Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-02-16
IRRIGATION.
A Letter to a Senator from a Public Man
on Living Topic.

|
journal to give all parties to legitimate de-
bate as fair opportunity to state their views
as is consistent with demands upon our
space and the prophecies of public discus
| sion;
Hy Dear Friend (1: For your kind and very
cere thanks. Your letter struck a very high key
| note which it maintained to the end 1t vastly
pleased me, not only by the reflection that there
was no affectation about it, as well by the con,
of expression nowadays. | should rather say,
professors Are they never to be liberated
| from the shadow of suspicion again. Are they
! always to be interpreted as danger-sienalS or
naked extracts from - The Young Ladies per-
| feet letter writer.
"'The courteous word-'he air sedate
Which lusty men repIGiate.
Anyhow it pleased me, and | shall try in an
swerfng to copy you, il / can! My first letter
was written hastily-yery hastily, i'll the midst
of professional engagements of great moment,
and exposed me To a criticism which, though
unspoSen or unwritten, was quietly and with
great dignity suggested by the general atmos-
phere OF your letter
Please let me explain. In the first place let
| me say, once for all, how deeply regret ever
! having mentioned an obligation. We will now
| regard that Old account squared, closed up
| and forgot tcn forever. But haste involved me
! in . more serious exposure, not in expression,
perhaps, SO much as by manner, and my pre-
| sumption, visible III my Friday letter, Will dis
| appear its haTsher feature VIII, I'm sure, be
eliminated in the course OF what wish to say
now, and which but for haste would have been
said ON Friday had sufficient time been allowed
me for reflection.
The wisdom which consigned the shoemaker
| to his last has never been questioned never will
be, and the doctor who sticks to his pills may
attain spheres of eminence and success denied
to his versatile but not less honest and sensible
| brother Condemned by painful aud long-cOn-
| nul Il md
| labOrs of my professional life, my search for
health was mostly spent i'll the southern portion
OF this great State, and last March | had the
| luck and pleasure OF attending the opening of
| the first formal Convention OF the State Irriga-
ton Society which met At Riverside, in San
Bernardino county, i'll March last.
| l don't know if business or pleasure ever took
you to Riverside; if not, trust the latter soon
may for business might hurry you away with
out giving you leisure to realize what Riverside
really means, the beauty 1t comprehends, the
| wealth it represents, the homes il has furnished
| the comfort and happiness il suggests, its future
| but here halt The sword of DamOctes hangs
over its head and its hilt is in the hands of a
! riparian owner!
| But let me return to the Convention met
men there from the East and West, from the
North and. OF course, from the South, and a
more thoroughly practical, devoted, intelligent
honest and unselfsh body OF men never saw
congregated together in my life.
| Knowing there were antagOnistic elements
| and interests there, | marveled at the harmony
/
of the chapter The evidence OF combustion
that friction is almost sure to develop was no.
| where present
| Now long anterior to this time, years ago.
| had the honor, on invitation, of delivering the
| opening address of The Southern horticultural
| Society in Los Angeles.
| called attention even then to the absolute
necessity of irrigation and the enactment of wise
| and satisfactory legislation as vital elements Of
the prosperity OF the state of California, particu
| larly the southern t.0rtion of it. where mighty
| tracts OF noble land only waited the advent of
owners and water TO far surpaSs the widest
| dreams of the enthusiast in the marvellous re
| turns they would make 10 the planters. dem
| Onstrated that BUT for the wisdom which in
spired and the patriotism and industry which
| built the stupendous aqueducts which carried
| the fertliZing waters through all the diameteTS
OF the historic plain 10 the north of the Persian
| Gulf the countless millions which filed the ter
ritory between the Tigris and Euphratos could
never have been supported for day. The pi0
neeTs found here in the farthest West, in Cali
fornia, conditions which, prevailed in the tarth-
| est East when the world was young" c0ndi-
| tons which forced primeVal man to do exact
| ly what we are doing to-day; conditions
which inspired the building OF those canals
] whose melancholy ruins the traveller finds even
| now on the desert waste between the rivers once
! the radiant center of Il polished race and brill
| liant civilization
Ny study OF irrigation commenced thus years
| ago, and has never been interrupted. You see
| now, my dear friend, m no babbling neophyte
| in the department of science, and that when i'll
| that dogmatic way said the other day the
| riparian law won't dc" l had reason for the
| faith that was within me- Besides, / know of
| no law, human or divine, which forbids the
| cultivated physician from prosecuting the study
| and investigation of a science like philanthropy
Il science anyhow tina lies so close to his own, a
| science of which medicine is but single rung
| in the ladder, a rung which does not mean Il
rest but an invitation and inspiration to climb
| which the physician must accept if he would
| reach that hight and distinction attained by
| Abou Ben Adhem, when disappointed with the
| angels answer, he won the goal at last when he
| told Him Write me then as one that loved his
| fellow-man."
repeat, when spoke so boldly. so seemingly
preSumptuOusly, of the riparian law, Pit was not
| the fluffy assertion of superficial enthusiast.
the vain utterance of a selfish and empty mind,
! or the dogmatic expression OF ignorance, preju-
! dice or injustice.
