Register of Debates in Congress, Comprising the Leading Debates and Incidents of the First Session of the Twenty-First Congress Page: 708
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708
GALES & SEATON'S" REGISTER
H. of B.]
Buffalo and. New Orleans Road.
[March 30, 1830.
aVOn is withheld. Can we do more unless We destroy our-
selves to gratify others?
Tfte honorable gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Polk]
is of opinion that this bill, combines many local -.interests,
which he deprecates as a great evil. Pray, is not all le-
gislation of local operation, and tlie more extensive the
more comprehensive? but, then,- this produces delusion,
the delusion of whole masses of men, and entire sections
of .country. I wonder if, by possibility, there might not
be some delusion on the other side. The gentleman re-
minds me of the juryman who differed with his fellows,
and, upon being brought into court, said they jvere the
most obstinate eleven men he had ever met with; he could
not bring them over to his view of the case.
He speaks of the number of routes that have been sur
veyed, which is argument against him, as it goes to prove
the great anxiety of the public mind on the subject—the
great interest that is taken in this road, which we have
heard represented as likely to be of no. utility if made;
not so think those who live near its projected course, and
appreciate its value. But the people are deluded—they
are blinded and lost to reason, by the offer to spend
their own money among them. Where, I would ask,
should it be expended, if not among those who own it?
vIf it he a delusion, I fancy it will, unlike most other er-
rors, abide with the-people, and continue to close their
eyes to what gentlemen are pleased to call their true in-
terest. When you finally select one line, it is said you
offend all those who live upon the others, and this is press-
ed as a good reason for hot moving further; does it not
occur to gentlemen that the remark, if of feree, would
put an end to all improvement whatever? Of the many
surveys made, or to be made, 1 would choose the best, and
I would say they should be few. I would not, nor will I,
vote for all the projects on foot, or which have been re-
ported to this House; nor do I think the public treasury
should be burdened with annual appropriations for sup-
porting and keeping' in repair aiiy great channel of com-
munication that has been, or hereafter may be, con-
structed. But this road must be turnpiked, say gentle-
men; I do not know what others intend, but I do not look
1 beyond the present bill, nor think of a turnpike. Lest how-
ever the estimate, mentioned by the honorable member
from Tennessee, [Mr. Folic] of twenty-one millions of
dollars should alarm, I will "say that I understand the road
in Ohio, equal to any in the world, to be now constructing
for between five and six thousand dollars per mile; and,
taking this as our datum, the whole distance from Buffalo
to New Orleans would not, even if turnpiked, cost nine
millions* The honorable gentleman speaks pleasantly of tap-
ping the treasury, if it be plethoric; admonishes us that it
is a dangerous operation, and that it requires a consulta-
tion of the seniors—not1 the bachelors of medicine, but
the M. D.'s in politics. I am content to be regarded as a
junior, at least for the present; but what if the seniors are
timid, or mayhap unskilled, or, with a rare exception or
two, adhere to the old practice, rejecting modern improve-
ments as the innovations of heedless and incautious men;
insisting that no other guide shall be followed but lectures
heard or written, some twenty, or thirty, or forty years
ago ? Under these circumstances, the'office must be assum-
ed by those who may be estimated lightly; nothing else is
left for it, they must use the knife, or the patient will die.
The last argument I shall notice, and it is one which all
the honorable gentlemen who . have spoken agaipst the
•bill have urged, is, that they wish tlfe public debt paid
-before we embark in the project. This bill, sir, interferes
not with its discharge;' if it did, I should l>e the last man
to advocate it. What does the. bill provide? The first
iseetions enacts "that the President of the United States
-be, and he is hereby, authorized to appoint, by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate, three disinterested
citizens of the United States, to lay out a road from Buffa-
lo, in the State of New York, passing j>y the seat of the
General Government, in the District of Columbia, to the
city Of New-Orleans, in the State of Louisiana, whose duty
it shall be, or a majority of tfiem, to examine the ground,
and lay out said road,"' &c. It is provided in the second
section " that the said road shall be laid out four reds in
width, and designated on each side by a distinguishable
mark on a tree, or by the erection of a stake or monu-
ment, sufficiently conspicuous, at every quarter of a mile
of the distance, where the road pursues a straight course,
and on each side where an angle occurs in its course."
The third section is as follows: " That the said commis-
sioners, after tliey have laid out the said road, shall pre-
sent to the President an'accurate plan of the same, with
its several courscs and distances in each State, accompa-
nied by a written report of their proceedings, describing
the marks and monuments by which the road is designat-
ed, and the face of the country through which it passes,
and the roads, or parts of roads, if any, in the course of
the road so laid out by this act, which, in their opinion,
shall need no alteration, which.said roads, or parts there-
of, so finished, shall reman unaffected by this act."
It is made the duty of the. commissioners, by the fourth
section, to "report to the President an estimate of the
expenses of the said road, which, in their opinion, will
be necessary for its formation, graduation, and final com-
pletion, on the most approved plan, without the applica-
tion of.stone or graVel, except where they shall be found
indispensably necessary to its use; and if the same does
not on an average exceed the sum of fifteen hundred dol-
lars, including necessary bridges and causeways, per mile,
the; President is hereby authorized to take prompt and
effectual nieastires to cause said road to be made through-
out the whole distance."
It is believed that the preparatory steps by the com-
missioners, of surveying, laying out, and marking the
road, and making a detailed report of their proceedings,
cannot be taken in less than two, perhaps three years; and
that during this period an expense will not be incurred
that shall exceed ten thousand dollars per annum; and that
afterwards, if the contingency happens that shall make it
the duty of the President to commen.ce the construction
of the road, not more than four, or perhaps five hundred
thousand dollars-will be required annually.
Let us now ascertain the slate of the public debt, its
exact amount, and the probable time of its extinguish-
ment.
Debt on 1st January, 1830, $48,565,406 50
Interest to the 1st January, 1831, 2,813,934 39
- Deduct sum then applicable to its ex-
tinction, according to the estimate
of the Secretary of the Treasury,
Interest to 1st January, 1832,
Deduct sum then applicable to debt,
by'Secretary's estimate,
From which deduct two years' interest,
at three per centum, on thirteen
millions two hundred and ninety-six
thousand two hundred ana forty-
nine dollars aiid forty-five cents,
(that sum having, in-above calcula-
Hon, been put at six per centum,
while it only carries three,)
51,479,330 89
11,500,000 00
39,9/9,330 89
2,398,759 85
42,378,090 74
12,00c,000 00
30,378,090 74
797,774 96
(Forward) 29,580,315 78
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Gales, Joseph, 1761-1841. Register of Debates in Congress, Comprising the Leading Debates and Incidents of the First Session of the Twenty-First Congress, book, 1830; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30764/m1/48/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.