Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-02-18
CONGRESS AND OUR RIVERS.


atives has Just consented to an appropria-
ton OF $50, 600 for the improvement of the
Sacramento river, and $780, 900 for the i'm
proyement of the San joaquin, and this
appears to be the best that the California
delegation can do for US, Notwithstanding
the urgency and persistence OF their APP
peals. OF course the sums named are gro
tesquely inadequate to meet the necessities
of the case. 1t would have been almost as
well to give us nothing as to put US off
with such pittance. But this is not all.
We find large number Of Eastern jour-
nails taking strong ground against the
granting of any adequate relief for Cali
fornia These journals claim that the
work to be done does not properly come
within the limits of Congressional action,
and they evince disposition to leave us
to whatever remedies We may be enabled
to devise for ourselves.
When the proposal was first made to
appeal to Congress for aid in this connec-
ton we foresaw and pointed out the diff
culties in the way. While fully appreci-
ating the Justice of the claim, and as fully
believing that it was the duty of Congress
| to assist literally in the removal of dangers
which had been caused mainly through
the action of the United States Govern
ment, we realized that it would be ex-
tremely difficult for our Senator's and
Representatives to exercise a power suffi-
Gent to enforce their views upon Con
gress, and we apprehended that if the
State was induced to forego action on its
own behalf in the expectation OF Con-
gressional aid, we shorld be liable to fall
between two stools. At the same time,
therefore, that we approved the most
energetic action that could be taken at
Washing ton by our delegation, we felt it
necessary to insist upon the prosecution
of whatever remedial measures had been
already adopted, and the result has shown
the prudence of this advice.
1t may, we trust that it will, be possible
eventually to impress Congress with the
necessity of making liberal appropriations
for the relief and correction of our rivers !;
but in the meantime we hold it to be in
dispensable that the State should continue
its own efforts in this direction without
pause. For it should be evident to all that
we cannot afford to wait for national aid
the extension of which is SO uncertain.
While we are waiting the injury to our
rivers and valleys is Increasing continually,
and every winter adds to the formidable
list of losses by food, and renders the re-
moval of the evils from which we suffer
more arduous. Our farmers cannot with
stand the disasters which are being heaped
upon them. If they are not protected at
once they will soon have nothing left to
protect Already our fertile lands of con-
siderable extent have been destroyed,
and the men who have partially escaped
thus far have nothing TO look forward to
but hopeless ruin unless active measures
are taken for their protection.
Congressional action is proverbially slow
in matters of this kind, and the fact is not
to be wondered at when we remember that
appeals and claims from all parts of the
country are continually being urged upon
the attention of that body, and that if it
undertakes to deal literally with one State
it will have to bear the jealousy and the
reproaches of all the others. Moreover it
has always been the practice to consider
States in the light of their political i'm
portance, and it is therefore unavoidable
that SO distant and comparatively insignif-
cant State as California should be treated
with less consideration than is accorded to
the thickly populated territories beyond
the Rocky Mountains. The difficulty of
obtaining adequate aid from Congress must
not deter US from pressing our claims with
all the force our representation at Wash
ington gives us, but it ought to convince
US that in a case of this kind we must de-
pend mainly upon our own exertions.
In the case of the Mississippi Mouths
Congress did not primarily make large APP
preparations, but it agreed to pay the cost
of the work provided that the methods
employed proved successful. 1t is posi-
bic that it might be persuaded eventually
to reimburse California for the sums ex-
pended upon the correction of the Sacra-
mento and other rivers, and an effort to
this end is perfectly legitimate. Bat
whatever is done at Washington by our
Representatives we think it now clear
that we shall have to rely upon our own
energies for the relief and protection which
are Indispensable, and the sooner this is
realized the sooner shall we cease to waste
precious time in expecting appropriations
of which there is no present hope.
Our farmers demand help now. They
say, and truly, that unless this help is
granted them at once they will be forced
to abandon the Sacramento valley. They
cannot hang on year after year, seeing the
value of their property dwindle with every
food, until at last they are left destitute,
and their lands are buried many feet deep
in % slickens." If, therefore, the people
Of California are not prepared for the
desertion and subsequent destruction of
the Sacramento valley, they must make
up their minds to do what the injured par
ties cannot do for themselves, and they
must trust to the future for whatever Con-
gressional aid it may be possible to obtain.
There is no further opportunity for con-
sideration or delay, however. The danger
is present and pressing, and State aid
is the only kind of aid which can now be
| looked to for relief
GARFIELD RUMoRs.
If ali the press reports concerning the
| Cabinet intentions of General Garfield