The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-07-09

The Senate's treatment OF the River and
Harbor bill is an Illustration Of tho defiance
OF public opinion by Congress wherever a
raid on the Treasury Is planned. The reck
lessness Of the House In voting over seven
teen millions for this purpose provoked q
general cutlery from the public; yet In face
OF this cutlery the Senate Committee on Com
merco has coolly added upward Of two mil
lions to the Job Not an item paced by the
House has been stricken out; not one has
been reduced; but thirty-six items have been
largely increased and twenty-five new ones
have been introduced. The result OF these
sixty-one engagements by the Senate COM
mittee increases the bill from 81, 1851, s75 to
nearly nineteen and half millions.
It may be suggested that this monstrous
addition will perhaps justify itself on the
ground that sundry public works Of vast ma
honal interest had been stability treated by
the House or passed over altogether. An
examination OF the threescore amendments
will show that they cannot claim this excuse.
To begin with, the sum OF SS77, 600 rs added
for Mississippi improvements, although the
appropriations to this object were already
unprecedented and enormous. Among the
other increases are one Of $100,0O for the
Missouri, one of $s5,Ooo for Cape Fear River,
and two, amounting to $4,000, for Oregon
rivers. Cocheco, Christiana. Choctawhatchee,
Tar, and Trent rivers; Manistee, Portage,
and Saugatuck harbors, and Petaluma and
Cententeutia creeks figure among the items
in regard to which the Senate committee
holds that the House has been too niggardly.
The item for surveys and contingencies Is
also made $50, 900 larger.
TURNING N tho paxu itaue find AMONG
them Sumpewanus Inlet, Oak Orchard har-
Dor, Indian, Cedar, Current, and Meherin riv
ers, Cape Fear River, for which new OPP
preparation Of $4,000 is made, besides the
large increases OF old ones. and, to fittingly
crown the whole, an item Of 100000 for be-
ginning work on the Hennepin Canal.
In this collection there is probably not one
item that could not be easily postponed be-
yond the present year, when tho amounts al
ready proposed are lavish beyond precedent;
while some Of the projects are jobs that ought
never to be sanctioned at ALL Yet 1t is with
such schemes that the Senate proposes to
Guido the House, and throw away two more
millions Of the peoples money.
There is another point to note. Mr. Cox
in discussing the bill in the House, called at
tention to the fact that the greater part Of its
items went to what he styled "oOmmittce
States" That Is to say. fifteen Stntes or
| fewer than half, are represented in the House
Committee on Commerce, which prepared
the bf1l; and these States secured three
fourths Of all the local appropriations, or
those which remain after excluding the Mis-
sissippi and the sums for contingencies and
| for general purposes. This same popularity
is now seen in the Senate. There the Com
mittee ON Commerce consists OF Messrs. No
MILAN Of Minnesota, JONES OF Nevada,
KELLOGG OF Louisiana, CoNGER Of Michigan,
MILLER of New York, RANSOM Of North
Carolina, COKE OF Texas, FARLEY OF Califor-
mia, and VEST Of Missouri. There are here
nine States represented, OF which six, having
| also members OF the House committee,
had already secured more than their
share OF the plumber. Yet OF the Sem
ate committees fifty-nlne increases and
new items, exclusive of the miscclla-
neous and Mississippi appropriations, New
York secures seven and Michigan ten,
both of these being committee States
In the House as well as the Senate, and
| Michigan having already secured through
| tho House the second largest slice Of the
plumber. or other committee States In both
| House and Senate, Texas, which had had the
largest share Of all in the House, now Is Of
fered by the Senate committee an additional
amount OF $44, 500, and Louisiana, Minnesota,
and California two items each, aggregating
respectively $4,000, $4,000, and $4,000. AS
to Missouri and North Carolina, which are
committee States in the Senate, but not in
the House, the former is awarded in the
revised bill q round $4,000 Of the additions,
while the latter bags no less than eleven new
items, aggregating 100000. Finally, al
though, as has been said, the committee Of
the Senate represents but nine States, no
fewer than thirty-ave out OF the fifty nine
Senate committee items go to Senate COM
mittee States.
The bin throughout Ia scheme of shame
less iobbery and plumber.