The record-union., 1895-05-28
THE MATTER OF SUFFICIENT
DAMS.
The Maryysville Democrat says:

xQ0 Mary8Vlll6 DOUtOCTQl says
When the RECORD UNION declares that the
whole system of dams is a deluslOn ana
fraud it means that the Commissioners have
been recreant to the trust imposed and disre-
garded the oath they took as officers. mol
only has the RECORD-UNION condemned the
commission but il has condemned their work
and that proposed in the law by Whlch tney
are governed.
Further on our contemporary quotes
from the REooRD-UNIoN. as follows:
when dams can be and are built that
will restrain SO as to prevent damage,
present and prospective. there will be no
complaint; but as no such dams have
been or can be built within the margin OF
the output Of any hydraulic mine, therejs
an end Of the matter"
And the Democrat adds:
Here then is a declaration in which the
REeoRD-UNIoN disposes OF the theory of the
great men OF the country as to engineering skill
in constructing restraining works, and yet
there is not shadow of argument offered.
II the RECoRD-UNIoN Is correct in
its theory, then there is no need of the Cami-
netti law or the commission created by It.
But there is room for doubt, even in the posi-
tive language used by that journal, when 1t
says no such dams have been or can be built
We doubt If the editor of the RECoRD-UNIoN
has seen the dams and other restraining
works constructed under permit and direc-
tion OF the commission. And in fact we doubt
very much that the articles written are based
facts in the main, but are written at ran
dom and based on the general theory of op-
position to the Caminetti law and the COM
mission.
Its doubt does our contemporary no
credit. The RECoRD-UNIoN reiterates this
statement which the Democrat makes the
text for its criticism and doubling:
1.-THE Marysville Democrat charges that
the RECoRD-UNIoN condemned the Debris
Commission in advance and without
hearing. Nothing of the kind. We have
stated facts, not one of which has been
disproved."
The RECoRD-UNIoN's position has been
taken on facts, not related and verified by
others alone, but facts that have come
under its own observation and which
are the result Of its own examination i'm
partially made. This truth we have stated
over and again and yet again, but to this
date not a single fact that we have charged
has been refuted, nor even replied to,
except in the way of general denial.
The RECORD UNION has disavowed any
personal assault upon the commission,
but we have not conceded that 1t is in
fallible, or that the Camlnetti bill is any
thing more than thin compromises
every compromise of that character in
wolves the sacrifice of some right or
principle.
There has been an d will be no "ran
dom" work by the REcoRD-UNIoN. For
every allegation that it has made. or will
make relative to dams to restrain min
ing debris it has presented and will pre-
sent substantial and undeniable proof of
facts.
Lt is true that the law purports to direct
that only such dams shall be permitted as
will restrain the material washed from
the mines-the Democrat says sail mate
riap'-but 1t is of little moment what
eminent engineers judge to be sufficient
to that end, If In fact the dams prove to
be insufficient, or if the proper dam is not
possible within the economy of the
mines worked; nor If, in the judgment Of
other eminent engineers" no dams can
be constructed that will retain ''all' the
material washed from the mines that
tends to and does fill the channels Of the
streams and unfit them for natural uses.
It is enough to know that the facts are as
the REcoRD-UNIoN has stated them to
be; that they constitute a menace; that
they disclose illegal acts performed under
the cover Of seeming legality. in viola
tion of the inalienable rights Of others.