Alton Weekly Courier (Newspaper) - August 20, 1852, Alton, Illinois AUGUST JUrer sad Harbor Weare indebted toa friend in Washin for a copy of the Congressional Glob of July and which contains n full count of the debate in the House of on this We shall ma extracts of the to a full exten in order that the public may see the true si nation of present political upon t of Internal Improvement and learn in what manner it is regarded in It will be remembered that this ation BiH was reported by a special commi styled the Committee on and their object was to present a thi would give general and be pasi The Committee reported the amount appropriation for each in proportion t the amount of The wiH perceive how extreme difficult it is to get an appropriation pass that will be satisfactory to the whole na It appears that no passin over of will he that a to every minor an and sand bar in the country must b when this is the vas amount of money appropriated becomes to and the members of Congres from the and suffer to fall of its own great same Appropriation is now un der consideration In the House of Represents On the its was resumed in the but the House ad without final The fate of th ie but it is thought by man the Compromise Omnibus will break down of its own Every citizen of Alton should read the re marks of Campbell upon the Lou Why not ask f o appropriations for Alton with th same propriety We can only give an outline of the debate Ix THE HOUSE OF JCLT The House having resumed its tbe Committee of the th of tie Union on the Harbor Mr Olds ia the opened the de by a lengthy in favor of a groat being to clear tbe Ohio He read extracts from letters and messages o and showing that they were in favor of improvements for national purposes and he contend ed this to be He exclaimed and New who were getting the lions share of the New and members from defended their and de nied receiving more than they were en titled This Is swelled np pretty largely I am not satisfied with it as it It does not appropriate enough to tho Ohio and Mississippi New York gets a monstrous pile out of this small She gets by this according to the calculation made by the chairman of trie Committee on Commerce and by Will the gentleman state how much less New York than the estimates of the Department fot that State I dp not but this much I can that Whig Secretaries have no doubt made them large are pood on estimates and deficiency New York has always been well provided and she ought to for which there is a liberal appropriation in this has already received Big Sodus Bay has had and in Cayuga now asks for an Hitherto they have been called Big Sodas and Little but the chairman of on Commerce has dodged round and now calls Little Sodas in Cayuga I offer the following Amendment Pbr the of navigable above the 000 to be expended tinder the direction of the Sec of I the amendment for the Tennessee river with a variation In the amount of the It seems that all out side of the Committee on Commerce have to put their fingers upon a particular wire to have any amendment In offering the amendment again to tbe I do so with out much hope that it will be The Amount Is based on proper estimates fronvthe and cannot be objected to on that That it is for object no one in all tbe opposition has denied yet there is fatality attending tbe which seems common to unfortunate in The bit reported by the Commit tee on Commerce seems to be so perfect In all its that its friends oppose every amend however wise and Up to the present I suppose not less than fif have been offered and voted In this the Ohio and Arkansas are provided Why is the Tennessee left out It was in the hill reported by a simi lar committee to the last Has it grown less or less national and I hope the amendment will My time will not allow me to enter into a constitution al this but I content by giving opinion as inferred from their votes of twenty strict of the who voted in system ona test eix voting against I am opposed to a era extravagant system of internal im provement but having the sanction of Gen eral under whose administrations appropriations were I thought proper appropriation object as national and as important as any in the J hope it will be Daring a period of forty vears in the history of the Adminis op to there has been f and river improver net including I propose to give the amount expended by the year of the the State in which and th division of the Union in which The information is exhibited in the folio wi EXPENDITURE or SACS der General Van It is a remarkable that out of t whole by the tho southern States have as wi be seen by the table while the northern Stat nave received The gallant sta of South Carolina received one do I mention not fron any se tional but state them they are shown from the When w the time arrive when western commerce an western rivers are to receive their due pro portion of the revenue Will it ever arrive E fear under the system The then taken upon and was not agreed I offer the folio wing amend ment For the improvement of the James and tox below the cities of Richmond and Peters I proposed to offer a amendment to the amendment of my co I move strike out Insert My reasons for so will state Tery briefly to tbe It rue that tbe committee on Commerce hav overlooked James In in tl division of funds which they propose to di vote to this and so far as the inSu ence of the action of that committee bea upon tbe it ignores existence one of the largest commercial