Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-03-01
TIE NEED OF ACTION ON THE DEBRIS
QUESTION.

is being engineered by parties whose inter-
ests are opposed to the adjustment OF the
existing difficulties. 1t would, however,
be repreach to the sagacity of the
clientage of such parties ii they failed
to realize that their interests in this
regard are not identical, and that it is for
their good that the litigation which is
desired should be avoided 1t would be a
still greater reproach upon the intelligence
of the public generally if in a matter so
broad and far-reaching, the selfish cum
ming Of any person or persons was per-
mitted to interfere with the prosecutionpof
those protective and remedial works
which the Investigations of the State En-
! gineer have shown to be at once necessary
and practicable. The time for action
has arrived. and no rational excuse
for further procrastination can be advanced.
The measure now before the Legislature,
and known as the Parks or Brown bill, is
the only attempt which has been made to
apply the conclusions reached by the State
Engineer. 1t is a carefully drawn and
sufficiently guarded bill. 1t proposes to
put in the hands of an engineering Board
the task of framing working plan for
the solution of the debris problem. The
cost of carrying out this plan is to be de-
frayed by tax which, extending over
twenty years, is limited to four and half
per cent. of the property interested. The
utter absurdity of the assertions made
by the opponents of the bill are made
apparent the moment this fact is stated.
They have been talking the most wild and
reckless nonsense about the danger" of
unlimited taxation, of burying the COM
immunity for generations under an appall-
ing load of debt; and so forth, ad nauseam.
They would have been equally regardful of
the truth had they declared that the pas
sage of the bill would change the climate
of California, or that it would turn every
mans hair pea-green in twenty four hours.
There is no such danger in the bill. There
is no danger whatever of unlimited
taxation. 1t limits the taxation strictly to
four and-a-half per cent, and four-and-a-
half per cent, as the price of redemption
from impending ruin, cannot be regarded
as a tremendous burden for any community
to carry. The real question is, whether
those who are threatened with the destruc-
ton of all their property by the debris,
prefer to let the mischief go on, or to pay
tax of Al per cent to secure relief from it?
The allegations of the opponents of the
bill as to the power bestowed upon the
Board, are equally nonsensical and false
No power capable of being abused in any
way is conferred upon the Commissioners.
The character of the plan to be adopted
depends upon the judgment of the engin-
GERS. The bonds to be issued are placed
beyond the manipulation of any one con-
nected with the Commission With the
amendment in regard to the condemnation
and purchase of property proposed by Mr.
Parks himself, it will be impossible to
squander any part of the funds. The
whole of the money must of necessity be
devoted to the legitimate purposes of the
bill. The entire amount proposed to be
raised is but trife when the importance
of the undertaking is considered, and it
would be distributed over so large an area
that no severe strain could be placed upon
any part of the community. 1t must be
pointed out that the directors to the bill
have misrepresented it scandalously and
shamelessly. They have endeavored to
create prejudice against it by inscriptions
resort to the most audacious falsehoods.
They have alleged that it contained pro-
visions altogether foreign to it, that it will
involve things which it could never re-
suit in. They have, in short, trusted to
a persistent course Of lying about the bill
This kind of opposition will not answer
We intend that if the bill is beaten it shall
be beaten on its merits. We have not Ia
bored for years to secure remedial legis-
lation IN this connection, to suffer the pub.
lie interest to be thrust into the back
ground now at the bidding of parties
interested i'll the indefinite perpetual
ton of litigation. And we call at
tention specially to the highly sig
nifcant fact that the opponents of
the Parks bill have nothing better to offer.
1t is not a practicable scheme that they
want No practicable scheme would suit
them. What they want is the abandon
ment of all legislative remedies, to the end
that the lawyers may enjoy perennial
stream of fees from the protracted Iitiga-
ton certain in that case to ensue. The
simple farmers wha are said to have
pledged their lands for contingent fees
would then find that they had "lawed
themselves out of house and home before
the end arrived, and by the time the at.
torneys had sucked the orange dry the
rivers would be destroyed, and Sacramento
and Marysville would be in a fair way to
bankruptcy. 1t is to avoid these dangers
that we wish to see the Parks bill made law.
Sacramento is interested in the passage
OF this bill. 1t promises her security, and
it demands from her nothing which she
cannot we'll afford. Her levees are al
ready built, and therefore they would
count for all they are worth in what
ever plan was adopted. But it must be
distinctly realized that Sacramento never
can defend herself permanently by merely
building levees If the debris continues
to be poured into the rivers it is only
question of few years for the Sacramento
river to be SO filed that the present chan
mel will no longer confne its waters, and
when the navigability of the river must
be entirely destroyed. 1t is not by
selfshly and blindly shutting herself
up within her levees that Sacramento can
avert those evils. She must unite with her