The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1882-09-02
1ouaIoson6iIIc Gl)icf.
The River and HarbDr Bill.
Tive Dollars b = ear

Communicated.
The River and HarbDr Bill.
Now that the travahs aud tliroes Of
flame Congress are over and she is safely
" delivered of this bill, in spite of her'nid-
wife, who attempted to push back tho
hrtns on q supposed false presentation,
we may expect to see something done for
pur levees. It was abont time for Con-
gFess to come to orr aid. What with the
six-mills State tax, ten-mills parish tax,
five-mills levee district tax, and the pro-
jected five-nil!s special parish leyee tax
IL total of twenty-six mills, the people
would soon have regretted the Kellogg
regime, with its twenty-one mills and
lo,c valuations lin u cows horny. The
adherents Of the Senator claim to. ha, G
proved this "by syllogisn true, in moral
and figure" We will not discuss.
President Arthur recommended river
bill and he was Landed to the skies here
Congress decorated the bill with divers
flyers for the safe navigation Of the duck
ponds down East, which drew the veto,
and presto onr Chief Magistrate is here
damned to the lowest depths.
New York and the East desire to see
the transportation Of the western pro
d,,ce to their doors through lakes, canals
and railroads, Their representatives did
not venture upon direct opposition Of
the proposed bill, but they cooked it so
rs to bring out tile veto. That Arthur
and his stalwarts should halt for an in
slant before any constitutional impede
lnent is ridiculous to think of. Bayard
and .Pendlet0n may cayil for strict
construction of the chiffon, for it may be
they haye not yet forgotten the teachings
Of Calhoun, Benton and other lights of
Democracy. Whatever Kent, Story and
others have written, no one now doubts
that internal improvements, tariffs and
national banks is the policy Of the Gov
eminent. Read the innumecable bills
for deepening the creeks and mill-dams
down East. Look at our national cur
rency-greenbacks, and doesn't every
wooden nutmeg, ham and pig of the
country proclaim home protection The
old Constitution is gold yet. It is rs
malleable. It has been hammered so
thin that it covers every thing from the
sins of a President to the stencil of u
dead jackass. But the devil take poll
tics. My theme is
OUTLETS AND JETTIEs.
Much has been said, pro and con, of
these systems, and find that the argu-
ments which are advanced Of either are
about the same as those which were ad-
vocnted years ago when these questions
were discussed i'll the public prints.
The .spirited contests among scientists.
and those who pretend to be Of that class,
have largely engaged the attention of
the common run Of people among whom
! any lot ID cast. They know little OF
charts and soundings, Of currents and
Inducements, and the philosophy of
water, as laid down technically by rules
of hydrostatics and hydraulics, and they
therefore draw their conclusions from
their everyday experiences of the work
ings Of nature, as seen by the naked eye.
They are allnostsunanimously in favor Of
tire outlet system.
But this universal conclusion, it may
be said, is based on their ignorance, and
must admit that vulgar notions have
often run counter to exact science. We
remember from onr readings that the
popular opinion Of the immobility of the
earth was So fixed that it nearly cost
Galileo his life to assert and prove that
it revolved. Tho knowledge of the at
traction OF sfavitation was indefinite
until it was ascertained aud proved by
Newton, and from time-honored Hippo
crates, the father Of medicine, WHO said
that God was the inventor of the healing
art, down to the small followers Of Galen,
who questioned the very existence of ii
God, aud
Who the gilt cane with solemn pride
To their sagacious noses applied.
No NJ. D. ever dreamed of the circul;s-
tion Of the blood until it was discovered
and proved by Harvey, and physicians
laughed at him notwithstanding, just as
astronomers derided Corpernicus and
Calico, long after the theory or system
of each was we'll established Thus it
will be seen that popular errors have
prevailed even among philosophers from
II careless reading Of the laws of nature.
But the illustrious discoveries proved
the correctness of their theories, as CON
clnsiyel as Enclid solved the most diff
cult problems. So that one may well
pause and inquire what irrefutable proofs
have been offered that outlets were IN
furious and jetties all-sufficient Could
not both systems be adopted with success
-one to reduce the surface level, the
other to scour the channel Of the river
or are they SO antagonistic that, like oil
and water, they repel each other! Have
both been thoroughly tried.
Certainly the jetties at the Balize
have deepenea the strait, for it stands to
reason that il stream one mile wide is
narrowed dswn to three hundred feet,
that the current will be accelerated .by