Interests in th There is hardly any of this country so largely favorable consideration of this a the very one now under Th city Is now the centre of inter naf improvements In the shape of canals an upon have been expendet V State and individual nea Improvements and when completed will be mighty commercial of th Mississippi so that there are concen rated already at that point a amoun of not only of but o mrt of North seeking for foreign md home to be largely when these improvements strike the valley o he Mississippi Consequently not on y the interests of Virginia are involved in liis but the interests of all th commercial and the interests jf tbe western I am opposed to thi and in favor of tie proposition f the he gentleman has said he cannot whv the appropriation for this river was in which passed the last nn Deluded from the estimates of the in the now under Tc it appears tu be a very plain matter here is a species of old the eads of all these who remain n office permanently without being o political and the b It becomes a life establishment ur n which quarter all their Tl cad of the feels anin erest in having a moderate wil e certain to furnish some o spend for the benefit of friends and cm He rather to the of a small than to any consideration of the great public character of the present i very apt illustration of that When ie that to the hide of the which passed this House the last evident that the Chid up for the present Hence e find the Department struck first at the ew States that could not vote very e in and excluded from them sev ral Important subjects of improvement con inthe former especially in my wn And in one when il ad tbe approbation of the Department at ie last and where there ad been a regular survey and the estimates the subject of the appropriate on to the of James river is another preg ant illustration of this policy of ie An appropriation for this ork was embraced in the of last has been thoroughly surveyed by an able Seer of the Topographical and estimated was not embraced in the present estimates and ill It was well known that the Virginia with perhaps one or two ould not rote for the expedient to distribute tbe amount eome section where the Representatives pursue a different line of James river was given the Ii ther the measure of justice to a State district is made to depend upon the senti ents of the or tho roting of the this monstrosity enough to disgust the not only ith the present but I fear with the The was then taken upon the to the and it was not The question recurred upon the amend ent proposed by ORR demanded tellers which were and and FULLER were The and the tellers noes So the was agreed offered tho follow to the amendment To the State of Kentucky to enable that tho the navigation of the 3 said I have been a silent observer this have part in been and interested ob of In part of the In this state of the feel it my duty to come inand an appropriation for my district I represent a which is In part by the Kentucky four counties of which as it in tbe em brace of the Kentucky river j and I feel tBat I should merit the condemnation of my con if the Committee are proceeding upon present to ask an T tHe engineers made no estimates for the Kentucky river that is On looking over this reported by the Com on I have made an I find that tbe majority of the appropriations recommended have not been estimated for by the in the printed report accompanying the dents nor recommended by to time is very My statements are strict ly I have carefully analyzed this and I think quite as carefully as the Com on Commerce themselves Nei did I go before the Committee on Commerce and askfor an appropriation for the Kentucky I considered that the committee were to the prin ciples which have been announced by the gen tlemen from to distribute appropriations fairly among all parts of the according to the merits of the respective we should pass a national and not a local for national and not local improvements and that the Committee on Commerce was as much bound to know those objects were national asa court of justice is to laws which are I am emboldened by the passage of the amendment for the Im provement of James because I believe James river russ through a single State and the Kentucky river a single State I am prepared to and pat For the extreme sensitiveness of the Commit tee on would show that the ties from which tbe gentlemen who compose that are amply provided for in this while others are Several That is I mean nothing disrespectful to the They did what was perfectly If I had been upon that committee it would have been per natural for me to have cared specially or my OUTI That is the with this whole when scend to State and local from Michigan STUART solicitous we shall riot go into the dis cussion of the general merits of this all debate upon this was smothered n the ITou into com upon the and have put the five minutes rule even allow ns to discuss it its merits in a five minutes The was and the amend ment to the amendment was riot agreed to The question wag then taken upon and it was not of submitted tho to at the end f the clause under That tie herein N for the tho the and fbc shall IKS the of the channels 01 and not to tho construction of landings ani on said I believe ave at last succeeded in offering an amend will meet the approbation of the If it docs all I can say in that I am opposed to in this improvement the information of the to call the attention of the gentleman from