Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-07-24

invite the miners emptying upon other
rivers to follow their example. They in
dorse the fairness and impartiality of Judge
Temple, and assert their readiness to com.
ply with the conditions laid down by him.
OF course it was to be expected that the
resolutions of such body should attempt
to viudicate the interest It represented,
and it cannot be regarded as in any way
surprising that those who have everything
they possess embarked in mining should
| find it difficult to take thoroughly dis
interested view of the conflict with the
valley. The fact that they admit the in
jury complained of, and that they are tax
ing steps to obey the Court which has
passed upon the matter, on the other hand
shows that they have no disposition to
deepen the i'll feeling which exists already
BY uselessly protracting the struggle.
They expect to spend three hundred
thousand dollars in bailding dams across
the Yuba, and since it is very clearly their
interest that the work shall be effective, and
since they propose to tender the supervision
and control of their engineering plans to
Colonel Mendell, it is fair to assume that
they are in earnest, and that under the
new arrangement the dam system will be
thoroughly tested. And it would be well
for all the interests concerned if at this
stage of the proceeding a truce could be
effected. What the farmers demand is that
the hydraulic miners shall stop working
| while the dams are being built This, OF
course, the miners are reluctant to sccede
to, because they expect to draw the funds
with which the new works are to be con-
structed from the mines, and because stop
ping working means the stopping of all
earnings. But however inconvenient it may
be for the miners to suspend operations, it
is obvious that the only grace they can
look for is that which is due to the laws
delays. For since Judge Temples de-
Cision commands the stoppage OF the mines
it follows that, unless the decision is re-
versed by the Supreme Court, it will be
possible, in a comparatively short period,
to procure its enforcement, or the enforce
ment OF its principles, upon all the mines.
The miners may say that until the Supreme
Court has affirmed it they are not bound
to accept it as the law governing the situa-
ton, and technically that is true. But
since they desire to come to an amicable
arrangement with the valley people, they
ought to be prepared to meet the latter
within the strict technicalities, for if they
will not make concessions neither can they
expect them.
And while the stoppage of the mines in
advance of positive individual injunctions
will doubtless represent pecuniary depri-
walton capable of being estimated, it must
be remembered that after all it is only
temporary deprivation, and not loss
Whatever geld they could have taken out
of the mines while the dams were in pro.
cess of construction would in such case
still be in the mines. 1t would be theirs,
but they would have to wait for it a little
longer. And the miners must also remem-
Der that they have had long day, and
that the Valley people have been very ps-
tient and enduring in the past, however
impatient they may be now. Nor must
they fail to consider that from the Valley
standpoint there remains nothing to be
A done but to enforce Judge Temples de-
cree, and that the less disposition the
miners show to conform to that decree the
stronger will the disposition be to push
things in the Courts. The legal advisers
4 OF the miners will probably tell them that
there is not the slightest probability of
reversal Of Judge Temples decision by the
4 Supreme Court, and there remains for the
mining interest, therefore, no recourse but
the uncertain delays which can be oh.
tanned in the ordinary course of litigation.
But if they depend upon these delays, and
hold out against Judge Temples decision
meanwhile, they cannot expect the Valley
to meet them in friendly spirit. If, in a
word, one side insists upon the letter of
the bond, the other side will have right
to take the same ground, and then there
will be no guarantee for the termination
of the quarrel even by the completion of
the dams.
The REcoRD.UNIoN has labored faith
fully in this matter to bring about such an
adjustment as would secure the desired pro-
lection to the Valley without inficting un-
necessary injury upon the mining interest.
This journal has urged the farmers to &C.
cept compromise, and has given them
reasons for doing SO. But it cannot con-
tinue to advocate that line of policy unless
the miners show themselves willing to
meet their opponents halfway, and they
can only do that by declaring their readi-
ness to obey Judge Temples decision with
out waiting until they are compelled by
the Courts to do 80. By refusing to do
this they will subject the Valley to fur
Their and unnecessary expense, and will
thus increase the bitterness already exist
ing, and make any future agreement ex-
tremely difficult. We do not suppose that
any of the miners think it at all doubtful
that Judge Temples decision will stand.
No matter how it may affect their property,
il is presumably the law in the case, and
sooner or later it will have to be submitted
to. As to the propriety of making this
submission prompt, we do not think there
can be any serious controversy. As
matter of policy alone we are of opinion
that such a step would be well worth the
pecuniary sacrifice involved in it. OF course
the most embarrassing feature is the fate
of the many industrious working. miners in
the mining counties, but it is probable that
even if the mines were all shut down next
week it would be possible to give the ma.
jority of these men employment on the |
dams, and thus they would be kept from
want until the dams were completed, and |
until the mines could be opened again. |
Now that the miners have taken steps to
show that they really intend to obey the |
law in the building of the dams, however,
they would in our judgment do well for
their own cause by proceeding one step
further, and accepting the full purport
of Judge Temples decision frankly and
without any more hesitation. By doing
this we are satisfied that they would
greatly facilitate lasting agreement with
the Nallev