The record-union., 1892-10-12
AN ADDRESS
To Citizens From Their Executive
Committee on LeyeeS.
Dlspassionate Reasons why the People
Should Vote for Levee I'M
provement.

! Some months ago the citizens of Sacra-
mento held meetings and organized a
Levee Association, with f. r. Dray as
| Chairman. Several very exciting ses-
sions were held and the association sent
committees several times before the
Trustees to urge submission of levee inn
provement and bond issue to vote of the
people.
Finally the Trustees consented, be-
came convinced of the need for levee-
raising, and besides calling all election
set about at once to have levee work be-
gun.
The Executive Committee of the Citi-
zens' Levee Association now addresses
the citizens of Sacramento in this Ian
guage:
Voters of Sacramento: Tomorrow will
be held one of the most important cleo
! tons i'll the history of Sacramento.
! It's outcome will largely influence the
/ future of our city.
! Should the citizens Of Sacramento to-
morrow say by their votes that they are
| not prepared TO have 500, 900 in bonds
i issued so that our leveeS may be thor
oughly strengthened, and the city placed
! beyond all danger from flood, it Will be
! equivalent to saying to the many among
| us who have money to invest, and to the
/ many outside OF our city who also have
money to invest, and who are beginning
/ to look with favor upon Sacramento as an
important business center-lt Will be
i equivalent to saying to such as these:
! Invest your money here if you are will
! ing TO place your capital where you will
! for several months in the year be kept in
q constant state Of dread and lear con-
corning the safety OF your property"
! 1t will be equivalent to saying to them:
"Invost your money in Sacramento il
! you wish to awake some morning and
lind that your property has over night
| been deprecated by flood to a fraction of
| its former value-all as a result of the
/ parsimony and the shortsightedness Of its
citizens i'll neglecting to properly protect
their city against high water"
On the other hand, let the citizens Of
Sacramento Enthusiastically say tomorrow
! by their votes that they want the levees
so strengthened that even the keenest
enemy of our city will be silenced, and
| the confidence that to-day is lacking
among many within and without its
! borders concerning the city's safety from
| flood will be greatly strengthened.
| People who have made money in our
midst will feel encouraged to invest it in
our midst, and people who have made
| money elsewhere will have less hesita-
ton in likewise investing it among US.
What is most to be feared in this mat
ter is the apathy on the part Of otherwise
Well-meaning citizens.
Let no man who has the welfare of the
| city at heart remain away from the polls
! tomorrow under the belief that the iSsu-
ance of the bonds will be carried without
| him. Let each voter feel as if the entire
responsibility rested with him alone.
The citizen who favors the issuance of
the bonds and the strengthening of our
1 srrkt
| himself should he remain away from the
polls and find that the issuance of the
| bonds was defeated by just one vote.
| The fact that we have had no high
water in the last thirty years is no guar
antee that high water will not come this
very year.
Last winter was a comparatively dry
| winter and yet, as result of the filling of
our river by mining debris, we were
within few inches of a serious overflow
There is not penny in the levee fund
| to-day. The Trustees are even now
spending $4,000 borrowed money in
order to carry out fraction Of the gem
eral levee plan by raising part of Front
street.
Should any emergency arise this winter
and who will guarantee that an emer-
gency will not arise-the Trustees stand
utterly powerless to raise dollar toward
protecting the city against flood.
| Ii the ponds are not issued taxes will
be higher than ever next year to pay for
the $4,000 borrowed by the Trustees to
! pay for the Front street work now pro-
| crossing.
The $4,000 worth of levee work being
done on Front street will practically be
useless unless supplemented by COM
plete chain of work, SO as to make the
city absolutely safe on all sides-all of
which cannot be done without the issu-
ance of the bonds.
The undersigned, members of the Ex-
ecutive Committee. therefore urge every
voter in Sacramento to lay aside all other
| affairs and to take sufficient time to-mor-
row to cast his vote.
The committee especially urges all en-
ployers to remind their employees to vote
and to grant them sufficient time to do So
No greater setback to the future well
fare of our city could happen-unless it
be a flood itself-than to fail in this most
necessary effort to make our city abso-
lutely safe against flood
! DIR. q. l.. SIMMONS,
| V. S. MCCLATCHY,
j. o. COLEMAN,
ii. WEINSToCK,
T. 3. HALL,
JAMES MCGUIRE,
w. F. PETERSON,
| T. r. DRAY,
DIR. w. a. BRIGGS Chm.