Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-08-09

Gratis who were paired were in favor oil
the bill and would have voted yea
Only four Southern Democrats, all from
Georgia, voted to sustain the veto. vi
the forty-one votes cast in the Senate 10
override the veto, twenty-five were by Demo-
Gratis, of whom eighteen were from the South'
| That the bill is extravagant and obJecuon-
| able no one denies. But there never was
river and harbor bill that passed Congress
| which was not more or less extravagant and
| Objectionable. President Arthur tells the
truth when he says as a river and harbor
bill becomes more Objectionable it secures
more supports" but the fact is there would
be no appropriations made by Congress for
objects of internal improvements if each
measure stood alone on its intrinsic inertia
| We agree with our contemporary Of the st.
| Paul Pioneer Press that the gross amount
| appropriated by the bill Is not too large,
| and would not be too large if it were twice as
| great, always supposing the money to be
properly applied. The nation is prosper
Gus and has a large surplus income, and
it is as natural and legitimate Tor
| it TO expend its surplus in internal
improvements as it is for prosperous indi-
vidual TO make permanent Improvements
upon his private property. With all its de-
fec;s the river and harbor bill contains more
elements of substantial national benefit than
any appropriation bill before Congress. 1t
is thousand times less objectionable than |
the scores of public building jobs that are |
log-rolled through Congress, or than the |
sundry civil bill, with its hodge-Podge OF
little steals. The only national objection to |
the river and harbor bill is that some of the |
money it appropriates is devoted to I'M
worthy objects; and really this objection is |
unanswerable. The only thing that can |
csndidIy be said about it is that it is better |
to waste some money in rnaoadaraiains dry I
creeks and paying the election expenses OF
weak members OF Congress than to allow
great national works in which the interest Of
millions of producers is involved, TO fail
through the defeat of the whole measure.
The Washington Post, the central organ of
the National Democracy, takes the right
view of the question in the following able
article:
Practical statesmen do not expect legislation to |
be an embodiment of unmixed good. Practical |
amount OF good with the least possible admixture
OF the inevitable evil So long as the human
these traits must be present and felt active
forces in any representative government legis-
measure that is not pure as holiness ITSELF but
as legislative bodies, fairly representative Of the
af5t a would n
compromisingly insist on carrying out his own
ideas of hight. who would never y1eid minor IN
useless that his public career would speedily end
have It's place. To give 1t as little room posi-
BILE is the best that practical men can do. 1t has
b ard that this river and hnrbor bill was free
from blot or blemish-"one among ten thou-
sand and altogether st frsod mas IF oe ee
measure that it contained some items that
stood alone 1t contains appropriations that are
unquestionably local, and for wntcn the national
government ought not to provide. number OF
New England towns that have no commerce that
is not purely local get haroor appropriations
nc part OF national system of waterways are re-
meInbered in the bill. But despite these patent |
undenied and undeniable objections Congress did
veto for good thst It contains far oyertops
bad, the benefits which 1t promises are much
greater than all the harm it can do Judged by
any fair standard to employ In judging such mat
tiers, the bill s worthy oipopular approval. Some
that ali of the lower Mississippi de egation voted
their Obligations, would have bssely betrayed
their constituents If they had not voted for
measure more benefcent to their people than
any other act of Congress in recent years. The
bill inaugurates work of Incompatible i'm
EFT to the country at large-the work of making
their great river safe channel for the commerce
of the Mississippi valley, instead OF seourge and
destroyer For years past the jeaousies and clash
ing interests of other sections have prevented any
gard. This year public opinion ripe for the
great national Improvement. The people OF the
portanee The President heartily seconded it in a |
special message TO Congress Not only on account {
BILE check to the inordinste greed OF railroad mo
nopolies did it commend itself TO inteliigent popI,
steal in the bill as It's opponents alege, the MS,
Ioting tor it their sole chance of getting long
deferred Justice. /
There are constitutional objections to
system of internal improvements by +
he government. But since ii is impossible 1
o reduce tariff which fills the treasury de- !
,artment of the government with a surplus
If millions it is better for this surplus to be r
expended on our rivers, harbors and other 9
objects than to lay idle in the public vaults I
II be stolen by corrupt officials. The Eastern i
states have secured nearly all the appropri- i
.tions needed for objects of Improvements. I
'ince the formation of the government their
ny has been, "Givei givep They have
'attened upon the national treasury, grown | s
ich and plethoric and stated with appropria- b
ions, Now that Congress has done justice 10 ;
he South and West they call the bill passed y J
n spite of the Presidents veto, a ssteal." o
he Eastern States have been built up and h
made prosperous by these appropriations, g
nd now that they have got all they want 81
hey stigmatize appropriations to other sec !
ions as steal. The bill makes liberal ap- n
ropriations to the South, and the Southern p
eople will indorse and sustain every mem s!
er of Congress who aided in securing the = :,
assage of bill which will be- w
ow incalculable benefits upon the il
outh. The Augusta (Ga.) Consttu- a
o6nalist forcibly says: Congressman n
ON the South who voted for this bill CT
nd for the notification of the Presidents
eto should not fear for popular indorse- I'll
lent, the more so, as a vote to sustain the | OF
ETC carried with it endorsement nf ir,pe-
alisn far beyond anything Grant ever W
aimed. The President agreed to approve III
lie measure, in spite of pseudo constitutional sh
,,,r1.. x,ro.;aea ro,,.~o.. ,uo,,,l o-,a sh
RUPEES, proVlueu SoDSres5 Woulo extenu n,
e time for expanding the amount appro- BE-
rated over the present year and give him he
entire control of the expenditure of one half pi
G sum appropriated during the present fiscal
ar. Never did a president so coolly and nI
,pudently offer TO compromise his con- To- To-
fence and barter his principles for the sake Fl
Cesarism. And yet some Southern rep an
- I a
tive functions and expend the money as -. =,
the New York Stalwart and ward poll III
,ian-saw ft." pc
cr'
HE BOILERS AND THE REPUBLI. ~
CANS.
Verify is it true that politics make strange CO.
d-fellows. With an impudence that is wa
the boilers arroeate to them | rs