Illinois PL Campbell to this that among the printed estimates Bent to the House upon this for the re moval of obstructions in of St among other was presented to the Committee on but they rejected it upon the very ground which the gentleman from Illinois has DOW urged in favor of this of Will the gentle men allow me to ask him one for the purpose of correcting the made by the gentleman from J I mint to know whether there is a single the Committee on Commerce in this which did not have the approbation of the corps of question of want to know whether it is in order to discuss this in opposition to the amendment under The The Chair decides that tbe gentleman from New the gen from Maine are out of order in tho course of discussion they were SEYMOUR I was ou to say that we rejected this because we think it camo within of harbor and river improvements to con struct upona navigable river anything that might be called a which was nothing more than a landing or The commit perceive that is confined by the very language of the item to the gentleman from Illinois has al to the improvement of tbe navigation of There is no need therefore for this want to improve the by turning the Illinois to side j and would be improved by con is for of preventing this appropriation from being thus any under the direction of the Secretary of offered this Jlf ter this estimate for the improvement of tbe Louis harbor having been rejected by the Committee on and no place in I really not think Secretary War would ever take of the appropriated for the improvement of the Mis river and its tributaries Jm of of If there is any that being done by to have perhaps it would be worth while to put the restriction Then why object to tho amendment 1 The question being upon the amend demanded tellers but riot I do not desire to oppose this but I desire to say a few words in relation to The It can be done only by unanimous Several MEMBERS The question was and the amend ment was 32 not important as is only to the State of it upon tion furnished byj T to know the reason why the har bor of Louis has been omitted 7 As I during the last over three thousand steamboat arrivals at the city of Each boat this vast number freighted with the produce of oar fertile ores of and production of tho of steamboats our western the show hundred and thirty enrolled and licensed at a larger number than at any other of the great cities upon those and Tanking in the amount of their second and but a little the tonnage enrolled and licensed v 5 Mri is unne for me te say that I am emphatically opposed to the amendment of the gentleman from i Iwas astonish ed committee see adopt the amendment which I and would have excluded the verva which tie gentleman them for there harbor ona the river is the landings upon rivers of localities where boats receive and die charge their the General Govern ment has already expended hundreds of ihou sands of dollars for purpose of im proving them at the city of Is that for the benefit general commerce of the country It is di recting the natural channel of the river from more they the obstinately the old Father of Waters es his natural cS landings the riv I deny the and I deny the or the expediency of the General Gov to make for the reason that it s substituting individual interest for the But I have another reason or offering this Heretofore the Government bus appropriated large urns of of thousands of for purpose of making the Louis For the of making myself I will splain the position of an island in the opposite about the middle f the called Bloody The ten enoy of the current is to the Illinois side of tat Tbe city of or the purpose of diverting lannel of toe river side of ie without any kind of authority com to build a dam across that portion of ie between Bloody Island the Uli ois side of the Alter thay had ceded with the work for some ois authorities applied to tho courts an to stop the was The city of in con with the owners of Bloody ade an application tothe Legislature II for the privilege of building two cause or two and to make two Bloody Island with the Illinois The privilege was granted by the Illi and for the purpose of in uring the completion of the they en red into n large sum with the of Bloody commenced c and having filled ej failed in constructing these A flood the whole work but they succeeded doing so much as to destroy the on of the river upon the Illinois In which passed House at e last which I to be as a substitute to ere is an appropriation of for the of the I de re before this appropriation ilch is to be made for the improvement of is to have inserted in the a pro that it shall be applied exclusively to e improvement of of the annes of the and not for the im or construction of These and capitalists at desire to t money from the General Government for e purpose of these two d thereby relieving themselves from the ob ations they were under to construct these in consequence of the bond entered t ii J r anLLER the following amend ment For the improvement the harbor at St said I beg in the few remarks I intend to present upon the subject of this to call the atten tion of to a clause in the re marks submitted by the honorable chairman of the committee on commerce Seymour in opening this and then show you the inconsistency of taken by that committee in reference to tho ation recommended in this irith the rule laid down by the committee as indi the chairman in those He says But the committee have prescribed another