By it a bay or
sheet of shoal water is called a _harbor_, and appropriations demanded
from Congress to deepen it with a View to draw commerce to it or to
enable individuals to build up a town or city on its margin upon
speculation and for their own private advantage.
What is denominated a river which may be improved in the system is
equally undefined in its meaning. It may be the Mississippi or it may be
the smallest and most obscure and unimportant stream bearing the name of
river which is to be found in any State in the Union.
Such a system is subject, moreover, to be perverted to the
accomplishment of the worst of political purposes. During the few years
it was in full operation, and which immediately preceded the veto of
President Jackson of the Maysville road bill, instances were numerous of
public men seeking to gain popular favor by holding out to the people
interested in particular localities the promise of large disbursements
of public money. Numerous reconnoissances and surveys were made during
that period for roads and canals through many parts of the Union, and
the people in the vicinity of each were led to believe that their
property would be enhanced in value and they themselves be enriched by
the large expenditures which they were promised by the advocates of the
system should be made from the Federal Treasury in their neighborhood.
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