The record-union., 1896-06-24

that | deserve well OF myself and of my
God if | do not of arv ,'ae else.
Again, l rece;y., q communication
calling attention to ice fact that the
Sacramento Postc9.4, building here was
lighted with gas, ard that it would be
a good thing to have it lighted with
electricity. Feeling that that would be
something advanta geous and beneficial,
l interested myself in that, and a few
days before l left Washington, / re-
ceived a letter from the Secretary of the
Treasury stating that he had directed
the custodian of the building, the Hon
Mr. Stairley, to advertise for proposals
for arranging that building so it could
be lighted with electricity. 1t was a
small matter, perhaps, but if any of you
know how much red tape there is about
all this you will understand that even a
little matter of that kind requires work,
and I have labored in that as l did in
everything else, for the purpose of help
ing the interests of Sacramento.
Again, I found that the San joaquin
River needed appropriations. I succeed
ed in obtaining $J7 800 for the improve
raent of the San Joaquin River, in addi-
ton to the S24 600 that is now ON hand.
That required a great deal of good,
hard, reliable, legitimate work in both
ends to use an expression, and in both
houses of Congress. / worked hard OF
course you gentlemen here, and you peo-
pie here, are not so much interested in
that except as it is a part of our dis
trict. But / speak of it as showing the
work that has been done in Congress,
and as showing that I tried to work for
all portions of the district as well as for
Sacramento City. And 1 succeeded in
obtaining that, and l felt very happy
when 1 telegraphed the news to San
Joaquin County.
Another matter. We all know that
there have been differences of opinion
between the people of the valley and
the people of the mountains in refer
ence to the manner in which mining
the rivers have been filled: the miners
saying filled from one cause, the valley
people saying filed from another We
all know that the rivers should be
cleaned out | made a most strenuous
effort and succeeded in obtaining an ap-
oropriation of $3.50, 600, to be used. in
| connection with an appropriation made
by this State Of like amount, in clear
of the debris now deposited in those
rivers.
You may call it what you please
restraining dam or improving the Sac
ramento and the Feather Rivers The
object is to reclaim the river. The OBJ
| iect is to prevent the debris in the river
from coming down upon Sacramento
City and into the Sacramento River and
to- = -oII
that it was work that ought to be
| done. During the campaign of 1894,
preceding the lection. | promised that
| would endeavor to secure such an ap-
preparation. | worked for it. and work
ed for it hard. Some people thought
that the money ought not to be appro-
priated, and SO telegraphed and so
wrote. Some people thought it ought
to be appropriated in one way; some in
another. Some thought at one point
some at another. ] was in favor of an
appropriation, leaving it to the en-
gineers to decide as to how the money
should be expended where it should be
expended and in what manner it
| should be expended, and I succeeded in
obtaining just that sort of an amend
ment to the bill.
So we have an appropriation of $3.50,
! 600, to be used in connection with a
like amount that has already been ap-
| propriated, as they say, by the Calfor-
MIA Legislature for the purpose of inn
| proving the two rivers, the Sacra-
mento and the Feather. That in my
! judgment. is an important work. a
good work / do not care what name
! you give it-anything on earth that can
be done; anything under Gods heav-
ems that can be done to prevent the de-
bris from coming further down ought
to be done. And, in my judgment, this
! is a good appropriation if the dams or
restraining barriers, call them what you
will. fail to perform their work
! Even, as I say, if the dams or re-
straining barriers fail to perform that
which it is confidently claimed by en-
gineers they will do-if they fail to re-
strain the debris-still the expenditure
OF that money is a good thing for this
State. because il settled forever the
| question of putting money into re-
straining dams. If the United States
| engineers, with their ability and wit h
| their intelligence, and with their de-
yotion to their cause, cannot construct
restraining dams or barriers, or bet
| terments of the river, whatever name
you may give them, that will keep the
debris in the river from coming down.
then there is no use for private individ-
uals to undertake the work, and the
matter will be relegated to obscurity.
Therefore. l say, even if it turns out to
be a failure, it is a good appropriation,
and I believe that / have ACCOMPLISHED
much for the benefit of the Second Con-