San Andreas independent., 1858-01-23

Yours, &c, OUTSIDER.
PER WELLS, FARGO Il cos INLAND EXPRESS I
SACRAMENTO LETTER.
Foggy sreather-Generat daainess MarysviHe
near WMer Forks-Supercisors Act-Ranch
Act-Amador adeJtedness-Lunatic asylum
Report Comments thereon Steam H'agon
Forthcoming Trial, Prospects.
SACRAMENTO, January 9th, 1853
Mr.. EDIToR:-It is dsmal hazy, foggy wea-
thcr, at the levee city; the sun has scarcely
been able to afford to shine for several days,
and when he has it has been as pceping be-
meath the clouds at eve, sending his slanting
and glaring rays into your eyes to dazzle and
blind you. Tonight you might cut the fog
with knife. Members are silently vending
their way to the Committee Rooms, to do the
practical aud real work of the session. 1t is a
Mark Taplegs paradise. Last week the flood
gates of politics were opened all was bubbling
and turmoil, and the multiplicity of ideas flying
around in the world of thought was perfectly
stunning. Now the excitement consequent on
the opening of the Legislature is all but passed
away-in fact, the city is absolutely duller
than previous to its advent There are COM
paratively few of those outsiders around that
arc a peculiar trait at such times-they'vc all
been provided for or had their award of dis
appointment and gone home. Squabbling on
questions of economy in the midst of cxtrava-
gance of time, upon the clerk employment SUBJ
ject, has subsidized, and the legitimate work of
the Legislature has commenced in earnest
and yet for the last few days nothing of mo-
ment is apparent, as business before the Sem
ate or the Assembly, that can be called of
striking interest. Local items are exceedingly
scarce this week. The only thing new going
on in the way of public improvement is n con-
templated water works for the city of Marys-
vile. There is TO be new tank elevated some
40 feet above the ground. 1t will be 100 feet
long, co feet wide and feet deep, and will
hold about 900 tons or lSO, 900 gallons of wa
ter The building must necessarily be of i'm
mcnse strength. Each internal point of sup
port will sustain 40 tons. An old Calaveras
friend of yours has made the preliminary
draught and calculations.
Amidst the hubbub of thoughts and politi-
cal items, have been so fortunate as to pick
up few, which, although freely commented
on before, may not, when dressed in the garb
of your correspondent, be unnteresting The
new Supervisors Act will be stale as a matter
of news with you, but it seems there is great
probability oft being adopted as general law.
The Ranch Act an introduction of one of
the Calaveras members, (who has promised me
Il copy OF it in Il day or two, and which | shall
tranSmlt.) is intended as an amendment to II
former Act. 1t is to provide a more available
and moro practical mode of asccrtainng the
value of damages TO the tiller OF the soil in
the gold mining districts, when his growing
1.,,,I =, l,ol
by the gold miner in pursuit of his avocation
Hitherto, questions of damage have, by the
present Act, been settled by three arhitrators,
one appointed by the miner, another by the
crop owner, and another by the Justice of the
Peace of the Township; all these have to agree
unanimously in their vcrdict-the result is
generally an impossibilty to agree-and the
miner is prevented from following up his
& lead This is the common lay system Of ar
biiration. 1t is now proposed to adopt the law
of special arbitraton-in which one arbitrator
is to be appointed by the miner and one by the
crop owner. If these fail to come TO terms
they must appoint third disinterestcd person
to act as umpire, whose decision on the Elcts
is to be final and without appeal. The result
in the latter case will be, that as decision
must be come to, the miner is not prevented
from developing the resources of his avocation
Although it may seem hard that a man cult
waiting land in the mountains should have his
home cut up and destroyed, yet it is one of
the chances that is attached to his lot and cam
not be grumbled at if he settle upon the "min-
eral lands especially when he obtains DAM
ages
1t is the intention to bring i'm bill to pay
the Amador Indebtedness to Calaveras county
in scrip on the county of Amador; at value for
cash it may suit the Caaveras people we'll
enough. But of the likelihood of such an
event being fully realized, the latter must Judge
tor themselves. Your Representatives must
look about them. 1t will be precedent some
day: should it happen to be a dodge on Gala
veras. | mention it lest it should escape your
observation and comment
The State Lunatc Asylum Report for 81,
an able document, is out. A very satisfactory
state OF things is apparent, rs far rs the busi-
ness part of the institution is concerned-as
also OF the management. Of the recommenda-
tive suggestions appended to the Report, how
ever, rs being intended improvements to the
Asylum, many are of doubtful wisdom On
the latter point, it is somewhat old schoolsh;
the desire, to-wit for mad-house, for iron
bars to the windows for brick boundary
fence and general fortification principle-n-
culcating an idea of the coercion mode of
This if intended, is wrong. 1t
is contrary to the the modern philosophy of
the management of the insane 1t puts one in
mind of the Bicetre rs it was in former days,
and OF old Bedlam it puts one in mind of Ho-
garth's picture and the horrors of extreme
physical restraint
Prisons had their Howard and lunatic asy-
lums have had their Connolly (the great doctor
is lately dead-he is worthy, also, of an apoth-
esis-) He pre-eminently was the founder of
the modern system of management of the in
sane. 1t is marked by mildness, moral sua-
sion and frmness of dcmeanor in the actual
coupled with pleasant and use
'nl occupation. The gst of it is to persuade
the inmates of the asylum they are at home
TO make them feel as if at homeland to make
i, as far as consistent with the nature of their
disease and its quality, both pleasant and
No iron bars, no brick boundary
walls to aggravate their dstcmper and render
them miserable. The modern system, carried /
out IN It's most radical way, is, it is found, just
rs much more successful than the old one, as
It Is attentively practiced. A very small num-
Der OF patients. it appears, were sent from CAL |
lveras
once more must l mention the subject of
me new Steam Wagon, previous to its grand