Evening journal., 1897-03-15
MONDAY. mARoa IS. 1897
WILMINGTON HARBoR SUFFERS.

in Congress have done opromote them
terests of Wilmington by the improve
ment of our harbor, 1t is now practi-
cally settled that nothing will be done
for several months, and most likely not
before the next river and harbor bill
is passed by Congress. Major Raymond
and his associates on the board ap-
pointed to estimate the cost of the
Christiana river project are responsible
for this delay, and there are those who
believe that It is nothing more or less
than another evidence of the majors
ill-will towards the people OF Delaware
for baking him in the consummation
of two of his pet projects, one at Pea
Patch Island and the other AT Liston's
Point We trust thai such is not the
case, for If it were il would be a shame
full peryersion of official power. The
major has no right to allow feelings Of
personal disappointment, pique or re-
sentiment, to interfere with the doings
Of large pieces of governmental work
involving the interests of a large and
rapidly-growing community like this.
An engineer having control and direc-
ton OF such large interests should be
above such feelings. We do not say
that he has been guilty of this thing
but we do say that there are many per-
sons who think so, and who feel that
he and his associates could have made
the money appropriated for the Chris
tiana project Immediately available had
they so desired. But there is such a
thing as estimating on the basis of how
not to do it, and this principal of the
Circumlocution Office may prevail in
the office of the major when he so wills
It. He has been in official life so long
that we presume that he is a master in
the art Of knowing just how not to do it
without being found out.
Be he innocent or guilty of this
wrong against our city, the fact re-
mains that the fund appropriated for
the Improvement of the Christiana river
is now so tied up that It cannot be
used. Somebody is to blame, and it is
certainly not Congress, which made
provision of money to be used and used
at once, and not to be withheld at the
caprice of a War Department official.
The. secretary of war appointed
Major Raymond, Colonel Roberts and
Colonel Haines board of engineers to
look into the Christiana river project
and to estimate it's cost. They have
made their calculation and reported
their finding to the secretary Of war.
They have informed him that H. would
cost S377 SAP, not counting the rock.
This amount they divide as follows:
Construction Of a ietty on the south
side of the mouth of the Christiana,
$4,000; construction of jetty at the
mouth of the Brandywine creek, $40,
600; dredging from the creek 1,429000
cubic yards of material, at IS cents per
cubic yard, $257 ,22O; estimating that il
will require two years to complete the
work and that there will be an annual
deposit Of 100000 cubic yards of ma
terial the cost of removal of which
will be IS cents a cubic yard, they ado
the sum Of $4,000 to the cost of dredg.
ing, making the total for .jetties ant
dredging the sum of $343, ,22O To this
they add ten per cent. for contingent
expenses, this item being $S4,S22, anC
raising the total of 1917 ,542. In addi
ton to this, General Smith, in his re
port for last year, estimated that 6,43'
yards of rock would have to be takeI
out, at cost of S14 yard, or S9OO76
added to this is ten per cent for con
tingent expenses, or 5000, which
added to the other totals, makes tn
grand aggregate for the project SAG,
625. To do this work Congress appro
priated but S225.S46, or less than one
half of the amount needed.
We will now return to the officia
course of the report. This board havin
reported the inadequacy of the appro
priation to the secretary of war, it wa
by him turned over to the judge advo
cate, who is the legal adviser of tn
department, and he in turn gave hi
decision to the secretary of war tina
where money was appropriated for
special project and the sum was dis
covered to be not sufficient to complet
it, it was not legal to use any part {
that fund for the purpose of even star
ing the project, and that neither woul
it be legal to modify the project in sue
manner as to make the fund in han
available.
This means that unless Senators Ora
and Kenney and Representative Hand
can induce Congress to pass a speci
act giving the War Department Il
right to apply the fund to its prop
uses, the Christiana river must rema
in its present condition for at least tv
years, and the shipping interests
Wilmington suffer for a correspondiI
period. Whether this is the result Of
wheel within a wheel, it is a matter
conjecture.
At the meeting of the Board of Trai
on Friday evening, George w Bul
moved that our representatives in Co
orpcc be t,rCad 70 s,co fhof,. offortc