Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1885-02-13
THE RIVER & uARBoR nil
McComas' speech.

McComas' speech.
Again Congress has under eons;,Ir,
ton the River and Tarbor bin Twol: i
Of this charac,er have heretofore .cr
passed by Congress. both Of which yer,
rushed through by lobbyists. NJ m.
closing hours of the session. without ID,
consideration; and as cons,,,,..a..
much Of the money 50 appropri ted Va.
un'dvisedly used, or gobtled mn by
swindllng contractors The appropria-
ton male by the last Congress ,y,. so
excessive. and was 80 unwiselv so,.p.
dered that 4 excited considerable public
comment, which seemed in a mc,s,.. m
checknate the tendency Of Conpr..
hastily approprlating the npb 9
money While this disapproval Of tie
popular will had the effect Of bal,o,ias
somewhat the growing evil. it did not
'ntirely eradicate IT, For At Tho sr.t
session Of the present Congress another
bill was passed under the provision. Of
which $4,000 900 was Appropriated for
a similar lurpose. Alike the effort that
Is now being made, it was rushed throgrb
Congress at pell nell gate. and a, a
consequence, among the necessary az.
proptratlons there were many unpece..a.
ry, and perfectly useless. A portion Of
tins money WIS wisely spent in cleaning
out, and making navigable number Of
useful streams and harbors; the remain.
DR. vas mispen; y went into the pocsels
of Jobbcrs
To put a permanent stop to the mode
of Rail Rolding such important legi,la.
ton through Congress representative Me-
Comas has offered an amendment 10 he
present bill. The wisdom Of the amend
mont can be seen at a glance and Me-
Comas says he is in earnest in offering II
The amendment is in these words:
" Provided that the sums by this act ap
proPriltel shall be expended only for
such Of The rivers, barbors, ice harbors,
b rtors ofrefuee, creeks, bayous, canals
and reservoirs named in this act rs the
Secretary Of War, under the direction
Of he President, shall determine. and
provided further, that in no case shall
the expenditure for any one purpose cz-
coed the sum now designated by this act
for that purpose. -
by this amendment power
i, given the Secretary of War,
under the direction of the Pres
resident to inquire into and ascertain
what harbors aud rivers are in need Of
improvement And by it also the practice
oG expanding more money tlan is ap- /
propriated for any particular case is
prevented.
There is good ju lgment in appropra-
ting me ncy towards the improvement Of
necessary water courses for the Ibettcr
protection & advancement of nayilation,
but in the passage of such legislaln the
greatest care should be exercised n
vent the object of tho law fronyeing
by ,windlers. Under his a
men Imeu', if evn in the hur
~ of tie closing hours Of the session, an
wise appropriation is made relief is
given through the Secretary of War as
the discussing agent 1t is not defnate-
ly known that the bill will become
law Itjt does. without this amendment,
we may look for the same result which has
followed other appropriations the kind,
We may expect to see few more mill
ion dollars Of the peoples money ruth
Icssly squaudercd If it becomes law
with the amendment, it must do some
good, and can't possibly do harm. The
Secretary wl'h the assistance of the
President will See that the money is used
prudyntly AMI officially where need
ed ANA not otherwise