The Congressional Globe, Volume 13, Part 2: Twenty-Eighth Congress, First Session Page: 38
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38
•APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE.
Jan. 1844.
28th Cong.. ..1st Sess.
Improvement ef the Western rivers.—Mr. Rathbun.
H. of Reps.
SPEECH OF MR. RATHBUN,
of new york,
In the House of Representatives, January 11, 1844.—
The House being in Committee of the Whole,
and the question being on the resolution of Mr.
Wise of Virginia, to refer so much of the Presi-
dent's message as relates to the improvement of
the Western rivers, to the Committee on Com-
merce, and the amendment offered by Mr. Thom-
asson of Kentucky, to refer the same to a select
committee—
Mr. RATHBUN rose and said: This question
has occupied considerable time, and perhaps it has
been sufficiently discussed already. Some reasons,
however, had occurred to him during the discussion,
adverse to the reference to a select committee, which
he desired to submit to the consideration of the
House. He was opposed to referring this subject
to a select committee, because, if it was done in
this instance, other portions of the Union would
have an equal right to demand the same reference
of all questions of a similar character in their sec-
tions. If the Western rivers were entitled to a
special reference, the Northern lakes and rivers,
and the Eastern and Southern, should have the
same favor. The country would thus present its
claims to the consideration of this House by sec-
tions, each tenacious of its local interests, and each
section pressing its claims in hostility to the other.
Instead of having a thorough and general examina-
tion by one committee, into the wants, interests,
and necessities of the whole Union, producing har-
monious action, there would be jealousies and colli-
sions by opposing sections, throughout the whole
nation. This question was one of national im-
portance, and he was opposed to degrading and
destroying its national character, by the adoption of
this amendment. When gentlemen contended on
this floor for its reference to a select committee, in
his judgment they mistook the true interests, not
only of the West, but of the whole Union. Such a
reference would have a tendency to array against
the West the other portions of the country. The
substantial benefits, which may now be looked upon
as certain, because they are just; providing the
Western rivers are not denationalized, might then
be lost by sectional and local prejudices and jeal-
ousies. Sir, if this amendment prevails, and the
policy of marshalling by sections prevails,
upon this floor, we shall be flooded—ay, sir,
smothered by the numberless projects of improve-
ment, and for wasting the people's money or credit,
by the laborious and ceaseless efforts of these nurs-
ing mothers (your select sectional committees.) They
■will conjure up and force upon this House and upon
the country every thing that shall appear at all for
the interest of their several sections. To avoid this,
sir, we must adhere to the old and approved mode—
submit all questions of this kind to one of the stand-
ing committees of this House. Gentlemen had ex-
tolled and eulogized the West—her rivers, her lakes,
her boundless valley, their national importance; he was
prepared to say amen to it all. That vast country—
tier ocean lakes and her mighty rivers—they are
all ours; they belong to the American people.
He paitieipated with them in the pride which they
felt at the magnitude of their hikes and rivers, and
the boundless extent of the great valley of the West.
They are national property; and the question before
the House is, shall they receive the care and con-
sideration of the nation' or shall they be shorn of
that noble character, and be allowed to sink into the
arms of a select committee of Western men, to be
strangled by their special friends' The gentleman
from Indiana, [Mr. Kennedy,] while addressing the
House on this question some days since, good lia-
tuiedly threatened the older States that the West
was "now able to take care of herself in her own
wav," and that they intended to do so. He bids us
"Hands off, gentlemen;" the West will take care of
herself. It may be that the West has this power;
but that gentleman has no right, upon this floor or
elsewhere, to forbid other gentlemen voting for this
great national object, because he has been pleased to
consider it a local question. It was unwise in him,
to say the least of it; and calculated only to injure
instead of benefiting the Western people. It is'not
Indiana that speaks thus. It is not her policy. He be-
lieved the people of that State were more sagacious.
They know better than to refuse assistance which is
at hand, and ready and willing to lend its aid. It is
not the way to obtain either the favor or justice of
this House, to bid defiance to a portion of it, and
threaten to caj'*y out for themselves what they claim
to be right, independently of the rest of the Union.
