The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-07-21
The River and HarbOr Bill.

lhC anu Dill
Both houses of congress have been
having their annual tussle over appro-
priations for river and harbor improve
ments. The bill passed the senate on
Friday, with the addition of several
items which had been rejected by the
house, though an amendment was
adopted reducing the total appropria-
tions twenty-five per cent. With this
reduction the bill appropriates about
S14,000,000. Most of the New En-
gland senators except Hoar and Blair
voted against it. Senators ingalls,, Ed
munds, Hawley and Dawes made strong
opposition to some of the items, though
the former finally voted for the bill.
1t must not be inferred that a good
many of the appropriations are not
proper and legitimate, but there are
doubtless some bad jobs in the bill
which throw on the government and
people burden that in no sense be-
longs to them. Many of the small
appropriations are but entering wedges
for larger ones in the future. Five
thousand dollars for river or harbor
improvement this year may mean a
larger sum for the same object another
year. To show how the "jobs " are
worked through congress, we extract
the following from the speech of Sena-
tor Vest:
Mr.. President, you talk about combina-
tions. They do not stop with the committee
Combinations have been made on this floor
in regard to this very bill. "You help me
and will help you" Put up my appro-
priations, and I will help you put up yours"
L have had senators come to me and say.
Vest, you were right in your argument on
the Kentucky river, but 1 was in the gang
and could not leave the procession got
my part Of the pork, and L had to help
somebody else to get his. After pay my
debts will then help the committee" And
so it will be to the end of time, just as long
as men are men, and are governed by the
passions and prejudices and interests that
always govern humanity.
Neither party can be held directly
responsible for this legislation. A good
many senators and representatives are
constantly importuned by their con-
stituents to demand large appropria-
tions for their respective sections, and
in most cases they seem unable to re-
sist the pressure. The demand for
such appropriations is the most urgent
in the West and South, and in the pres
ent bill those sections appear to get the
lions share of the plumber. In connec-
ton with the Chicago harbor appropria-
ton, Mr.. Logan and Mr.. Edmunds got
into discussion of the relative merits
of Chicago and Burlington, VT, and
the general referred sarcastcally to the
immense size and commanding import
ance of the Vermont metropolis. Mr..
Edmunds said they were law-abiding
citizens who lived in Burlington, and
he thought in this respect they differed
from the residents of Chicago. Gen
eral Logan retorted that the people of
Chicago were as law-abiding as the
people of Burlington, and they were
not half so pestiferous as Mr.. Edmunds.
We suspect that one reason for Mr..
Edmunds' lack of strength in the West
as a presidential candidate in 1884, was
on account of the persistency with
which he has always opposed appropria-
tons for internal Improvements in that
section. He certainly deserves credit
for opposing the bad jobs, but it is
claimed that he has not sufficiently
Disseminated between the good and
bad, while he has been less scrupu-
lous in regard to appropriations that
were intended to benefit his own Sec
ton. The force of public sentiment in
the West on this question is well indi-
Gated from the fact that Mr.. ingalls,, in
spite of his strong fight against the
river and harbor bill, meekly voted fol-
it, and only four western senator's
Teller, Voorhees,, Hearst and Wilson
of Iowa-voted against it. How much
of merit there is in the bill it is difficult
to determine. OF course there can be
no reasonable objection to any legiti
mate outlay for rivers and harbors, but
there can be no justice in making ap.
preparations from which neither the
government nor the general public are
to derive any benefit.
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