President Jefferson in his far-seeing statesmanship, threatened with war, realized the danger. A survey of the coast he believed essential to the national defence, and to the prosperity of the nation in time of peace. Had his wise counsels prevailed and the survey been prosecuted with vigor, instead of being almost immediately suspended for a quarter of a century, there can be no question but that it would have saved the people millions of dollars in expenditures and put other untold millions into their coffers, through the impetus it would have given to commerce years before commerce actually had a name in many that are now thriving seaport towns.
But it is not to be supposed the commercial importance of a knowledge of the coast and harbors was underrated because the Survey was not prosecuted. The people were poor, the task would be expensive and laborious. The appliances for the work were not in the possession of the Government, and above all, war came sooner than was anticipated and the energies of the people were taxed to the utmost in combat with their powerful foe; and when peace came again, there was the inevitable commercial depression that follows a resort to arms. The men of the day fully realized how illy they were prepared to invite commerce to our shores, or incite our own people to more extensive trade. There was nothing to adequately represent those magnificent harbors that have since become famous the world over; nor of that long line of coast with its treacherous shoals, whereby those seeking new ventures might judge of the dangers to be encountered. The absolute ignorance that existed was aptly described in the Albany Argus in 1832, when the propriety of reviving the act of 1807 was under discussion, as follows:
"It had been discovered by an American statesman that parent countries always keep the commercial knowledge of their colonies as a leading-string in their own hands, and that as practical navigators, American seamen knew less of their own shores than the country and its allies from whose subjection we had recently delivered ourselves by force of arms. In large vessels, three nations, the Dutch, the French, and the English, approached our harbors with less risk than those bearing our own flag; at the same time that in small and more manageable vessels, we had long been known as a match for the strongest. The president, Jefferson, saw the defect and the manner in which it must be remedied. We were at that time on the brink of war, about whose justice some of our politicians differed in opinion and it was, of course, more necessary to pray for a fortunate result than to preach the causes which had occasioned the quarrel. To have procured for the nation (even had it been practicable so to do) the old charts from the Dutch, French, and English governments, would have only been to put our knowledge on a par with theirs, while to execute more recent and accurate surveys, was advancing the new country above the old. With the clear and bold perception, which always distinguishes men of genius when they are entrusted in times of danger with the destinies of a nation, the president recommended a survey of the whole coast with all the aid of the more recent discoveries of science."
The proposed survey was strongly advocated by President Jefferson, and the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Gallatin, and in February, 1807, Congress passed the first act providing for the work. Thirteen separate plans, or schemes, were submitted for consideration; among the number was one by Professor F. R. Hassler, which was finally adopted, and Professor Hassler was appointed the first superintendent. It is not necessary to dwell, in detail, upon the varying fortunes of the survey during the three-quarters of a century that have passed since the original act authorizing it. The first thirty years of experiment, before it was finally established as a bureau of the Treasury Department, show only too clearly the ignorance and prejudice against which the supporters—we may say founders—of the survey had to contend. But they had only the experience of all men who attempt the inauguration of new things of which it cannot be shown that they will return a cash profit at the end of six months. To the opponents of the measure cash could not be seen at all, and the profit, whatever it should be, was only an intangible kind of benefit to be realized in the future by additional security to their property and commerce; but, in reality, as has since been appreciated, the direct saving of many millions of dollars annually.
The war of 1812 interrupted Professor Hassler's labors and it was not until 1817 that he actually commenced work; but he was stopped the next year by a limitation of the law requiring the work to be performed by the Military Departments. In 1832 Congress passed a special act reviving the law of 1807 and Professor Hassler was again appointed Superintendent. A further interruption occurred in 1834 by the transfer of the bureau to the Navy Department, but this was of short duration, as it was re-transferred to the Treasury Department in 1836, where it has since remained. Professor Hassler continued as Superintendent until his death in November, 1843. He was succeeded by Professor A. D. Bache, who was fortunate in assuming the charge under much more favorable auspices than had prevailed under his predecessor.
By the appropriation bill passed in March, 1843, the President was directed to appoint a Commission to reorganize the Bureau and prescribe methods for its future conduct. The plan recommended by the Commission was substantially that which had been followed by Professor Hassler. It was approved by the President a few months before Professor Bache assumed the superintendency and has since been the law for the execution of the work. To have a law specifying in detail the methods that should be employed in prosecuting the surveys, that had been drawn by a special commission of experts and approved by the administration, relieved the Superintendent of much of the responsibility that had been borne by Professor Hassler, although it did not put an end to the carpings of the critics, or their advocacy of the less expensive "nautical surveys."
The reorganization provided for the employment of civilians and officers of the Army and Navy to serve directly under instructions from the Superintendent; thus securing for the service the opportunity to procure the best talent from either civil or military life. The civil element, it was assumed, would form a body of experts for the prosecution of those branches of the work not properly falling in the direct line of the military, and experience has demonstrated that while the results anticipated have been fully realized, the organization has not only proved effective but conducive to the advancement of the survey in many ways. The Civil War was a serious interruption, but alone, proved the wisdom of the civil organization of the Bureau. On the outbreak of hostilities the military element was necessarily withdrawn for duty with the Army and Navy; and it was not until ten years after the close of the war that officers of the Navy were again available, while officers of the Army, through the exigencies of the Military service, have not returned at all.
The organization was preserved through these fifteen years by the permanent civil nucleus, and the work suffered no deterioration, but steadily advanced, notwithstanding that the larger number of the civilians were constantly employed during the four years of the war with the Armies and Navy, in different capacities on the staffs of commanding officers; and that the urgent necessities of the government devolved additional labor, and temporarily, a new class of work upon the office force in compiling, draughting and publishing maps of the interior for the use of the Armies in the field. And when finally, our Armies were disbanded and our fleets reduced to a peace basis, and officers of the Navy resumed the execution of the Hydrographic work, it was but to step into the duties of their predecessors; they had, too, the additional advantage of the fifteen years' experience of the purely civil administration of the Survey, during which time the trained surveyors of the land had become equally expert as surveyors of the water, and had added not a little to the improvement of Hydrographic methods. The History of the Survey shows a steady advance in methods of work from its foundation to the present day. But so equally has the march of improvement been due to the zeal and untiring efforts of the civilians and officers of the Army and Navy alike, that any distinction would be invidious.
The plan of reorganization of 1843 provided for a detailed survey of precision. It was to be based on an exact triangulation that would insure positive results, that the location of a danger or the development of a new channel, should be beyond doubt; and that the survey, when completed, should fit together as one continuous line, in which the distance and direction of any object on the map from any other object should be true, whether the objects were in hailing distance of one another, or at the extremes of our boundaries. So well was the scheme conceived, so perfect has it proved in operation, that it is substantially the guide for the closing labors of the great work, notwithstanding the many improvements that experience has wrought in the details.
Those engaged upon the Survey have been quick to profit by experience, and the master mind of Professor Bache, the second Superintendent, was not slow to adopt that which promised increased economy, rapidity or improvement. He drew from all sources, Science contributed her quota and the great inventive genius of the American people played an equal share in producing the final results.