National Republican., 1881-01-07

concerned III the ownership anu management Ol
boilers. We have, indeed. barely skinned the
work in giving our testimony 10 It's great value
and the labor and knowledge it represents IheSe
only can be estimated by reading II carefully from
cover to cover and knowing how Tar 1t distances
any work of the kind which pre;ends 10 give IN
formation the subject up to the requirements of
the present day.-NclU York Herald,
The mississippi River Improvement.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,, Jan. s. 1881.
To the Editor Of The Nati0RGI Republican:
My attention has been called TO leading
article in newspaper of this city on the i'm
provemcnt of the Mississippi River, in which it
is stated that the pending bill therefor has not
been duly considered, and that the members of
Congress and the newspaper press of the Missis-
sippi Valley are insisting upon appropriations for
the river in advance of proper surveys and esti-
mates. 1 beg that you will allow me space 10 say
few words in explanation of the bill in order to
remove any false impressions on so important a
subject.
In the first place an act entitled "An act to pro-
vide for the appointment of Mississippi River
Commission for the improvement of said river
from the head of the passes near its mouth to its
headwaters" became law June 2S, 1879. The
President appointed upon this commission Generals
Gilmore Suter, CoInstock, Mitchell, EadS, Harrod
and Harrison-all names we'll known to science
and to the country.
of said commission to take into consideration and
mature such plan or plans and estimates as will
correct, permanently locate. and deepen the chan
mel and protect the banks of the Mississippi River
improve and give safety and ease to the navigation
thereof; promote and facilitate commerce, trade,
and the postal service" beg TO hand you a copy
of the act constituting this commission. which,
with the report of the commission of engineers and
the report of the committee of the House, may be
found in the Congressional Record of June s, 1850.
THIS COMMISSION SET ABOUT
its work Immediately and submitted a report on
February II, 1880. YouwiIl pecceive upon looking
over the report how comprehensive. elaborate, and
scientific has been the treatment of this subject
been made, and how guarded have been the speci-
fcatiOnS and estimates venture TO say that no
public work was ever more thoroughly prepared
than this. But more than this:
The House of Representatives directed "the Com
nittee on the Improvement Of the Mississippi
River to proceed down the Mississippi River to its
mouth for the purpose of acquiring q knowledge
of its peculiar conditions and wants and TO gather
information relative TO the best method for its i'm
provement-" On the 26th of May last the commit
tee made their repOrt-a copy of which also send
yoTl-strongly approving and urging the adoption
of the plan ofimproyement submitted by the com
mission of engineers. 1hiS report Is signed ny
Judge Harris of Massachusetts, Mr.. Prescott Of
New York and Mt. Humphrey of Wisconsin-rep-
resenting both the Democratic and Republican
parties and every section of our common country.
The bill pending before the House was drawn in
accordance with the recommendations, plans, esti
mates and specifications of the Scientific Commits
SiOn fortified by the concurrent report of the mem
bCrS of Congress. l ask now in candor was there
evera bill within your knowledge less liable to
the charge OF having been hastily framed or I'M
duly pressed. The engineers ask for
FIVE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS,
about one-half the amount the commerce on the
river is taxed annually for increased and unusual
rates ofinsurance: the bill allows them eighteen
hundred thousand dollars. The river and harbor
bill for last year appropriated $4,000, and out of
which the Mississippi River below Cairo received
only S195.OoD: and so from year to year, and from
Congress to Congress, We have made lavish apprU-
priatious for our ocean fronts and for the upland
rivers, but really have not done anything for the
trade and commerce upon this great national high
way from Cairo to New Orleans.
1t is said there no difficulty in improving the
Tennessee, or the Cum berland or the Ohio, or the
Wabash or the Missouri. for the engineers were all
agreed as to the methods to be adopted: but the
great trunk line to which these are tributaries has
received no appropriations because 1t required
systematic treatment aud no comprehensive sur
vey had ever been made. Each one OF these trib-
utaTies has received larger appropriations IN the
last six or eight years than the MISSISSIPPI Itself,
and some of them have not one-Iehth OF lts COM
mcTce and trade.
At last we have the surveys, specifications, and
estimates. and why shall not the work begin?
Shall the people Of this great valley find their only
outlets to the markets of the world overthe railroad
corpOrations that defeat wholesome competition
by far-reaehing, all-grasping: and allpowerfnl
taists may determine the rates of freight, and.
therefore the value and price of property and the
wages OF labor or shall we open their great high
way. and give to them cheap and uHobStructed
and untaxed communication with the sea?
TIE RIVER FROM CAIRO
to its mouth is the basin into which empty forty
three great river that according 10 the estimate of
Thomas Fl Benton, are b0atable for fifty thousand
miles and are nayigable for steamboats, over IF
teen thousand miles-rivcrs that drain the con-
tinent from the Rocky to the Allegheny Mountains,
and afford transportation to the commodities of
valley fifteen hundred miles wide and two thou
sand miles long, which produces over seventy-iv
per cent. of our exports, and whose productive
capacity and population are increasing with a
Tapidity that is the marvel of the times. This
great interior basin inland presents coast
line OF more than Two thonsand miles, ana It's
and trade exceed by tivefOld our entire
foreign commerce
If there be any one thing in this country ma
tonal in its character and peculiarly the property
was acquired by purchase out of the common
treasure of the people, and the freedom Of its
navigation was provided for i'll the treaty with |
France, and the bills for the admission of Louis
lana and the other riparian States specially de-
Clare that the Mississippi River shall be the COM
mon highway, forever free as well TO the inhabt-
ants of the said States as TO the inhabitants of the
other States and the Territories of the United |
States without any tax, duty imPost, or toll there
some thatthe United States have not the constitu
tiOnal power to make appropriations for the i'm |
prOvenent of its greatest single possession as a !
highway.
AUTHORITY WAS FOUND
for cXpendug six millions of dollars for the !
Cumberland road; several millions for the Della /
ware Water-Gap: four millions and half for the !
canal around the Des MoineS Rapids: nearly as I
much for the canal at Portland i'll the Ohio River
two and halfmiilions for Harlem River in New |
York: seven millions for Alaska. five millions III (
damages even for the fisheries; two hundred mil |
lions since the establishment OF the Government /
for internal Improvements; and eight or nine mil
lions OF dollars per anuum for the Improvement of I
our rivers and harb0rs generally.
Members of Congress find no difficulty in securing
appropriations for the rivers creeks, bayous and /
rOut streams III their districts but when it Is Sug
seStcd that this great inland should be im- /
proved. il is i'll nObOdys district 1t Is held to be
beyond the pale of appropriations and Of constitu
iOnal authority.
Why should we deepen its tributaries and its ,
mouth and leave the main stream obstructed for /
four months in the year 80 that navigation IS sJS-
pended or provide no remedy 10 prevent the Hoods
hat alike destructive TO life and property upon
Is b0sOm and DOrderS, when thC engineers demOn |.