Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-02-14

tor, when appealing to Captain Eads, does not ap-
peal TO him fully and does not fully follow out his
ideas, because, as was shown by Senator Cheney,
Captain Eads not only indorsed this plan OF State
Engineer Hall but has over his own signature, and
in this very report from which Senator Sears quo
ted, indorsed and abided by this very
plan of brush fences as Senator Sears is pleased
TO term them II that Senator will turn his attention
towards the legislative halls of the nation in which
had hoped he might have held higher station
than that which he holds and in the halls Of the
United States Senate his might have beef
heard, as it ought to have been, in my Judgment,
he would then know that Captain Eads and Colonel
Mendell second recommendation from the com
mttee for $3.50, 900, to be used in building these
very same brush dams that the Senator damns so
cavalierly and which he decides to be failure. He
has visited Bear river DAM he says and gone across
part of it, not all has not all OF 1t, does not
claim with all his learning to be civil engineer
but he pronounces it failure while Captain Eads
and Colonel Mendell and General Alexander and
State Engineer Hall and the Division Engineer who
have all made this question life study all unite IN
saving that this plan of brush dams is and
will be a success, if permitted fair
trial. Why Senator Traylor informs me
that that system of brush dams, or fences, as
Senator Kane calls them, has been ad pied by the
Park Commissioners in San Francisco TO restrain the
washing away of the sand dunes which form Golden
Gate Park, and that the brush dams, or brush
fences, have proved complete success in Golden
Gate Park, and have stopped the sand, as was de-
sired. ! speak in that matter simply as have been
told The Senators from San Francisco know
WI ether | am stating correctly or not; and
yet the civil engineer from Marin, assisted
by the civil engineer from Solano and the civil
engineer from San Francisco, Mr.. Kane, and
these other eloquent civil engineers who
favor the repeal OF the debris Act, all say this
dam was failure that brush dams or brush fences
cannot be made a success when all the engineering
talent of the United States IS united IN saying that
they are that they have been and that they will be
successes when fairly tr ed, and when experience
in San Francisco has demonstrated that there they
are success State Engineer Hall, in his testimony
given before the Committee on lrrig ttion-and right
here Mr.. President, | wish that every Senator
would make note iu his heart, and there are any
members here from the other house who have been
so eoguently ap0strophized by Senator Kane, /
hope they will make note OF 1t, that those men,
that the Senators who favor the repeal of the debris
Act are those who refused to print this testimony
that every upon this floor that favors the debris
bill that every man upon this floor who is opposed
to the repeal Of the debris Actvoted to print the
testimony taken before the Committee Irriga-
tion and to permit this investigation TO be made
public to the state that the Directors of the district
requested it, the engineers requested it, the friends
of the debris bill requested 1t, but 1t was the gentle
men who talked like the Senator from Solano, and
the Senator from San Francisco glibly about the
wckedness and about the rotenness OF the manage
ment of work done under the Debris Act-it was
those men, and the Senator from Marin leading
them who voted against printing any portion of
this testimony and they were sustained by the Sem
ator from Monterey and other Senators who favored
the repeal Of the Debris Act The Senator frcm Co.
lusa (Mr Glascock) asked for the investigation. 1t
was given to him, and personally ] thank him TO-
the remarks made in reference to myself and the
investigation was carried on, as he says, fully and
fairly, and he wanted to print 1t. We wanted to
print it. But these gentlemen who arise here and
attack the Commiss oners and the contractors at
tack the work OF the engineer attack the scheme
attack everything-they the ones that stied in
vestigation They refused to print this testimony
they refused to permit the Senate they refused to
permit the Assembly they refused to permit the
d ople OF California to understand what testimony
had been given in reference to the work done by
these contractors, under the direction of these Com
missioners now so strongly assault by them. am
not h. re to defend those contractors am not the
special champion of the Directors of Drainage Dis.
trict No /. | am not personally friendly any OF
them particularly. One man has been my bitter
personal and political enemy for years; but | say
Mr. President that when history writes the lives of
the men of this State, Niles Seares William H.
