The record-union., 1896-05-27


self that never believed it. The army
engineers laughed it to scorn, said it
was an utter impossibility. and that 1t
could not be done We authorized, in
spite of the army engineers, two or
four years ago, this man to go on with
dynamite and make his channel. He
went on and claimed that he had made
that channel of certain depth. An
other Board of Army Engineers re-
ported to us that he had not made the
channel and was not entitled to pay,
but we paid him $4,000 How about
the army engineers being supreme au-
thority with the Committee on Com
merce? Again, in this very river ana
harbor bill, he came in for a renewal or
his contract, and we renewed it, the
army engineers saying that the thing
was an utter failure. He came in and
proved by divers persons, ship cap
tains and others, that it was not a fall
ure; that he had that depth Of water,
and the majority Of the Committee on
Commerce determined against the army
engineers, said he had procured a GER
tain depth of water, and they not only
renewed the old contract, but they
doubled it, they tripled it, and provided
for the making of channel three times
as wide as in the first bill. Then they
did not leave it to the army engineers
to measure-think of ito see whether
or not he had gotten a certain depth
Of water and was entitled to $50, 900.
Who did it? We took a man outside of
the army engineers, a Geodetic Survey
man.
In my experience with river and har-
Dor bills, wherever a majority Of the
committee wish to overrule the army
engineers that majority does it without
the slightest compunction of conscience
A board of army engineers made its
report, and I declare that never in a
single instance did the first board of
army engineers or the second board of
army engineers, either one of them,
condemn Santa Monica as harbor, and
no condemnation Of it can be found in
their report. They simply expressed a
preference for San Pedro and gave
their reasons, and the most prominent
reason was that it was better adapted
to Notifications than was Santa Moni-
ca That was the principal reason, ard,
as the Senator from Missouri has said,
occupied more space in their report
than did anything else.
Another reason they gave was that
it was impossible, they thought, to find
the right kind of rock at Santa Monica.
Now 1t turns out that there is any guam
tity of rock at Santa Monica, of the very
best kind of granite, IT'S pounds to the
cubic foot, which Is about the best gran
ite you can find, and any quantity Of it,
1llImitable. They declared in their re-
port that there would be danger Of one
railroad being able to charge any price
it pleased for hauling rock if il were
hauled by railroad. I propose to add
an amendment to the Senate amend
ment like this: Provided, That what.
ever rock Is transported by the Southern
Pacific Railroad Company, there shall
be no charge for hauling higher than
one-half cent ton a mile"-the low
est rate known to railroads; and Mr..
Huntington before our committee said
| that he would guarantee that it should
be hauled for that.
When the report was made to us in
our Committee of Commerce We con-
| sidered the matter, and determined
not to appropriate for a harbor at San
Pedro at that time. Shortly Afterwards
I went out there. Now, the Senator
| from California (Mr. White), who Is
perfectly fair in his argument, admit.
and argued both sides of the case with
so much fairness that every once in a
" hile I felt a little uncertainty as to
whether he was not going to take my
side, alluded to the distinguished navi-
gator from Maine," and his visit to San
Pedro somewhat sarcastically; but I'll
forgive him. I will say, nevertheless,
I went out there. I do know something
about harbors. I have common sense,
I think; what they call in New Eng
land horse sense; and 1 have looked
over a great many harbors in my life
/ am able to form a general judgment
| l think / could tell, looking at that pic
| ture Gndicating) which was the better
place for a harbor; and I pity the Sena-
tor who could not. / went down there
on that bluff Qndicating) at San Pedro
Who took me there? The Southern
Pacific owned me then, of course, be-
! cause the President of the Southern Pa.
| cific Railroad Company took me there
| and he had about a dozen of his South
| ern Pacific officers with him. I thinl
the Senator from Minnesota (Mr. Davis
was there with me, and the senior Sen,
ator from Connecticut (AIr PlatD
Senator Stanford was urging the neces
sity of an appropriation, stating tha, il
was vital to the interests Of commerce
that great commerce would spring III
there if they could only have a safe hsr,
| Dor. / loved dear Senator Stanford
with all my heart: I should have beer
delighted to have served him in any
possible way. He was a kindly gentle
man in every respect. I stood on tha
| bluff Qndicating), about seventy fee
| high, the bluff running down straight
rocky, and looked out into this proposed
harbor. About the first question I asked
the Senator-there was only a Sigh
breeze blowing, that was southerly. ant
the little waves were rushing up agains
the rocky side of this bluff upon which
stood-I asked the Senator which wa
the troublesome wind there. He saiC
it was the southeasterly wind. "If you
1 had wind is the sOIlf fheaSferlv wind ~