Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-02-19
TIE LEVEE DEBATE.

Oar evening contemporary is a most
brilliant example of overweening oonceit.
Its perverse obstinacy excites admiration,
and It's cool proposition that those whom it
assails shall dlsprove its negatives, pre-.
judgments and dogmatic asseverstions con.
corning our levees, is sublime in its
audacity. But we recall the Shakespearean
proyerb "COnceit IS weakest bodies
strongest works. Our contemporary is
frequently troubled over the fact that the
RECoRD-UNIoS does not pattern after its
cloth and pronounce upon issues without
information aud examination, and its con.
Germ in shis respect is commentator. Our
neighbo- has made certain fat statements
contradictory Of the report of the City
Engineer as to hight of lavees, weakness of
given sections and the absolute necessity
for repairs and engagements, and with
pragmatical AR demands that somebody
disprove its assertions. Bless its troubled
soul, this community has other fish to fry
than the refutation Of its errors and self.
confident assertions. The RECORD UNION
has presented the exact facts concerning
the levees. It has done this on the basis
of figures furnished by sworn engineer.
fortified by still another engineer, and in.
dorsed by engineering authority of even
still broader experience. A local report of
the BECoRD-UNIoN on the condition of the
levees in 1879 and previous to the food
waters Of 1881, ia cited by our contem-
porary as convincing proof OF the incon.
sistency of the RECORD UNION. Whoever
is curious about that matter will
find, on reading the report in question,
nothing in it that is Inconsistent with
the RECORD UNIONS present position.
However we claim no virtue on that acore {;
the consistency we admire is better stuff
than mere concordance of views of two
distinct periods The light of the present
is the proper guide for present action.
We now know by the high water of 1851
that there is but one foot of land north of
Brighton station between this city and
safety from inundation as measured by the
highest food waters of 1881. Since 1879 the
beds of the rivers have been filling up.
Since 1879 there has been a new assault
upon the levees by high waters. Since
1879 there have been made new surveys of
the levee lines. However we say now,
as was said locally then, the north and
east levee is a massive structure-no finer
levee existing IN the State, but develop.
ments have proven that there is vital
necessity for its protection. Nothing is
stronger than its weakest parts, and those
weak parts have been pointed ont beyond
the possibility of truthful denial. The
sum asked is not in excess Of the needs for
levee improvement it falls far short of it,
as the City Engineer has shown. If this
people fail to authorize the expenditure of
that sum they substitute for the result of
survey, the advice of engineers, the judg.
ment OF a respectable body of citizens, the
opinions of experts and the dictates of
prudence and a wise economy, the vapor-
ings OF the inflated self .sufiiciency of
newspaper So far as the RECORD. UNION
is concerned, it advises no action that it
does not forsify by reasons against which
pretentious dogmatism cannot prevail.