Parks and William F. Knox will occupy as high and
exalted place in public opinion as any of the Sen
ators who now so loudly bark at their heels and as
saut them in the Senate for their actions and then
vote against permitting the testimony which fully
explains those actions To be published. State En-.
gineer Hall in his testimony given before the COM
mittee under oath, states that there is brush dam
in California that that brush dam has been success
He said where it was My recollection is that 1t was
somewhere on the San Joaquin river. Mr. Hall tes
titled under oath, that brush dam exactly similar
to the brush dams that he had constructed upon the
Yuba and Bear rivers had been Standing for ten
years. and was repaired from year to year at a
slight expense; that in the winter the floods washed
over it and swept over it, and it seemed as though
there was no dam there; but when the waters went
away the dam was still there doing its work attend
ing to its duty, and simply needing to be iired
a small expense. He gave that testimony. The
arm of the State of California was ready with ITS
subpoena to call here any man, woman or child that
would contradict that testimony, and man came
forward to contradict it; and claim it, therefore,
as something which absolutely and essentially
correct And vet the Senator from SolanO with
that sarcastic manner, which | thought the Senator
from Marin had the monopoly Of derdes the idea of
a brush DAM and speaks so strongly of money being
thrown away in something which cannot be made a
success and he is indorsed by all the rest OF
the Senators who have spoken upon the repeal side
of the proposition. The Senator from Marin spoke
of the matter strongly that he almost for the time
being converted me to his proposition, that a
brush dam must be a failure. until l remem-
bered the testimony and the source of
the testimony Why did he not come before
the committee and state what he knew
in reference the matter Senator Sears says that
hydraulic miners told him that the brush dams
would prove, and had proved, failure. Why did
not he have those hydraulic miners come before the
committee and testify? Does he seek to keep all
the information to himself? Does he not wish the
rest of us to have the same source and amount of
information thae he has? Iapprehend, Mr. Presi-
dent that there is not-and l say it with due
courtesy-there is not a hydraulic miner in the
State of California that would come before the
have heen suggested by State Engineer Hall are not
and cannot be made success. The Senator grew
somewhat merry in reference to myself for which
congratulate him and the Senator also apollo
gizes for his conduct last year in voting for this
debris bill AS the keeper Of his conscience for the
time being absolve him for his say to him
par uobiScun1-peace be with you. Go on sin no
more can say to the Senator and can saw to the
Senator that as listened to the intellectual wrth
ings with which he tried to get first one fact and
then another around as to relieve him. and thus
take him out of the dilemma into which | have
placed him by reading his speech of last year and
contrasting it with his actions and wo DIS at this
session, that he reminded me OF a little verse of
poetry | read many years ago, which runs thus:
"a cruel man beetle caught.
And to the wall he pinned oh
Then said the beetle to the crowd
Tho I'm stuck up am not proud
And his soul went out of the window
So the Senator, in my Judgment, will pass the
soul of his consistency out of the window of his
speech.
In listening to the remarks of the Senator from
Solano wondered to whom was listening | won
dered where l was. l wondered what body this
was l wondered what manner of man had been
sent here by the people Of Solano county. | won
dered in what time we lived have heard an ad-
age which believe to be correct that it is a bad
bird that fouls his own nest. And when any mem.
Der of the Legislature is forced to rely upon the
abuse Of his fellow members of the past and upon
the abuse of all legislators and Legislatures of the
it seems to me that his case must be bad indeed J.
1t is very poor argument, worthy only of second
rate newspapers to talk in the Senate about people
having dread OF leg Station, and about the immense
amount Of wrong all Legislatures do And when [
hear again the cry raised, as by the Senator from
Soano, about the giant corporations that have de-
rived so much benefit from the nation it seems to
me that the time has gone by for those remarks
Denunciation never supply the place of reason /;
it may excuse inconsistency or furnish a weak ex-
cuse but rises no further. Senator Sears and SEN
ator Wendell have attempted to lay great stress
upon the amount which has been paid upon and for
this debris tax contrasting it with the amount lev
led and expended, and drawing uufavorable results
therefrom. If the Senators will give their attention
for moment will explain to them why the Con-
troler does not report the full amount of money
paid in that he reported assessed, and want the
individual attention Of the Senator from Ala
media, DIR. Pardee, who so stoutly favOrs repeal to
the figures sent me by the Controller and also that
of the Senator from Marin The reason why the
Controller does not report the entire tax paid is be-
cause Alameda county is S66,s79 81 delinquent
That is one reason. And because Solano county
is 50, ,S19 6i delinquent. Because Santa Barbara
county, that wealthy, Senator Chase tells us
frequently is S6,371 II delinquent because Mon
terey county-and when heard Senator Hill speak
of that county in his speech, it the tax ruined
and overburdened county of Monterey that he was