The Supreme Court of the State of California
! is august body OF learned and just men. This
| Court has enunciated its views on the question
| of water rights. They are i'll absolute antag-
| Ousm to my own views, and yet claim and
know that reached my conclusions rs honestly
| and cousc3eutiOusly as they did. and yet with
| consciousness OF dclncTit which does not pre-
Guide hope. / calmly wait the relentless arbi-
| traIi0u of the future to declare whose conclrl-
| sions are right ut last.
This Court expounds, explains and declares
the law for us Now law i or ought to be, in its
sharTest and most crystaliZeG expression the syS-
| jematic recorded DEGREES Of common sense and
exact justice; and when find law, no matter
| how high its origin, no matter how learned the
man ormcu who enunciatedit, no natterhew fair
| il seems, how sweet II reads no matter how
| huttreSsed 10y precedent and reverenccd By age
| if this law is Il violation of common sense and
| IN outrage on Justice Il is M lar and sooner or
! later it will be wiped out OF existence.
| Let us quietly contemplate these two prob
! lens that now seem euvcloped IN such dense
obscurity, dividing ideas and opinions in refer
| ence to the subject of irrigation.
We can do this pleasantly and calmly To-
getheT- There IS nothing in our way 10 obStruct
investigation tincture belief, harrass conscience
| or bias judgment
| am convinced that all men feel rc are honest,
and we are both suspected OF intelligence
| know not if you run mine. own an orchard
or vineyard, or own Il Hook OF sheep or cattle,
| and IIs quite sure that such would not be found
| in the inventory Of my realty. Ny home Is
wncre hang up my hat, and this refreshing
| freedom from every possession that might en-
barrass temperate, careful and unselliSh investi-
CATION is an excellent condition and preparation
| for wise Judgment and Just conclusions.
| In the first place, the two interests now op-
posed are the riparian Or English IDEA, and the
I0plT0griGiiJR cr iMcrtcGH iGCd and Interest. The
| INST pure and simple, ordainS that aS legislator,
Judge or citizen, We must accept or adopt the
laws in this direction, and that ownership Of
| the waters in Il natural stream is vested in the
| man VINO owns the land on one or both sides
| ana that this partial occupancy makes him the
| unqualified owner of all the water, which must
| be sept in the natural channel and not diverted
! from il for the good Of his neighbOr below. no
/ matter now much he wastes and the other
| wants.
| All right That he has some interest and
property in the water TO one viii deny but how
much? That is the rital question. Now we will
stop just here for It moment and ask to what end
/ and purpose does the riparian owner devote his
Water2 To his cattle and sheep, horses. mules
1 and pigs-in g word, to his stock.
| He came upon the stream when there was no
| other man III sight, and bought largely in land
| on either side the stream and built himself
| home He came or went there in the spring.
The stream was running bank high. The
| spring Wan2S, the summer comes and dragS its
] slow length along, and autumn. hot and dry
I and dusty, arrives. The stream is running. hut
| il Is low and brackiSh, evidently unhealthy for
his cattle, drinking it, sicken and die.
| But let us suppose it is running sill full He
needs other water for himself and family He
| boreS u well, and up from SubteTranean reScr-
! voirs comes water III endless quantities, cold.
| clear and healthy. 1t runs 10 waste on the
/ ground millions of gallons sink back into the
earth ard disappear forever, Not Ii blade Of
I new grass marks its advent OF disappearance.
J Now comes another man below his lines of
| possession on the stream and buys a large tract
Of land. lie taxes the water where il is running
! to waSte-of no benefit TO auybody-and carries
| it ont Ga the land, and further and further he
carries il as long is il viii run OF flow. The
| land, before sterile or unproductive from want
| of water manitcstS its real strength and vigor
and the fields grow green with plentiful promise
| orchards and vineyards spring up like magic.
| homes multiply, towns, aye almost cities grow
up Ike Aladdin'S palace in a single night tenn
pies, dedicated to the worship OF the everlasting
| God, appear; schOol-houSeS are built streets and
! roads arc completed; stores and warehouses are
| being rapidly pushed to completion and the
gloomy. uuinvitiCg. unproductIve desert bios
sons with life and Vigor, promise and plenty
! But we viii 20 back for a moment to the spot
J. a. L..