Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-09-06

$pan always and to all men to seek redress
of grievances or remedy for wrongs in the
Courts. Litigation once resorted to, the
entire case is removed from the realm OF
public discussion. The legal rights of the
parties at bar it is the province Of the
Courts only to decide. Before the law
all men are equal all have rights; who.
ever attempts to cOerce. intimidate OF
overbear the Judicial judgments OF Courts
by the exhibition OF aggressive popular
opinion, commits an outrage upon public
Justice. The case now before the Courts
involves an answer to the question Have
the miners legal right to the use of the
streams to carry away the tailings from
mining operations The Courts alone
have jurisdiction of the question involved.
They alone can declare what the law is.
When final adjudication of the issue is
reached there still remains the right of
appeal to legislation. In this attitude it
is the highest interest. of all parties that
the law Of the case shall be declared at
once, and at the least possible waste of
time and money to the htigants.
| This is no ordinary case of
petty contention between individuals.
The entire property and prosperity aud
future prospects of whole communities are
involved. The very existence OF great liz
dustries and leading public interests de-
pend upon the final issue. Such case
demands candid, dispassionate treatment
at the hands of all. In such an issue the
ordinary devices and cunning strategy Of
attorneys become despicable. To seek to
multiply suits at law, and entail endless
bills of costs, Is to intiict public wrong.
To attempt to infame sectional hatred and
intensity sectional animosity is an act of
scoundrelism. Only the most enfeebled
conception Of the duties OF citizenship
will seek to augment the difficulties
in the way CT speedy remedies at law
or seek to delay final judicial conclusion.
What is wanted is an authoritative
declaration of what the law Of the
case IL. The people OF Sacramento are as
anxious as those of any other section
to have the main issue tried. Their inter-
est in the case amounts to S25, 00O, O00.
They entertain 10 feeling of malignity to-
ward the people of the mining region.
They will find no qualification in the ruin
Of their fellow-citizens OF either section.
They are more than willing that legal con-
illusions shall be reached, but they will not
submit to the imposition of unnecessary
costs, or the persecution of the people of
the mining region by numberless guits
They are Inundated at the spectacle pre-
sented by the Board of County Supervisors
when that body plays the part of a little
hind wheel to a revolving bicycle of law.
suits, ridden by interested attorneys. Re-
Gently the District Attorney-.he chosen
law officer OF the county-proposed
too bring all suits necessary to
fully test the legal principles
involved, and employ the best legal talent
at the Sacramento bar, for the single fee OF
1000. This fee to carry the cases
through all the Courts to the rendering of
decision in the Court of last resort. 1t
is well known that he can and will carry
out this proposition in good faith. 1t ia
well known that in the actions proposed
to be brought he has assurances of counsel
ana assistance from attorneys of State and
even national reputation. The people of
this county believe that this proposition
should be accepted; that its acceptance is
dictated by every consideration of pru-
dence snd economy. To refuse this offer
and choose the course of involving the
county in holocaust of litigation and
incurtiug q liability of indefinite and
undetermined fees and costs will be
an net Of treachery to the public good the
Board OF Supervisors cannot afford to per.
petrate. This is simply commonsense
business proposition. No cry OF enmity to
any section or favoritism toward another
viii avail anything in this case. The ter.
mina;ion of litigation by an early decision
defining the legal status of the parties at
bar Is desired by ALL To attain the objects
Of litigation at the least possible expense is
the right of the public We have no
preferences for or against individual at
torneys in the matter. AS to who shall
reap harvest out of this litigation is not
a matter of public concernment. But the
public have right to be protected against
the entailment of costs and fees, which I'M
guarded will amount to fifty or one hun
dred thousand dollars, and that right the
public will find means to enforce.