Those who use an improvement should
pay for its repair. A toll was sanctioned by generations of practice
and was in use on many State and corporate turnpikes and bridges.
Monroe had travelled the National Road and had seen numerous evidences
of the manner in which the highway was abused by the users and could
fully appreciate the necessity for its protection and repair. Yet his
conscientious scruples could not allow the agency which built the road
to care for it properly by collecting money simply because it must be
done inside the sacred precincts of some State. Neither would he admit
that the States individually could give permission to collect a toll,
although they could and did allow money from the national treasury to
be spent within their limits in constructing the highway originally.
Into what a constitutional maze had strict construction, driven by the
needs of the people, brought the Administration of the United States!
[Illustration: WESTERN END OF THE GREAT ERIE CANAL. Drawn with the
Camera Lucida for Hall's "Etchings of the West." Niagara River appears
in the distance and a lock in the canal nearer at hand.
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