Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-08-18
THE WATER RIGHTS DEBATE,

Whoever has calmly followed the pro-
ceedings of the two legislative bodies now
in session in this city, and the debates on
the subject of water rights, must have been
convinced by this time that the irrigation
question is far more involved than those
citizens who favored the extraordinary
session of the Legislature with the hope
of settling the matter out Of hand in two
! or three days, have been willing to con-
cede. We have said from the outset that
the wisdom necessary for the calculation
of the problem has not been thought out,
and that it ought to be as speedily as is
possible to human understanding. There
have been extremists on both sides, who
would listen to no suggestion whatever,
and they have impeded progress. The
conservative thought that has realized
the vastness of the problem, and the in
tricate character of the question, the i'm
portant part played by the vested rights
of citizens. the involvement due to sys-
tenn of laws that have recognized both
appropriation Of water to private use, and
also the right Of the riparian owner, has
not and does not yet see its way clearl y to
wise and equitable adjustment of the issues
Joined and their proper settlement by
legislation. 1t is the easiest thing in the
world to charge the man who declines to
agree with you with corruption; with
being the tool of your opponent and devoid
of honest conviction. The assault upon mo-
tive is an attack any one one can make, but
it is the lowest form of response
to the argument advanced against you, not
TO say the wickedest. But whether or not
there has been corruption, whether or not
men have bartered their convictions,
enough has developed in the present ses-
sion of the Legislature to demonstrate
that there is more information needed by
all the people upon the subject that
neither the citizens of the State at large
nor their representatives in the Legisla-
ture have ordinarily clear and unpreju-
diced conceptions as yet of precisely what
should be done. The things known are
that this State needs comprehensive sys-
TEN of irrigation and that speedily, yet one
sufficiently flexible to accommodate the
varying climatic and Typographical condi-
tons of our extended territory; that there
must be,-and will be in time, and ought to
be now, wise utilization of all waters that
can be availed of to feed irrigable lands
that the surplus and waste waters ought to
be, and will be, saved to the needs of irri-
cation; that the integrity of the navi-
gable streams, and the tributaries that
make them such, must be preserved. The
belief gains ground daily that the solution
of the question, which ought to be arrived
at with speed and certainty, will be found
in State control of all waters that can be
applied to irrigation uses, and, if need be,
the exercise of the sovereign power of the
State to secure to it an irrigation system
that will duly regard vested rights and yet
prevent any monopolization of water We
have no sympathy whatever with the ex-
IRENE partisan-shouting that, for opinions
sake, denounces one set of men as water
grabbers, thieves and cutthroats," and
another as riparian hogs, vandals and
thugs" All such vituperation, abuse and
exchange Of explosives but hinder and
delay arrival at the solution of the prob
lem, and only serve to obscure the public
vision and perplex the public mind We
are not to arrive any more speedily at the
ultimate wisdom of the question by ira
versing the avenues of filth and indulging
in the hog-wash of yituperation, or by as
sailing the motives of men and charging
fraud and corruption right and left, and
denying all honesty of motive and all
patriotic devotion. Whatever is accom-
plished in the matter of irrigation systems
will be soonest attained and with least
friction, by getting the question up and
out of the wallow and mire of selfshness
into the realm of cold inquiry, thoughtful
debate and deliberate conviction.