Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1881-03-17
Senator Thurman and the River and
HarbOr Bill.


Senator Thurman signAlized the
closing g,days Of his Senatorial career
by taking q firm stAnG against the
River ana HarbGr Bill. i know he
said, there Is in the air an idea OF a
new departure for the Democratic
party, and that hereafter we are to
march under the banner Of the old
flag and an appropriation that we are
to go for getting the largest possible
sum out Of the public Treasury. am
an old man. he continued, and an old
Democrat, but | can not train in these
new ways. This bill is not right bill:
every member on this floor. ! believe,
feels that it is not right oil. ! am
not IN favor Of benetiting Mr. \. BIS
chances of reelection to the House of
Representatives by voting to improve
some trout stream in his district so
that catfish can swim in it,
The bill is woneerful revelation of
the possibilities of American geogra-
ply. Mr.. Thurman challenged Mr..
Ransom, of North Carolina, who had
charge of the bill IN the Senate, to
indicate the locality of CentenIa Creek
and Ellington River, which were
credited TO North Carolina with liberal
appropriations. Turning to the ap-
preparations for his native State. the
same Senator said Il ought to know
something of Virginia, but upon my
} honor, ! never heard of Nomoni Creek,
for which 50, 900 are given in this bill
| never heard of Pagan Creek, which
gets $4,000, and l doubt whether my
learned friend of North Carolina, great
geographer as lie is, can tell me where
Totuski river is In the House Mr.
} Chittenden tried in vain to find out
from the Committee on Commerce
where Sumpawamus Inlet was. to
which this bill gave $1,000. Mr.. Lo-
, gan called attention to the fact that the
bill proposed to make the Savannah
river navigable for push boats by cut
!; ting channel slxty-four miles long,
thirty feet wide and three feet deep.
This push-boat navigation is to be
made possible by blasting rocks and
| dredging gravel in the channel for this
distance, and in constructing wing
dams to contract the water way. This
is all to be done by Congress Under its
: constitutional authority to regulate
commerce. 'Oh! no. exclaimed Mr..
Thurman, Indignantly, that will not
do. Is commerce the swimming of
, tadpoles? Is commerce the disporting
of frogs in the ponds of North Caro-
, lima? Is commerce deepening the
, French Broad that a good big sucker
can swim over it? Not the least bit in
the world
The items in the river and harbor
appropriation bill for the improvement
of streams which are not to be found
on the maps suggest some strange pos
| sibllities in the way Of geographical
conundrums in the future
: The standard puzzles in geography
such as 'how would you 90 by water
: from San Francisco to Chicago? and
how do you bound Madagascar may
| now be laid on the shelf, and in their
5 places series of modern geographical
} conundrums substituted, something
r like these: Where is the Tchefuncte
: river, for which Congress appropriated
r 81, ,5OO?' Through what States or
} Territories does the Yaguina river Zap,
} preparation SlO,OOO) how?' Give the
) average depth and the length and
width of Obeds river appropriation
, $3,OOO)' How far is the Cheesequake
river appropriation $1,000 from the
Rocky Mountains? Does the Neabsco
river appropriation $4,000 flow north
or south, east or west? From what
distinguished citizen Of the Republic
= does Archers Hope appropriation S5,.
OOO( derive its nameY who was Arch.
| er, and what was his hope?' Certainly
Congress has opened new field for
: geographical study to which the atten.
ton Of all teachers and pupils of our
public schools is respectfully called.
The Sarcasms Of Actual Life.
No wit nor satirist can be so bitterly
sarcastic as are many of the occur
rences of actual life. Nature and