The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1896-06-11
PASSED OVER THE PRESIDENTS VETO.
THE RIVER AND HARBOR BILL is
ALL RIGHT
A Complete Answer TO C'cVc'aho y
Extraordinary ChnrRcs--A strong
p,escntatjOn Of the Facts.

a Complete Answer 10 S'e'c'"hu
Extraordinary ChnrRcs--A Stron
Presentation Of the Facts.
The report OF the committee OF
rivers and harbors, recommending ci' ci,,'
massage Of the river ana haroor oiil
Who objections Of the PrcSldcht u
tho contrary Notwithstanding, was
mrcscntcd by Mr.. Hooker, Republlcan
IF Now York, chairman, ana ieau
w ~, nom,,t states that OF the All items
nf CONCENTRATIONS contained III the DllI
.il nrcout twcnty-scven are lor pro
;nnts ,,ontained in bills which have
heretofore become laws, ana when
buyo been for years in process ol con-
struction by the governments: NO new
projects wcrc added to the blil ol 1871
IT, will thus be seen. the report statcs,
that the principal work OF the commit
tee has been the investigation ana cN-
animation Of improvements to when
Congress has repeatedly commlItca
itself. The river and harbOr bill OF
IS00 0approprjatcd $25, 600, 000 and plac-
cd certain works under the contract
system, which involved the additional
oynrnGiturc Of $4,000. 1t appears,
therefore. that by far the greater
number Of projects appropriately Tor IN
tb,s bill we're also appropriated Tor IN
thc hin of 1880 and which arc not yet
completed. -,
Thc report explains that the bill
was referred to Gen. Casey, then chlci
ot the United States engineers, who
rcnorted to President Harrison that
only eight OF the items seemed to be
Of limited on local benefit. The gross
amount appropriated Tor these itcms
WAS $1,000. From this it will be seen,
the report continues, that the larger
mart of the projects contained in tho
nrcscnt bill passed the scrutiny and
received the approval Of Gen. Casey
ana have gone unchallcngcd until now.
The bills OF 1890 and 1872 were APP
proved by President Harrison and tho
bill Of 1891 was permitted by tho pres
cnt Executive to become Il law by limi-
tation.
The committee impcachcd the Pres
ident's declaration that many OF the
objects for which the money is appro-
priatcd arc not related to the public
welfare. They assert that thC bill was
carefully prepared after exhaustive
hearings, and that they scrupulously
avoided making appropriations not in
the interest Of commerce.
Referring to the Presidents criti-
cism. that not q few Of the improve
munts have been SO imprOvidcntly
planned and prosecuted that after an
unwise expenditure OF millions or dol
lars new experiments Tor their accom-
plishmcnt have been entered upon, the
committee says that it has often occur
red, after project has been adopted
in accordance with certain defined
plans submitted by the engineers, that
h, IN, # n
that greater and more effective i'm
prOvrmcnt than that first contemplate
cd should be made. In such cases il
had loEg been the custom OF Congress
to order from time to time new csti-
mates to bc made with view to en-
larging the scope of these projects. In
making appropriations for these en-
largcd projects the bill often directed
that the money appropriated should bo
expended IN accordance with the mod
iICatOnS Of the engineers The
committee believe, therefore, that the
President may have inferred from the
language SO used that the original
plans had been imprOvidcnL and Had.
VlscO and the money wasted. when tho
money expended upon the original
plans was Judiciously expended and
would have been expended even If the
modified plans had been originally
adopted. IN instance Of these modiii-
cations is found in the case OF the har.
hors at Baltimore, Portland, New
York, Wilmington, Delaware. Savan-
nah and other places.
y careful rC-rXumination Of the bill
warrants the committee in asserting
that There Is no foundation for the
ireslacnts statement that The bill
carries appropriations for work which
private parties have actually agreed
with the government 10 do in consid-
Grafton Of their occupancy OF public
property
referring TO the Presidents further
criticism that the bin contcmplatcs al
Immediate cash expenditure OF nearly
Sll,W0,0o0, including -, 900, 900 carrie,
in the sun0ry civil appropriation bin
scrt that the PRESIDENT is in error AL
that only Sl3,G2l 900 are to be cxpcn,
ed during the two fiscal years cndin
June 30. 1898. The statement is alS
mad" that the bin does not approDr
ate S62, 1000, 900 for contract work, bl
only $50,6lG, 900. IL is also shown thu
II all the contracts authorized by Ill
bill are promptly entered into by til
Secretary Of War the maXimul
amount that can be expended in an
one year is $lG,6l2, 900, and not % 900
Coo as the President asserts.
Referring to the Presidents lurthc
criticism that the appropriations fo
the smaller schemes not covered b
contracts which will fall due two year
hence will not be less than ?3O, 900, ,0Ol
the committee say that the next rive,
and harbor bill Will only cover the cos
OF prosecuting these smaller works fo
the two fiscal years ending in 1900, an
that no additional appropriations fo
the smaller ones viii bc made for u.
year 1893.
Passing to the Presidents uccus;
tiOn OF CXtravae eancc, the cOmmitt(
show that tho average appropriation
for the past six years have been SIT
600, 900 a year, whilo including tt
present bill and the two others for IL
remainder of this century the tot
amount for those six years will on
average ST., 100000 year. This
based partly upon the ground that Il
committees experience with the co
tract system in the past, together wi
other knowledge, justiiiCs the boli
that the contract work which win
distributed over Il period OF six yoal
and which amounts to $39, OO0, 00O W
be completed for at least 30 per ccr
less than the omDunt stated M