Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-03-09
raE REoIAmAr1oN OF SWAMP I1aDa.

lands in the enactment OF legislation to |
settle the debris question appears to have
puzzled some people The explanation OF
this circumstance, however, tends to en-
phasize the close connection which really
exists between all interests in this regard.
The fact is that the reclamation Of swamp
lands has become impossible because of the
injury the rivers are sustaining through the
flow of debris. Il is no longer practicable
to obtain the capital required for carrying
out any extensive reclamation system.
When capitalists are applied to for loans
the first thing they do is to send an en-
gineer to examine and report upon the
scheme. The engineer at once investigates
the condition OF the river. He finds
that the river bed has been filed
up by debris to a depth OF ten,
twenty, thirty or forty feet, as
the case may be. he makes his report.
and upon the strength of it the capitalist
declines to risk his money. He says to the
swamp-land owner: cit is true that your
land would under ordinary circumstances
"be ample security for such a loan as you
''require but find that the river against
which you propose to levee is filling up
very rapidly, and that the agencies to
(which this is due are still in operation.
There is, therefore, no guarantee that
"your calculations viii turn out right, but,
on the contrary, it is extremely probable
g that by the time you have expended sew
g eral hundred thousand dollars in build
cling your levees the river bed will
''haye been raised so much higher
''that you will be called on to spend
tsas much more in protecting your
self against the new. danger. And
.as this process Of filing up the river is
"certain to go on, unless legislation is had,
s'until it is no longer possible to build
''levees that will resist the flood pressure,
the investment is not one upon which
prudent men can safely enter" The
result is that reclamation of swamp lands
cannot be proceeded with, and it is clear
that those who own such lands conse-
quently have as much interest in securing
remedial legislation as either the farmers
on Bear or Feather rivers, or the people of
Marysville and Sacramento Until such
legislation is obtained their lands must be
idle, and the longer the flow of debris is
permitted the darker will their prospects be-
The reclamation of the swamp lands is
one of the enterprises which will imme-
diately follow the adoption of practical
scheme of relief from the debris. There
are millions of capital available for such
undertakings the moment assurance is
given that the river beds will not be al
lowed to fill up any further. And this
means the Inauguration of new era of
prosperity for the State The restoration
of these lands to tillage and production in
wolves the expenditure of immense sums In
labor, the absolute creation of scores of
millions of new wealth, TIE quickening of
industry and commerce in every direction,
and the lessening of the burden of taxation
by the introduction of fresh tax-paying
property. And though reclamation is only
an indirect result of the stoppage of
the debris and the securing out of the
river channels, it is an effect which
promises the most important additions to
the aggregate resources of the community,
and which is capable, by itself, of solving
the question of employment for every man
in the State who seriously desires to sub
sist himself by honest labor. Those who
call themselves the special friends of the
workingmen ought to have been tie first
to perceive that this necessary and urgent
legislation contained within it the practical
solution of the problems which have so
long agitated San Francisco That city
has number of unemployed men, clamor-
GUS for work. Well Here is a plan by
which work can be provided for all of
them, and by perfectly legitimate and
wholesome means. There is no de-
mand for the prosecution of unnecessary
public works. No. taxation to be
levied on the community in order to
make work for a few But in the process
OF relieving our rivers and protecting our
cities from food, means of inaugurating
the most extensive and salutary reclama-
ton schemes is afforded, and of providing
work for all who need it in ways most
beneficial to the community. The passage
of debris relief bill will turn capital
quickly into this channel, and invigorate
the whole State. The work of protection
and relief is imperatively demanded with
out reference to any indirect results.
Surely a Legislature never has had better
opportunity than is here afforded, to bene.
fit and protect its constituents by one and
the same measure.