Gentlemen from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois,
are talking about the West as though they resided
in the West. Sir, the West is far beyond them. If
you land at Chicago, you will find emigration going
on to the West. If you pass hundreds of miles west-
ward, still you find the tide of emigration rolling on
to the West. He conceived that New York, Massa-
chusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and finally all the
older States, had an interest in the improvement m
the Western waters, very little, if at all, inferior to
the States from which these gentlemen come. The gen-
tleman from Indiana [Mr. Kennedy] complained that,
for years, the West had been wronged; that justice
had been denied her; and he called upon Western
members to unite in solid phalanx, and help them-
selves. At the same time, while thus complaining
of neglect and injustice, he has told the House that,
sooner than receive that justice which he demands,
in connexion with other parts of the country, he
would postpone it ten years longer; when, by a new
apportionment, the West could command what he
is now unwilling to receive by the assistance and
liberality of the whole Union. He doubted whether
that gentleman would find himself sustained m that
position by his constituents, or any of them. They
would no doubt prefer speedy justice, and would be
willing to receive it at the hands of those who are
willing and able to render it.
The gentleman [Mr. Kennedy] has been kind
enough to tell us that, compared with the Mississippi
valley, New York was nothing—"helcould put it in his
breeches pocket;" and, compared with the Mississippi
river, the Hudson was "a large river, just large
enough to drink out of, only it was a little brackish,"
"a mere spring rill." The Representatives of New
York had not come hereto learn the relative sizes
of the Mississippi valley, the State of New York,
and that gentleman's breeches pocket. Some of Mr.
R's. constituents had suggested (and he thought
truly) that the gentleman's pocket must be large;
and not only large, but empty, to answer such a
purpose. The State of New York spoke for her-
self. It was not for him to boast of her size, popu-
lation, or wealth. That State needed no eulogies
upon this floor from her own Representatives or
others. It was sufficient boasting for her to present
a plain statement of facts. Every gentleman upon
this floor knows that about one-sixth part of the
population in this Union is in New York; she pays
into your national treasury primarily more than
one-half of all the public revenue derived from duties
upon foreign importations; and ultimately, at least
one-sixth of the whole. Of the $100,000,000 of for-
eign go0lls imported into the country, she imports
nearly $58,000,000. If appropriations are to be
made for the impiovement of the Western rivers,
that State which the potent gentleman threatened to
"put into his breeches pocket," would, from the
pockets of her people, pay one-sixth part of the
whole. This is not all, sir; she pays one-sixth of
all appropriations for the ordinary and extraordinary
expenses of this Government, in all its departments,
including the per diem and travelling expenses of the
gentleman from Indiana, [Mr. Kennedy.] New York
has a direct interest in every improvement of the
Western waters. Every additional acre of land cul-
tivated; every additional bushel of wheat raised;
every vessel or steamboat launched upon the West-
ern waters; everything which adds to the energy or
enterprise of the Western people, or to the products
of the Western country, benefits New York. And
to her interests it was a matter of little consequence
whether that produce found its way to New York
by the way of the lakes, and through her canals, or
by the way of the Mississippi and New Orleans.
The gentleman from Indiana sneered at and ridi-
culed the Hudson river. Does that gentleman know
that, at Albany and Troy, there is shipping engaged
in navigating "the spring rill," amounting to a ton-
nag# of one hundred and twenty thousand tons'
And that, between New York and Albany, there is
at least forty thousand of tonnage more to be added
to it—making an aggregate of one hundred and sixty
thousand tons; all of which is actively and profita-
bly engaged m carrying on the eommere which
floats upon this "spring rillr" We have been told
that the Hudson was only one hundred and fifty
miles long. It is true that she is navigable only
about that distance. Sir, the people of New York
long since ascertained the length of her navigable
waters; and they are well aware, sir, if nature had
been as bounteous to the East as she has been to
the West, we, too, might boast of her works, and
dwel) with emphasis upon our twelve thousand
miles of navigable rivers. Providence willed other-
wise. Still, sir, the people of that State are not un-
grateful to that good Providence which bestowed
upon their section of the country this spring nl.
