pense of fifteen hundred dollars. The groceries
and dry goods for thousands were poled up that river in dug-outs through
that two-foot channel. I doubt if a two-wheel vehicle could traverse the
road which runs throughout that valley, but I know a four-wheel vehicle
could not.

The advocates of national aid urge the right to establish post roads; "I
had an ancestor in the United States Senate," said ex-Senator Butler of
South Carolina, "who refused to vote a dollar for the improvement of
Charleston Harbor; but almost the first act of my official life was to
get an appropriation of two hundred and fifty thousand for that purpose.
There is as ample constitutional warrant for the improvement of public
roads out of the United States Treasury--as large as there is for the
improvement of rivers and harbors, or for the support of the
agricultural colleges."

"But few judicial opinions have been rendered on this subject. In the
case of Dickey against the Turnpike Company, the Kentucky court of
appeals decided that the power given to Congress by the constitution to
establish post roads enabled them to make, repair, keep open, and
improve post roads when they shall deem the exercise of the power
expedient. But in the exercise of the right of eminent domain on this
subject the United States has no right to adopt and use roads, bridges,
or ferries constructed and owned by states, corporations, and
individuals without their consent or without making to the parties
concerned just compensation. If the United States elects to use such
accommodations, it stands upon the same footing and is subject to the
same tolls and regulations as a private individual. It has been asserted
that Jefferson was opposed to the appropriation of money for internal
improvements, but, in 1808, in writing to Mr. Lieper, he said, 'Give us
peace until our revenues are liberated from debt, ... and then during
peace we may chequer our whole country with canals, roads, etc.' Writing
to J. W. Eppes in 1813 he says, 'The fondest wish of my heart ever was
that the surplus portion of these taxes destined for the payment of the
Revolutionary debt should, when that object is accomplished, be
continued by annual or biennial reenactments and applied in times of
peace to the improvement of our country by canals, roads, and useful
institutions.' Congress has always claimed the power to lay out,
construct, and improve post roads with the assent of the states through
which t