerce? The
amount expended for the improvement of our
natural highways and channels of transporta-
| ton is Insignificant when compared with the
amounts that are proftably expended in the
construction and operation of artificial high
ways and thoroughfares of transportation.
| People complain very much of the monopoly OF
railroads and of what they call the oppression
Of railroad corporations. And that feeling
seems to exist to some extent in the Senate.
Gas iC occurred to Senators that the best way
| to free ourselves from those monopolles is TO
open everywhere our rivers and hsrbors and
make them free TO the transportation OF
the productions Of every valley in the
country that is tapped by one
Of them? As long as your rivers are sealed
up the railroads will continue TO DO the carry
ing business of this country, and they will con
tinue to combine. but when you have opened
these rivers and harbors, and especially the
interior rivers. so that there is an open natural
highway from port or city where there
are ha,f dozen railroads in combination, you
| at once have an independent outlet for the
productions of that section. Therefore, in
fact you are making very small and lnsig
nifcant appropriation for rivers and harbors
as compared with the expenditure that is an
nually made for railroad transportation.
What has been the result of all this immense
increase in facilities for transportation There
has been an increase OF the wealth and popu-
lation Of the country that has been absolutely
astounding-one that is unprect dented in this
country or any other. Suppose you blot out
the railroad system and refuse to make appro-
priations to rivers and harbors, what would be
the condition of this country? Where is the
wealth of it then? Where is your progress?
I Where is your boosted prosperity! Where is
| the immense balance OF traJe that IS now IN
your favor? You would be set back half q
century. You would then be literally treading
| in the footsteps of the fathers. You would be
| conforming to the old Democratic uSages,
about which we sometimes hear eloquent
periods, here and elsewhere, by those who Tor
get that the world moves, and that we live in a
different era from that which existed nifty
years ago.
Senators should not be alarmed a. a ten
millioa-dollar appropriation to improve our
great natural highways. and Democrats need
not be alarmed at IL. | have been told in this
body frequently that this is a Democratic Con-
gress, and we must not enlarge these appro-
priations; that we cannot afford to do 1t; that
| IL NAV iniure the Democratic party il we do it.
If controlled the Democratic party and de-
sired to popularize it, instead OF $4,000 600 q
| year for the improvement OF these great natu-
raj highways, would appropriate S25, 10000 a
year | would see that t was judiciously ex-
| pended where it was needed, and would popu-
iarize the Democratic party or any other party
that sustained me by doing it. The increase
suit from it would pay it back from year to
year with accumulated interest, and our people
would rejoice in the new impetus given to their
| growing prosperity.
| propriations The only question is, are they
| wisely made, and for a proper object II SO,
then 1 am prepared to vote for the bill
| Whether you call it Democratic doctrine or
| Republican doctrine or the doctrine Of the In
| dependent party, care not. The question is
not how it affects party creeds, but how it ar
fects the general welfare Of the people OF the
| United States.
But it is said that great injustice has been
| done by the committee in this case. presume
it is something like the same that every com
mittee does. A member of the committee has
better knowledge of the immediate wants
Of his own State and his own section,
and it is probably not strange that
he gets more for his own State and sec
ton because he believes it needs it more. The
action in the House of Representatives is an
| illustration believe North Carolina was not
| represented on the committee OF the House
She got. as the bill that came from the House
| shows not a very large share, an made
| quate appropriation for the actual wants
| there; but when the bill came to
| this BODY. where the Honorable Chairman Of
| the committee is from North Carolina, he knew
the needs of that State, and he doubtless laid
| thu m before the committee, ana the COmunltL6c
| favorably considered them. and they increased
the appropriation for the State of North Caro-
lima by the sum of S329 600, while the State of
Georgia only gets $4,000 all told, counting
one-half of the appropriation for the Coosa
river, which is nearly all in Alabama. 1t runs
| fifteen or twenty miles below Rome. the head
| of it. where the junction of the other two rivers
forms it. into Alabama; but counting half Of
that to Georgia, we have Sl65O00 in all for that
State.
North Carolina got an increase in the Senate
| of S22o, 600 But l have no doubt North Caro-
lima ought to have every dollar of it. l do not
presume the honorable Chairman has put any.
thing In the bill that ought not to be
there Much has been left out, how
ever that ought to be in it. / think
II Is not quite liberal in the committee,
after reporting the bill in that condition, to
| come before the Senate and propose to lay it
time we offer a necessary amendment. They
must remember that good number of the
| States were not represented on that committee;
| that there was nobody who knew the interests
| of those States as well as the committeeman
knew the interests Of their own States. There
| fore think they ought to look with little
federation on our motions here TO amend the
hill where the amendments are obviously
proper; and protest against the lllioerality OF
! motions 10 lay proper amendments on the
table and thus cutting of debate, as has BEEN
attempted in two or three cases when meri-
torious amendment is Offered.
| Some of the Senators. however, have said
| that these amendments ought to be made with
reference to the commerce and business OF
each State. II you adopt that rule my State
| compares very favorably with North Carolina,
and il would have been entitled under that
| rule to a larger appropriation even than North
| Carolina and sha does not get probably what