Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-10-06
TIE RESPONSIBILITY FOR DELAY.

majority Of the statements made by MI.
Cadwalader's organs. The truth is that
all Che efforts to stave eff decision have
thus far been made by that attorney, and
that his endeayor to prevent the deter
mination of the issues in controversy
became SO conspicuous recently that the
Attorney-G General was compelled to inter-
fere in the public interest. All the talk
about the reluctance of the miners to try
the suits is part and parcel OF the Cad
walader programme to secure as many fees
as possible. The pretsnse that number
of suits can be brought without entailing
additional expense upon the public is as
false as the one already referred to. In
undertaking to enjoin all the hydraulic
mines those who institute these proceed
iugs render themselves liable for heavy
! damages should their suits not be success
full The Injunction of all the mihes
would entail an accountability upon the
people of this valley which might ruin
them in the event Of the failure of the
suits. And it is nonsense for anyone to
assert that there is any certainty about
the nature of the decision the Court will
make. This can only be matter of con-
lecture. and since it is matter of con-
lecture the bringing of great number OF
suits necessarily involves heavy respon-
sibility. Mr.. Cadwalader knows very
well that the people OF Sacramento county
and Of the Sacramento valley have no
desire to be held accountable for the injury
done by stopping all the mines; but this
accountability is what he is trying to force
upon them, under the false pretense that
it is desirable to bring great number of
suits.
The whole of the agitation foG multi
plicity of suits springs from the rapacity of
an attorney, and has no other foundation.
There is no need for such method of liti-
CATION. 1t cannot help the cause of the
farmers one iota. All it can do is to
empty their pockets, and that is all it was
meant to do. The original plan of the in
genious lawyer who has stirred up all this
pother undoubtedly was to procure the in
stitution of as many suits as possible, be-
cause the more suits the more fees; and
to keep on interposing delays in the Courts
until he had gathered into his net the last
possible fee. When the entire field had
been harvested, he would have prepared
for trial, and then the simpletons who had
paid their money on the strength of his
sophistical representations would have had
the satisfaction of seeing the whole matter
settled by one suit. 1t was bold and
comprehensive project, but as we have be-
fore remarked, it presupposed more stu
pidity in the public than could actually be
counted upon. Perhaps Mr.. Cadwalader
really believed that there was no uncer-
tainty about the decision of the Court but
Mr.. Cadwalsder has been mistaken on
points of that kind already, and therefore
his Judgment cannot be regarded as in
fallible.
The interest of the public in the prem
ises is one thing; the interest of Mr.. Cad
walader unfortunately happens to be quite
another thing. The interest of the public
demands that since litigation alone can
settle this dispute, it shall be settled by
litigation as speedily and as economically
as possible, The public do not wish to be
held accountable for enormous damages
in the event of an adverse decision, nor
have they so absolute reliance upon the
Courts as to feel perfectly certain that an
adverse decision is out of the question.
But the attorney who has worked up"
this matter cannot be particularly anxious
for cessation Of the litigation which
brings so much grist to his mill, and in
effect he has already made it abundantly
apparent that delay, and not decision, is
his object. AS to the miners, they have
shown readiness to test the merits of the
case in the Courts. 1t has even been
alleged that they are willing TO submit the
whole question upon an agreed case. We
/ w uOg hlOW NuCGuCI Wills StdtClHCAb ID
true or not, but we know that no such
proposition has come from Mr.. Cad
walader.
Iii said by that attorneys organ that
the RECORD. UNION is the friend OF the
miners. The attempt to use this assertion
as reproach is failure. TIE RECORD
UNION is certainly not the enemy Of the
miners. It hopes that it has made its
position sufficiently clear throughout this
controversy. 1t has been the friend of the
whole people from first to last. 1t has
labored to secure such settlement of the
issues involved as would give protection to
the farmers without destroying the mining
industry. It has held all along that the
destruction of farming lands by the mining
debris was wrong which could not be
permitted. But it has resolutely refused
to take narrow, faetional position. It
has recognized obligations and duties to
both sides. 1t has desired to obtain justice
to both with as little injury as possible.
OhLll the oupTSLH5 OOuEG uecldleo luS
Drainage Act unconstitutional, and in so
doing held that it was imprachcable to APP
ply the remedies which could alone have
cured the existing evils. we supported that
projsot We now recognize the necessity
Of litigation, but what we cannot recognize
is the necessity of the kind of litigation
which Mr.. Cadwalader proposes. We de-
sire that the matter should be settled with
as little cost to the public as is compatible
with attaining the end sought. We cannot
therefore favor scheme which entails the
heaviest responsibilities upon the people of
this valley, and which has nothing to Of
fer in exchange for the danger of having
to pay enormous damages, but the enrich
ment OF an attorney. Aud because we per-
eeiye clearly that no public interest is to be
served by the project referred to, We find
ourselves obliged to expose and denounce
il as an Objectionable and humbugging
scheme, which covers formidable assault
upon the pockets of this community with