The record-union., 1894-03-12
Levee Districts and Bonds.

EDS. RECORD-UNIoN: A law of twenty
six years ago was declared unconstitu-
tional by our Supreme Court recently,
and its consequences are the wiping out
of every levee district in Sutter County
organized under it, and all obligations
growing out of them, such as bonds and
warrants. Everything goes down like a
corpse to the grave. From this we must
infer that no person can act in the name
of a district in any manner. So the court
says; they are the same as If they never
existed.
But those districts, though dead, leave
their debts behind them. and no one be-
hind to pay them. In the year 1868 the
Legislature passed an Act entitled, IAN
Act to protect lands from overflow in
Sutter County," A section of the law
read thus:
Whenever the majority of acres OF
land are signed and described for the
formation of such district and presented
to The Board OF Supervisors, that board
shall declare such district organized with
power to do everything necessary for the
protection of such land"
This means to let contracts, levy taxes
and'collect them. Therefore it might be
called municipal corporation. This
section of the law is the one which the
court takes exception to, for it under
takes to give powers not warranted by
the Federal and State Constitution. The
court says one man might own the ma
jority of the acres, including land needing
no protection, and have power to tax it
to reclaim his land. The law says the
board shall organize the district, giving
them no option in the matter; no hearing
or protest from any quarter, regardless
of the character of some land.
So we must conclude this part of the
decision to be sound. But these heavy
obligations have been created in good
faith, bonds issued and sold to innocent
purchasers before this law was attacked.
But the court says they are not legal,
as the district was not legal. Therefore
there is no legal remedy to recover.
Here is where the hardship comes in,
and capital will be very shy in the future
in having anything to do with reclama-
ton bonds, and without capital reclama-
ton would not be carried on on much of
scale. But every law of this kind
should first be submitted to the ordeal OF
the Supreme Court before any obliga-
tions be created under it. There were
four of these districts now working.
Obligations were created and bonds
sold, and great part have not yet been
redeemed. According to this decision
there can not be.
1(lobkANe ~. - 1AiSAUAOo bI4O koubtCI OdSlA
and apont 122, 900 acres, but the attempt
in this instance was failure, and will re-
main SO until general and COM
prehensive plan is adopted. The bonds,
with interest, will round up near to the
million. We will call the other districts
not failures. as far as protection of the
land goes, but how about the payment of
debts? The court says they can't be en-
forced.
District No. l, on the west side of
Feather River, has fine levee and about
1000 of bonds out. This is sometimes
called the Yuba City District, and in
cludes a fine body of land planted to
orchards and vines in part.
No. 2, including the town of Nicolaus,
has fine land and bonds to the amount of
about SIS,0 900 or $40, 900.
No. g has not much debt. It issued no
bonds, but warrants. This is the district
where the great break occurred and did
SO much damage and nearly changed the
channel of the Feather River down
through the American Basin. A Gov
ernment engineer could not see anything
the matter nor any danger TO navigation,
and so reported to Washington.
So it amounted to this-help yourself
or let it alone. The Washington people
know nothing OF our rivers only as they
get it through the engineers in charge
Queer folks, these engineers, TO be in
charge of your navigable rivers or debris
dams. Z. CARROLL.
Nicolaus March 10Th