Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-03-03
UNWORTHY TREATMENT OF GREAT
SUBJECT.

TREATMENT OF GREAT
SUBJECT.
Now that the attempt % repeal the
Drainage Act has failed, it is in order to
direct attention to the character Of the
treatment accorded this il nportant question
by the press of San Fir ancisco generally.
1t might be thought tn at the one object of
those journals had b. zen to mislead their
readers as to the facts Of the case, and to
create prejudice agai INST the Drainage Act
by studious and pc rsistent misrepresenta-
ton of everythin connected with it,
The absence of ca ndor and regard for truth
which has been conspicuous in the state
ments of our con semporaries has rivaled if
not excelled the worst specimens of polit-
ical Journals IA" in modern times. In
the teeth of al the facts it has been as
sumed that th e administration of the law
was bad andl even corrupt. Though two
legislative committees had, after CAREFUL
inquiry, COZ lcluded that the Commissioners
had perfor' ned theirduty well and faithfully,
these rec kless journals continued to the
last TO az .cuse them of dishonesty. In the
absence of all evidence to substantiGte the
stateme' At, it has been alleged that the en-
gineeriIIg works had failed, though no one
of the journals which took this position
showed the faintest comprehension of the
scien titic principles involved, or of the
methods employed in applying them
Nothing could be farther from the truth
than this allegation of failure in regard to
the engineering works, and for the sufficient
reason that works which have not been
advanced far enough to test their eff
cheney at all cannot be judged. Nothing
but Grass ignorance or deliberate dishonesty
can explain this charge, in fact, and this
we propose to demonstrate.
The plans of the engineers embrace a
system of levees and cut-offs for the lower
course of the Sacramento, and system of
dams for the upper course. Now it has
never been pretended that the dams with
out the levees, or the levees without the
dams, would bring about the results aimed
at. But the works have only been COM
menced short time, and the dams alone
have been constructed No engineer has
claimed that the dams were capable by
themselves of effecting cure for the evil
attacked. On the contrary, all the engi-
neers have agreed that before any real re-
lief can be had the levees must be made
strong enough to carry the food waters of
the river without giving way. During the
past winter no real test of the engineering
plans was possible, inasmuch as they were
incomplete Such a test cannot be applied
until the lower river has been leveed
scientifically, and this is not the work of
few months The brush dams, however,
have been so successful in holding back the
heavier debris that the efficiency of that
kind of work cannot be questioned
seriously. The inundation of the Sacra-
mento valley does not show that the engi-
neers made any mistake, for. no, steps
had been taken to prevent such an inunda-
ton. The floods found no obstacles but
the old and thin and insufficient levees
which had been built piecemeal here and
there, and as matter of course they soon
overcame those frail barriers.
The absurdity and stupidity of declaring
great and comprehensive engineering
scheme failure because the first steps Of
it have not produced the results which nc
sane man ever expected until the whole
had been completed, ought not to require
further exposure. The attitude of the San
Francisco press in this regard has been
ridicuous and most irrational, and that is
all that can be said of it. Journals which
had in view the best interests of the COM
monwealth would not have Numbered into
such position, however. They would
have studied the subject carefully enough
to discuss it with intelligence. But our
contemporaries have not only demonstrated
their own ignorance and lack OF candor
they have also made it apparent that they
are controlled by narrow, provincial and
mean spirit. In all their clamor of vitu-
peration it has been impossible to discover
among them any sense whatever of the
magnitude of the issues involved, or of
their duty to find at least some means of
dealing with it. They have demanded the
repeal of tie Dsairage Act, but they have
suggested no better method of solving the
debris problem. They have not been so
inimical to hydraulic mining as hostile to
the levying of tax of one twentieth OF
one per cent.
We have failed to detect in all their
vociferations any recognition of the claims
of the Sacramento valley to protection.
All they wanted, apparently, was relief
from the intolerable burden of tax of
five cents on the one hundred dollars
They cared nothing what the repeal of the
Drainage Act might entail upon the people
of this valley. They were so Indifferent
to the whole question that not one of
them took the trouble to inform himself
with any approach to accuracy on the SUBJ
ject. 1t never occurred to them that in
asmuch as San Francisco has enjoyed the
lions share of all the profits of hydraulic
mining, her citizens might be under some
moral obligation to assist in arresting the
flow of debris. The principle Of community
interest was completely ignored by the
press of a city which has for quarter of
a century played the part of ll-gatherer
as against all the rest of the State, and
which has been built up by the interests
now imperiled as much as by any other in
fuences. They could not gee far enough
before their noses to recognize the necessity
of mutual help to the maintenance of the
prosperity Of any community. The five
H.