The Republican., 1897-07-08
A GREAT HIGHWAY.
The Cumberland Road of Long Ago. Built
by the United States Government.

the following TO that journal:
From 1906 to 1888 the United |
States government expended more
than $6,0O0,O0O in building a great |
public highway in the States of Mary
land, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Indiana and Illinois, and then dOna-
ted the Improvement TO the States in
which it was located. In those days
that was a far more lavish eXpendi-
ture of the public funds than ten
times the amount would be at the
present time No one who has stud
led the results will question the wis
dom of such a vast outlay, for it
turned a great tide OF emigration
westward, and stimulated a growth
and development in the Mississippi
| Valley that has repaid the govern
ment more than a thousand fold.
After the adoption of the federal
constitution one of the first questions
raised was that of the power of the
government to construct and main
| Jttlil llIlCi llttl Ill lbloN tllCilO6' yllC
faction claimed that no such power
had been delegated, while the other
insisted that authority to provide for
the general welfare of the people,
which was expressly delegated, carried
with it ample power to provide and
support necessary public utilities.
| fHhn pAhnSiNn of no n Nlin
funds united majority in Congress
in favor of such expenditures, and
without ever having this important
and fundamental question decisively
settled, the appropriations for inter
nal improvements have continued
with great regularity and increase for
nearly 100 years.
1.-The Cumberland road was among
the very first of the vast internal i'm
provements undertaken by the gen
eral government. 1t was intended to
be a great national highway from the
seat of government at Washington to
the city of st Louis. 1t was a gigan-
tic undertaking, and attracted wide
spread attention in its day, but
information regarding it III the pub
lie records is rather meager. About
all the particulars pertaining to it are
confined to the appropriation acts of
Congress, and the messages of the
Presidents recommending or CON
demning the measures. Such of the
details of the enterprise as can be OBJ
tanned from the records and by CORE
spOndence with the several states
| have been gathered by Col. 7. W.
Harrison, of this city, for the benefit
Of the Topeka Philosophical Society
and what follows is a synopsis of his
investigations and conclusions.
THE Improvement was commenced
in a very modest way in 1906 with al
appropriation of only $4,000 by al
act of Congress, to regulate the laying
out and making of wagon road from
= Cumberland, in the State of Maryland
t to the state of Ohio. 1t was to he
e laid out by three discreet and disinter
ested persons appointed by the Pres
ident and confirmed by the Senate
t was to be four rods in width, marked
} on each side every quarter of mile
in distance and at every angle, and tC
be built of stone, earth, gravel OF
r sand, with a ditch or water course al
either side, and with no elevation OF
more than five degrees with the hOri
: zOn. To ease the conscience of the
over scrupulous members on the
question of power, it was provided
that the consent of the states through
{ which it was to pass should first be
obtained. This was clearly subter
fuge, for 50 soon after the adoption o.
the constitution it must have beer
known to everyone that single state
could not confer any power upon the
general government, and that the
separate states had no such power tC
: convey.
Subsequent appropriations fol
, lowed thick and fast, the exact aggre
; gate of which it is difficult to ascer
l tain, but certainly in excess o
$G,O0O,0 900. President Jefferson ap
: proved the scheme. President Madi
son did not hesitate to sanction it
President Monroe opposed it at tirst
on the mOOted ground of want o
authority, and struggled through fifty
printed pages in a veto message con
demning it; but he afterward radi
cally changed his mind; indOrsed the
improvement as a good thing, said the
country ought to have more of them
and went so far as to recommend &
much more expensive undertaking
the building of the Chesapeake and
Ohio canal John Quincy Adams
favored the Cumberland matter, and
sturdy old Andrew Jackson gave the
appropriation bills his unqualified
approval.
I'm those early days railroads were
hardly dreamed of, and the highest
ambition of the American statesman