The San Francisco call., 1908-09-08
WITH COMMISSION


Peltier brought the discussion of
commission to a head by propounding
three questions. The first two of these,
which were answered unanimously in
the affirmative, were:
Is 1t the desire of this meeting that
the drainage commission should con-
tinue to exist?
Shall the drainage commission have
general powers, as now expressed in
the bill, except taxation?
The third question brought up the
entire subject which now troubles those
interested in drainage affairs. The
original bill creating a drainage COM
mission provided much greater powers
than it now possesses, but was so al
tered and amended before passage that
the commission has found itself with
hands tied and practically unable to do
anything. The general sense of yes
terday's conference was that the pow
er of taxation should be placed in the
commissions hands, but with certain
limitations and restrictions, the dis
cussion centering for the most part on
whether this should be done by the
passage of the bill creating the commits
sion, as 1t was originally proposed, or
by amendments to it as it now stands.
The third question propounded by Pei
tier was:
Shall the drainage commission be
clothed with power of taxation, and if
so, to what extent?
WOULD RESTRICT THE AUTHORITY
Cline Bull of Colusa, member of
both the commission and the drainage
association, sounded the keynote of the
general sentiment of those present
when he said that the solution of the
difficulty was not to confer an unlim-
Tod Of tax
mission. but to provide by law for
right of taxation up to an arbitrary
figure with a referendum by vote on all
proposed taxation above a set amount.
Following the discussion OF this sug-
gestion the following resolution was
unanimously adopted:
Resolved, that the Sacramento drain
age commission be clothed with the
power of taxation. the maximum ar
bitrary amount to be determined later,
and with the proper safeguards and linn
itations.
A supplementary resolution, intro
1uced by NJ. J. Boggs of Colusa, con-
ferred upon Chairman Cline Bull /
authority to name q committee of five
members from the commission and the
river improvement association to CO.
operate with the attorneys of the COM
mission in drafting proposed amend
ments to the existing law. The re-
port of this committee is to be made
at another meeting similar to that held
yesterday and IL ratified by such a con-
vention, will be presented to a mass
meeting of the River improvement and
Drainage association and all persons
interested in river Improvement and
drainage. The committee appointed for
this work consists of George w Tat
terson of San Joaquin county and p. ].
Van Loben Sells of Alameda county, rep
resenting the River Improvement and
Drainage association, and Jesse Pound
stone of Colusa county, Peter Cook of
Solano county and B. +. Walton of SUIT
ter county, representing the Sacra-
mento drainage commission.
GROCERS GIVEN THANKS
In addition to the memorials ad-
dressed to congress and the state Leg
islature, asking each for $4,000 ap-
preparation for drainage work resolu-
tions were directed to the National
wholesale grocers' association. thanking
that body for having already adopted a
|simi1ar memorial to be presented to con-
gress. A letter was read from Briga-
dier General William M. Marshall chief
Of engineers of the United States army.
relative to his interest in the river
Improvement work in California and
expressing the hope that he would be
able to visit the state in the near fu-
ture to make thorough study of ex-
listing needs
Among those present at the conven-
tion were the following representatives
of the River Improvement and Drain
age association of California: Rufus
p. jennings, president; NJ. j. Boggs of
CoIusa and p. J. Van Loben Sells of
Oakland. From the Sacramento drain
age commission were: George w. Pei
tier of Sacramento, PRESIDENT; Cline
Bull of Yuba and Placer counties. Peter
Cook of Solano county, George H. Car
diff of Glenn and Butte counties, S. S.
Hinsdale of Yolo county. Jesse Pound