The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-01-27
A Blind Guide.

The Vicksburg Herald comes out il
| Southern Democrats in Congress not tC
accept the 81 800, 900, which it is pro
posed to appropriate this season fol-
the improvement Of the Mississippi
river, and to await the coming of the
| Garfield administration which, it says,
will do more for the South than the
'hide- bound Northern Democracy. We
apprehend that our friend of the Her
aid is bad adviser in this matter. The
country has had twenty Years of Re
publican rule without any accompanying
! boon to the South, but a great deal of
iIliberal, vindictive and oppressive leg
| islation We do not know upon what
| ground the Herald bases its loving conf
dence in Northern Republicanism, I'M
less it be a paragraph in Gartield's let
ter Of acceptance which we sqrmise was
bait thrown out TO catch gudgeons.
His words were very sweet, but soft
words butter no parsnips. For long
time he was a leading member of the
House of Congress which originates APP
preparations, and never identified his
name prominently with any measure
for the Improvement Of the Mississis-
sippi river.
Just in time to show that the Herald
may be advising the friends of the
Mississippi river Improvement to lean
on a staff that may break and pierce
them, comes the New York Times, the
most influential of Republican organs,
with the following significant article:
''The Mississippi river may properly be
regarded as a great national highway, for
the improvement of whose navigation the
nation may with perfect justice be taxed.
But when any such a gigantic scheme is
proposed a. that for which 81, 100000 is TO
be asked for in one year, people may be ex-
cused for demanding that some better evi>
dence than has yet appeared should be fur
nished in favor of the utility of such
project The log-rolling tactics by which
the huge appropriation is to be pushed are
enough to excite suspicion, and the undls-
gui-ed intention of Southern members to
make the Mississippi Improvement project
the basis of Il series of extravagant appro-
priations for works of internal improvement
is calculated to alarm those who would have
to pay for this species of national develop
ment Should the Mississippi strike prove
successful, the always bloated proportions +
of the river and harboF bill will be very /
decidedly expanded this year and the eight I
millions mentioned as the aggregate amount |
of the bill will be considerably exceeded"
The St. Louis Republican, in reply
to the foregoing, reminds the Times that I
4 few days ago a bill was introduced in
Congress appropriating $3.50, 900 for the
of the Delaware river,
md there was no opposition to it on the
part of the Times. 1t adds that the
Nississippi-though "a great national
highways unfortunate enough to be
Western river and that if its location
ould be changed so that it would play
5 important "A part in the commerce of
he North and East as it now does in
he commerce of the West and South,
fould the Times grudge this 81 $780,
90? Not if it were given every year
Or twenty years.
Our advice to the members interested
n the Mississippi river improvement
! to persist in claiming from the in {
oming Administration such aid for that :
reat object as its national character
emands, and to take the 81 800, 900 .
ow, and as much more as they can
ct. +