Gerrit Smith Quotes

… a people occupied as we are in opening rivers, digging navigable canals, making roads

Among the means of advancing the public interest the occasion is a proper one for recalling the attention of Congress to the great importance of establishing throughout our country the roads and canals which can best be executed under the national authority. No objects within the circle of political economy so richly repay the expense bestowed on them; there are none the utility of which is more universally ascertained and acknowledged

I am not unaware of the great importance of roads and canals and the improved navigation of water courses, and that a power in the National Legislature to provide them might be exercised with signal advantage to the general prosperity.

Build the roads and the jobs follow.

In 1818 I had the pleasure to congratulate the Legislature on the auspicious commencement and successful progress of the contemplated water communication between the great western and northern lakes and the Atlantic ocean, and I now have the peculiar gratification to felicitate you on their completion. On the 26th of October last, the Western Canal was in a navigable state, and vessels passed from Lake Erie to the Atlantic Ocean. In about eight years, artificial communications, near 428 miles in length, have been opened to the Hudson River from Lake Champlain by the Northern Canal; to Lake Ontario by the Oswego River and the Western Canal; and to Lake Erie and the other western lakes by the latter Canal – thus affording an extent of inland navigation unparalleled in the experience of mankind. The expense of these works and of some auxiliary, connected, and incidental operations, amounts to $9,130,373.80 …

As a candidate for Congress, I proposed a federal infrastructure bank to help local governments fund badly needed projects, including ones in my district. We need to repair and expand our crumbling transportation systems by creating many good-paying construction jobs.

A healthy Amtrak is an integral part of New York and the Nation's economy and transportation systems.

Good roads, canals, and navigable rivers, by diminishing the expense of carriage, put the remote parts of the country more nearly upon a level with those of the neighborhood of the town. They are upon that the greatest of all improvements.

Secretary Clinton, right from day one, wants to do real investment in public works and infrastructure, building highways and bridges, building airports, to doing what we need to do that way which lifts the economy up, undoubtedly.

The fact is, Canada needs investment, particularly in infrastructure.

Infrastructure investments lead to jobs. And quality of life starts with a good job.

We believe infrastructure is key to economic growth, and we will do what we can to develop infrastructure in India.

We need to invest in our crumbling infrastructure to create jobs and remain economically competitive.

Investing in long overdue infrastructure projects like the Montgomery Locks and Dams system is critical to the health of our region's economy.

Building infrastructure is our most powerful tool to create jobs and improve the playing field for all businesses.

The combination of funding for our ports, airports, and highways is a really significant investment in our infrastructure.

I am pleased for Poland as a country, that new motorways are being constructed, new businesses, new stadiums.

Spending on infrastructure will help employment.

We think that's necessary just as a foundation for economic growth. It's not the jobs in and of themselves, which you do make by building bridges and things like this, but it's the economic growth that comes from having a modern infrastructure that is in dire need of repair.

No longer will we allow the infrastructure of our magnificent country to crumble and decay. While protecting the environment, we will build gleaming new roads, bridges, railways, waterways, tunnels and highways.

New Jersey residents deserve to have their tax dollars spent on transportation and infrastructure projects right here in the Garden State instead of being wasted in Washington.

In Western Pennsylvania, our parents and grandparents left us a strong system of roads, rails, bridges, locks, dams, streetcars, and more - an investment that paid off throughout the twentieth century. It now falls to our generation to rebuild and improve upon this system for the twenty-first century.

I'm incredibly proud that no matter where you live in New South Wales, whether in the regions or the city, you're seeing projects come to life and delivered that were only imagined, that were only spoken about by the previous government.

When roads are built, children can read, then jobs and prosperity will follow.

Infrastructure is the backbone of economic growth. It improves access to basic services such as clean water and electricity, creates jobs and boosts business.