Morning journal and courier., 1883-12-27

compelled to veto comparatively recent
 River and Harbor appropriation bill. But
 was there not much popular misspprehension as to that bill? Was not the veto rather be-
 cause of few minor appropriations therein 1 contained, which were regarded as unneces-
 sary, than that the larger ones would not bear
 close scrutiny? The passage of bill giving
 the President power to veto individual items in appropriation bills would easily provide 8
 way in which objectionable appropriations might fail, while the more worthy might be carried into effect.
 It may be that some of the larger works, like tho Florida ship canal for instance e, might properly be carried out by individual enterprise receiving government aid, and being subject to the inspection of government engineers and to the imposition
 of such restrictions as might be deemed by
 Congress advisable. It has been the fashion,
 to some extent, to join in the outcry against the aid which was so liberally bestowed upon
 such great enterprises as the Pacific railr oads. But has not the country derived advantages from those great works tenfold as great as
 the aid conferred upon them? Was not the granting of sach aid really true economy for
 the people? Is it not advantageous to give an acre of government domain to quadruple tke
 value of five acres, or to aid really national enterprise, if every dollar of such aid will surely add ten to our treasury or to ths
 wealth of the whole country?
 Incidentally, of course, the sxpsndi- ture for great public improvements of so large a sum as is each year derived from the tax upon whisky would directly pay for the labor of many thousands of men, anc indirectly would do much to revive the great industries of the country, which are now temporarily depressed and still further threat ened by the alarm incident upon tariff agita- ton. Surely this would be gratifying fea- turs. If the proceeds of this tax could be expended as has been indicated, it is believed that the next decade might be one of unpar- slleled prosperity in this country. If it should not be deemed expsdient to expend the entire amount upon waterways, surely something might be done for our coast de- fence and our navy. It has been said that in time of peace we should prepare for war. If the preparation should avert war; (which apparently is not now imminent, but which may at any time become so, the few millions thus expended would be but g small sum compared with the hundreds of millions saved. Tho proper disposition of revenue, no less than the method of raising it, should receive the earnest attention of statesmen of both par ties. The improvement of eur waterways ought not to bs and probably will not be made mere party question. But if party lines should be drawn in relation to what is apparently to be one of the vital questions of the immediate future, 1t seems not rash to predict that the party which commits itself to the policy of such liberal appropriations as shall make it possible to complete these i'm portant works in the next three or five years, instead of carrying them unfinished into the next century, will prevail in the contest for mastery. It is net claimed that there Is any novelty in the proposition to expend money on these various Improvements. But it is believed that the time is nOa0 ripe for their being contemporaneously pushed to compile tion. It is also apparent that by finding other use for the whisky revenue than the rapid cancellation of the government debt, more than one bone of contention may be removed, and thus capital and enterprise may take courage.