The record-union., 1896-06-24

plause) The prejudice against ap-
pointing a commission is great. l
found it utterly and absolutely lmpos-
sible to get any bill through in the ma
ture of a commission.
My honored colleague in the State
Senate, Mr.. William Johnston, was
present as a representative OF this
county, and he knows of the powerful
and strenuous objection that is made
to the use of the word commission
They hated commissions. They said
they had had enough of commissions,
and they did not propose to have any
more. / then prepared an amendment
providing for a board of inquiry; and,
as you know, without saying one soil
tary word against the gentleman VINO
had been for years in charge OF the
Government work on the rivers here
recognizing his great ability and having
nothing to say against him except this,
that his reports were not in our favor
particularly-we had to fight that re-
pert; because, when l went before the
committee individually and personally
and said that the Sacramento River
needed to be improved, while they fired
at me-to use an eXpression-that re-
Fort, which said it did not need a dol
Tor; that he had $147 900 on hand and
did not need another cent; that
the Sacramento River was in
better condition now than it had been
For twenty years; that it did not need
anything, except to let the river alone
and it would take care of itself.
/ succeeded in obtaining an amend
ment to the bill, providing. as l say,
for a board of inquiry and then, by
rare good fortune, attended, however,
by hard work to secure it, and by per-
sCnal solicitation of members of the
River and Harbor Committee, and of the
Senate Committee on Commerce, and
By personal solicitation of friends of
those Senators and others, obtained an
amendment which, in my judgment,
rnakeS this a continuing board
The amendment was drafted by Mr..
Devlin and myself-Our honored towns
man, Robert T. Devlin, and you know
that, as a lawyer, he is without a peer
and he and l both agreed that the
amendment made it a continuing board.
And | have succeeded in obtaining that
amendment to it, so that this board not
merely has charge of surveying the Sac
ramento River and reporting as to
what ought to be done, but it has
charge of expending the money now on
hand, and also has charge of expending
the money necessary to be appropriated
in carrying out the work that they rec
ommend should be done. Great ap-
plause)
1 regard that as great achievement.
And, if / had not done another thing
while I was in Congress but got that
r
should be perfectly willing to sit down
in the shade of 720 H street, Sacra-
mento, and say that I had done my full
duty to the people of the city OF Sac
ramento. (Applause)
1t marks the commencement of a new
work. 1t marks the commencement of
something that we all must take an in
terest in, because we must see that
board when appointed and when they
come here we must show them every
courtesy, and we must take care-and |
want to weigh my words carefully now
we want to take care that they start
as it were, with a clean slate; that they
do not imbibe any of the reports that
have been made in the past year by
any engineer in reference to the river
work. l have great respect for en-
glneers, great respect, especially for
Government engineers; but when the
engineer reports that the Sacramento
River is in splendid condition between
here and San Francisco, [ am inclined
to the belief that I do not know any,
thing about engineering, or else he don't
or else somebody don't or else the river
don't, or else there is something wrong
somewhere; and, therefore, l say we
want to be careful that this Board of
Engineers, when it comes here, is met
by the Board of Trade-rnet bv Mr.
Price, the State Engineer.
And, by the way, / want to say right
here, that 1 received a great deal of
benefit from Mr.. Price He published
in the Record Union" some articles i'm
reference to the condition of the river.
and sent them to me and I used them
with force and effect in showing the
necessity of doing work upon the Sac
ramento River. We want to take care
of that engineering body when it comes
here. We do not want anything but
what is right, but we want them to take
hold of the work and look after it, be-
cause it is very important work Then
l found that there had been an omission
carrying on the work of the Debris
Commissioners-the Commissioners
you know that have charge of issuing
permits for hydraulic mining, and that
have the employment of watchmen to
see that the mines are conducted prop
erly and that have to do with all that.
Owing to some rnistakes-I do not know
Nowhere had been a report made
| +t~.n IL
they had $4,000 on hand
Senator Perkins-and, by the way.
there is a man who deserves well Of
Sacramento County and of the State
for he has attended to his business as
best he knew how, and has been a great,
great assistance to me in everything
connected with Sacramento County, and
with this district and with this State
| Great applause) We found that that
| was an error. We succeeded in obtain
| ing an appropriation OF $4,000 to carry
on the work of this Debris Commission.
| / attended to my end of the line, as he
called it, and ne attended to his, and
we helped each other. And this appro-
| priation is absolutely necessary, because
if this Debris Commission hould find it
| self without money, who on earth would
| look after that particular work? No
| body
| Then there is one matter personal to
| Sacramento City, that l may be par
doned for speaking Of here; there is one
matter personal to the people whom
| have known in Sacramento City that
/ may be pardoned for speaking of here
l used my position as Congressman to
endeavor to have the blacklist removed