What nature denied, the people of that State, by
their energy and enterprise, by a liberal aeslow-
ment of their labor and money, have created. Ihey
carried one branch of this "spring rill" to the north,
connecting: its waters with Lake Champlam, and,
through it, with the St. Lawrence and the ocean
Another they carried westward three hundred and
sixty miles; overcoming that barrier so often al-
luded to upon this floor, which separates the wateis
of the Atlantic rivers from the waters of the Missis-
sippi valley—the Alleghanies—and uniting the wa-
ters of Lake Erie and the Hudson.
This is not all, sir-, they carried another branch
from the Hudson to the Delaware river; another to
Lake Ontario; another to the Cayuga, Seneca and
Crooked lakes, and extending beyond to the Che-
mung river; and another follows the valley of the
Genesee river. That little Hudson, "only one hun-
dred and fifty miles long"—"that spring rill " is con-
nected with navigable waters in her own State, not
less, in the aggregate, than fifteen hundred miles.
This is only the centre of her system. The St.
Lawrence, and the Lakes Ontario,Krie, Huron, and
Michigan, are connected with, and contribute to
swell the commerce of this "spring rill." This is
not all, sir. The enterprising citizens of Ohio, In-
diana, and Illinois, appreciating the importance of
"the spring rill," and the benefits which will result
to them from a free communication with it by wa-
ter have, or will connect her waters with the Ohio,
the Wabash, and the Illinois rivers; thus uniting the
waters of the Hudson with those of the Mississip-
pi. The arms of the Hudson are destined to be
carried still westward, and will never rest until they
repose upon the base of the Rocky mountains of
the West. The interests of the East and West are
identical upon this point. If this question is exam-
ined as a question of money-making for New York,
were he to be governed by the paltry consideration
of dollars and cents, he should feel constrained to
vote for the improvement of the Western waters.
The revenue of the New York canals, the com-
merce of the Hudson, and the ocean commerce,
which enriches our commercial emporium,—all these,
if there were no higher or purer motive, concur m
favor of a liberal policy toward the West. That
West, to a large extent, has the same reasons ope-
rating upon its interests in favor of improving the
navigation of the Hudson. The produce of the
West descending, and the merchandise for the West
ascending, the Hudson, are detained upon the over-
slaugh. Much has been said here about the com-
merce carried on upon the Western rivers. This
has been made a ground for ridiculing the Hudson.
He had no certain means of ascertaining the amount
of tonnage upon those rivers. There are some facts,
however, which are known, that may throw some
light upon that question. New York city has four
hundred and fifty-nine thousand tons of shipping;
New Orleans one hundred and forty-three thou-
sand tons: New York stands at the termina-
tion of the Hudson, New Orleans of the Mis-
sissippi. It may be that some idea of the
relative amount of shipping on the two rivers may
be formed from these facts. He had said that he
had no desire to boast of New York, or to eulogize
her upon this floor. He would, however, for a mo-
ment, imitate the example of gentlemen from the
West. He had alluded to the New York canal?.
These had cost the people of that State about $40,-
000,000. He confessed he felt some degree of pride
when he pointed to them. It was not improper, m
his opinion, to indulge in a little State pride, when
we reflect upon the magnitude of the work, and the
immense amount of money expended. There was
another point connected with these great works
which it afforded linn more pleasure to refer to than
the works themselves: it was the high moial posi-
tion occupied by the people of New ork. Bur-
dened with a public debt at one time amounting to
about §27,000,000, and now to near $26,000,000,
shf had never failed to pay the interest upon that
debt. When the people found her resources une-
qual to the payment of the interest, they demanded
taxation upon themselves, to save the honor and
credit of their State. A tax was levied; they have
paid, are paying, and will continue to pay it, until
that debt is reduced so much that the revenues
arising from her public works will extinguish the
last dollar of it.
These things Jie presented for the consideration
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United States. Congress. The Congressional Globe, Volume 13, Part 2: Twenty-Eighth Congress, First Session, book, 1844; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2368/m1/48/?rotate=270: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.