Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-07-06
TIE SUPERVISORS AND TEE ANTI
HYDRAULIC SUITS.

HYDRAULIC SUITS.
Mr.. George Cadwalader has printed
clrd the purpose of which seems to be to
defend the Supervisors for their recent &C
ton in making him present OF $. 600.
The public scarcely needed this additional
proof of the keenness with which Mr. Cad
walader watches his own interests. 1t is
no doubt customary with most dealers to
avail themselves of every opportunity to
sell their wares, though formerly members
of the legal profession are said to have
discountenanced this kind of touting for
business, and to have stigmatized it as
unprofessional and even discreditable.
The methods adopted by Mr.. Cadwalader
to procure business for himself are his own
affairs. however, and we merely glance at
them as introductory to the remark that
under the circumstances his advice to the
people Of Sacramento county can hardly
be accepted as disinterested. Indeed
nothing can be more apparent than that
Mr.. George Cadygalader is anxious to have
as many suits against the hydraulic miners
instituted as may be compatible with the
retention of Mr. George Cadwalader as
counsel in each and every one of such
suits, The question whether he would
display the same eagerness and depth
of conviction if it was proposed
to employ other lawyers in these
suits, Is an interesting, and some may
think a pertinent one. Being himself
party in interest, however, and having
probably spent some time and ingenuity in
bringing the Supervisors into favorable
condition Of mind, it is perfectly natural
that he should wish to persuade the
public also, the more especially since the
said public cvinces . marked indisposition
to see the question from his peculiar
standpoint. No doubt the prospect of a
retaining fee of So. 600, with contingency
OF perhaps $40, 600 or S25, 1000 more, is
calculated to convince the legal mind of
the profound importance of multiplicity
of suits. But Mr.. Cadwalader does not
seem to realize quite sufficiently that the
taxpayers out of whose pockets these
agreeable pecuniary rewards are expected
to come, are likely to regard the matter
somewhat differently. 1t is the interest of
Mr. Cadwalader to promote litigation,
and no one can say that he neglects his own
interest in this regard. But it is by 70
means necessarily the interest OF the people
of Sacramento to waste their substance in
litigation, and in the present case the ad-
visibility of the contemplated proceedings
has assuredly not been demonstrated,
while their legality is already dis
puted. Mr.. Cadwalader, it is true,
afiirma that the proposed litigation Will not
cost the county $50, GOO or So, O0O; bu. as
he frankly confesses that he does not know
how much 1t VIII cost, his attempt to reas-
sure the public on this head must be re-
garded as failure As to Mr.. Cadwal-
ajer's preterse that the determination OF
the suits now pending will not produce
precisely the same effect as though Sac
ramento had instituted half dozen
new suits, it is so sophistical that only the
peculiar circumstances under which he
makes his appeal gan excuse it. We have
never expected hin, to acknowledge that
the proposed suits are unnecessary. We
fully understand thai he is debarred from
making any such admission by his relations
to these suits Bat we are somewhat sur
prised that, considering those relations, he
should not have thought it not only more
prudent, but in better taste, to have dele.
gated this business Of defense and explana.
tons to less directly interested hand.
The Supervisors undoubtedly need cham.
pionship; but the public will, we think, !
agree with us, that Mr.. George Cadwalader
Is hardly the fittest man for that Office.
as the case stands. One more remark
MIR. Cadwalader intimates, in a circuitous
way, that all who oppose the institution
OF these suits are opposed to any interior
ence with hydraulic mining. As nearly all !
the people of Sacramento county disap. !
prove of the suits, this observation of Mr..
Cadwalader is scarcely justifiable. But it
is well known that the people Of Sacra-
mento county are with very few exceptions
opposed to the further destruction of the |
rivers by mining debris. This is the gen.
eral sentiment. The REcoED-USIoN made I
this fight long before Mr.. Cadwalader was
heard of in it, and it has never changed its
position. What one and all disinterested
and libera,.n.inded men seek is the adjust
ment of this question with the least posi-.
bic harm to all concerned, and the least
necessary expenditure. Ii the debris can
be stopped by one or two suits instead OF
twenty, SO much the better. Multiplicity
of suits is not accepted by thinking men
as indicating anything substantial beyond
the fat fees of the lawyers. It viii not
do, therefore, to libel all who oppose these
suits, and Mr. Cadwalader will find in the
end that recourse to such insinuatiOas
does not pay.