rule for their They have that is tho ground upon which they have framed this that it was their duty to provide for tbe general wants of the Commerce of the country at those those great commercial it had already They did not suppose that it was with in their province toga parts of the country just rising into where the commerce tad defined its where yon would not know if you appropriated today ten or twenty thou sand dollars for the improvement of a wheth er ten years them be any trade or com merce to bo by preferred rather to confine the appropriations to the wants of tho gen eral commerce of the by locating them at the great centers of where it already ftx and where it will be I desire call the attention of the committee for a few moments to some facts in connection with this which 1 have before I refer to the estimates of the Topographical relative to this ana which the Committee on Commerce had before At the lost a similar estimate was made for the improvement of the harbor at I desire to ask the gentle man from Missouri this question Does he suppose the Committee on Commerce were bound to surrender their judgment to the es Bureau usions occasionally made to some into by them with the State of For I hope the may I cannot con sent that appropriations shall be and the patronage of tha General Government to build up a great city on the Missouri wnich ought to gorem these the reason I have sta but for the last two days it to the amendment nw as degenerated into for the ap of money among the different sec ng and Congressional districts of this as to the injury of others amble over the division of gingerbread or rions on the Illinois of New of the I will answer the gentle I not Committee on Commerce were bound to surrender their judgment to the estimates of the Topograph ical nor do I suppose that we in this committee are bound to surrender our judg ment to the recommendation of the Commit tee on These extracts havo been furnished to the committee for their consid but they hare seen fit to reject some of At one moment when an amend ment is not embraced in the esti some member of grave and the be cause there was no estimate for it and when an amendment is proposed for the harbor of for which there is an the gentleman rises and asks whether we suppose the committee arc bound by these estimates I desire to call the attention of the com to a to show how ent are tho of chairman of the as to the rule which guided with the action the as is manifested by tbe facts to which I it is very but a few years French with a population not exceeding six and with but sir city numbers qua hundred thousand commerce estimated at ac cording to of thousand steamboats i and pursues these been present ed for harbors upon the havo constituted of greatest which the friends of the had to encounter in all the con tests which hare been had for improvements of that local have character been that they arc ced in any system of internal They are loft to the and to tho cit ies immediately to be benefited by Will the me to ask him whether appropriations were not made in in 1837 for this very harbor sir is the very reason that I am opposed to it There has as I understand between and appropriated for the of and which seeins to have such an insatiable maw that it can nev er be Are to leave in channel unprovided forthe pur pose of securing a good of 1 before the committee will entertain of this they will pause to consider whether it is not their duty to the great cles to the navigation of the rather than to making appropriations for construct ing convenient landing points for the benefit of particular cities and I am opposed to every harbor and ev ery landing appropriation which may ot up in this House while I am a member of and I will record my I do not oppose the amendment on account of Itis intended to but on account of tho principle it If the landing at Louis should be other points of less importance would profit by the and there would no end o applications for similar called for tellers which were not was then taken on the amend iand Amendment offered the following amend ment For the improvement of Illinois and for the construction of a breakwater and piers at tbe port of for the Tennessee we have been trying for the last two days to so far improve tins un just as to make acceptable the without voting down all amendments for harbors of refuge upon the for the and other important trib of the as highly if not notwithstanding a hundred millions of are demanding these appropriations for its committee nave ed for floats annually not The The marks are not in The application I am gb to will convince the Chair and the committee that they are in I take that vote in behalf of ag good as an indication tUat this com have to reconsider their and yet do the Illinois the and the commerce the amendment have It cannot be that this are place themselves The The Chair gentlemans remarks They are not I am directly to that The Chair see the order of my remarks before Iget I can It be possible that this commit tee are prepared to declare ah river constitutional and tbe vast commerce of the Ten and the which loudly The It is not talk about the Tennessee That is apart the very amendment now I pro to say when interrupted by the the passage of this amendment was loudly demanded wants of agreat commerce Buffering for the of and that the rCf cord against after James river could not vindicate forethe country its 7 and it would be parallel with the
