Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-04-28
TIE DEBRIS BILL AND THE STATE


way. Had our contemporaries followed
the discussion of this measure with any
care, we think they would have been con-
WINGED some time ago that it is neither an
"outrage" nor dob but much
needed and strictly equitable law. The
feature Of it which seems most objectiona-
bic to its opponents is the provision for
general taxation, and some papers talk
as though this were an entirely new propo-
sition, and one which had no precedents to
support it, But in fact the principle of
general taxation for similar purposes is one
which has always been recognized and
acted upon, both in the State and national
governments. 1t is the principle which
underlies the apportionment of all school
taxes, for instance. and it is the principle
which governs the distribution of public
funds by Congress for local purposes.
Every year the people of Florida and
Louisiana and Maine and Illinois have to
pay taxes for the erection of lighthouses
or public buildings or breakwaters or har-
bors on the Pacific coast, while the people
of the Pacific Coast are taxed in the same
way for the Improvement of the navigation
of the Mississippi, or other distant enter
prises. The absolute necessity of this
kind of reciprocity to national existence
is so clear that no one has yet been found
to complain or protest against the system,
yet the obligation of various sections of
State to aid in all enterprises bearing upon
the prosperity of that State is much more
obvious, and infinitely stronger. Moreover,
it is capable of proof that the unity of in
terests existing between all parts of the
State was so clearly recognized in the pre-
liminary discussion of the debris question
as to render unavoidable the adoption of
the principle of general taxation in the
bill. For it was in the name of State in
terest alone that the threatened stoppage
of hydraulic mining was protested against.
1t was argued that hydraulic mining was
an important industry, from the mainte-
nance of which the whole commu-
nifty derived benefit, and that there
fore some course should be sought
which would permit the survival of
this industry. Certainly the farmers
of the Sacramento valley could not have
been expected to feel any tenderness for
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they been left to their own devices there
can be no doubt that they would have
taken the shortest and most effective
way to the suspension of hydraulic mining.
All their personal interests drew them in
that direction, and it was therefore not in
their behalf that compromise was advo-
Gated. Those who advocated it took the
ground throughout that the State could not
afford to stand by and let one industry de-
stroy another, whether by debris or litiga-
ton. 1t may not have been realized that
this position involved an acceptance of
definite responsibilities on the part of the
State, but there can be no question that it
did, or that it was the true policy for in
telligent men to pursue.
The proposition that the hydraulic MN
ing interest ought to be preserved being
once accepted, it devolved upon the State
to make that preservation possible. The
State could not ask the farmers who had
already suffered so much to bear the cost
of remedial measures, nor could it impose
the whole burden upon the miners, since
that would have compelled them to aban-
don their occupation. 1t could only pro-
coed step further in the path already en-
tered upon, and declare that since the COM
promise was to be adopted in the interest
of the whole community, and not merely
of one section, the whole community must
aid in paying for the work. This was the
logical completion of the process of rea-
soning which began with the protest
against the stoppage of hydraulic mining,
and it was altogether in accordance
with a sound and wholesome public policy.
Objections to the Debris bill, however, are
very shortsighted from other points of
view. For example, it is certain that this
bill must result in restoring to cultivation
large tracts of fertile land, the tillage of
which Will greatly increase the aggregate
revenues of the State, and tighten individ-
ual taxation by spreading it over broader
area. Thus the tendency of the measure
will be toward the practical abolition of the
slight additional burden at first imposed by
its provisions. The idea that tax of one
twentieth of one per cent can press hardly
upon any one or any section, is moreover
ridiculous. The truth is that the levy
will not be felt at all, and that
Notwithstanding it will do a great
deal of good to the State. A
lighter rate OF taxation could not
have been imposed, nor would it be
possible to find more thoroughly justi-
fable and equitable scheme. The south
ern counties will share in the benefits
caused by the improvement of our rivers,
since the whole community must always
profit more or less by the increased pros
perity of any section. There was no other
way in which the work requiring to be
done could be accomplished, and had it
not been provided for, the destruction of
property which must have followed would
have depressed every interest from Siski-
you to San Diego. We trust that our dis
satisfied contemporaries will take the
trouble to re-examine this subject, for we
are convinced that at present they are
laboring under misrepresentation regard
ing it.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WAKING UP.
At last the people of Southern California
are beginning to realize that there may be
some good in railroads, for the Southern