This v.ast trade has grown up nnd expanded al
little or no expense to the nation in the way of fa
cilitating or protecting it In behalf of our foieign
commerce, the Government builds light houses and
fortifications, prepares harbors, maintains a navy,
and regard* it in the negotiation of tieatie*. The
report presents strongly the claims of our internal
western trade to the attention of the Government.
At its prodigious rate of growth, it must soon out
strip utterly our foreign commerce. Not one-tenth
of the fertile lands of the great Mississippi valley
is yet occupied; the resources of that immense re
gion are comparatively untouched. W hat will not
the next ten years exhibit in new developments of
National wealth in that quartet I
An appropriation of one million of dollais is
a-ked by the committee for the improvement of the
navigation of the Mississippi and its principal tii
hjtaifes. The annual losses on these rivers aver
age as much as the amount here called for. It is
further stated, that the amou.it paid for insurance
on lhe western steamboats alone, without including
their caig i '.s, ij equal to the’proposed appropria
tion; and a great part of the amount thus paid is
trq ilred on account of the dangers of tiie naviga
tion.
Il was not in vain that these forcible representa
tions weie ma le to Congress. An appropriation
was voted for removing obstructions from the west
ern rivers; but the amount, we believe, was less
; than lhe. sum asked for by the Senate’s committee,
it will no doubt henrefmth be a pan of the policy
of the Government to take due care of the last
inland trade of the countiy, a* well as of our for
eign cuntmerco.
