The Placer herald., 1870-04-09
NUMBER 3S;.

three brndred and sixty thousand dollars on
a county, the entire real estaie cf which 10
assessed, in eighteen hundred and sixty nine.
at three hundred thousand eight hundred and
twelve dollars. The only thing required OF
the company is. that it shall build fifty milss
of railroad per annum. commencing after
January first, D. eighteen hundred and sir.
ty-nlne, and counting the portion already
partly completed. There is no limitation ia
the bill upon the charges for passengers OF
freight; no Limitation OF the iucumtraucs
upon The counties 10 such amounts a. they
could probably pay without embarrassment,
and the election is ordered in June, without
giving the tax payers the righ, Of option ~
to whether they would or would not ask that
the election should be held. Men who never
paid tax, and probably never will, can vote
away the property OF those who have accu-
mulated a competency by their thrift and en-
lerprise. The provisions for taxation are
stringent, and the interests of the corporation
are etfectualy secured, but not the same care
is taken for the interests Of those who are to
be made liable for these enormous subsidies.
This aid is virtually given 10 favor Of cor
poration to which the most magnificent
grants have slready been made, and which
is supposed to be one Of the most wealthy
and powerful corporations on the CONT
nent
A II this is to be done for this corporation
at the expense Of the tax-pay ers. whom it 10
as certain as anything in the future, that the
road up the valley will be, and must be
built, without any great delay, if no subsidy
whatever is granted. If the road is not built
by ore company it soon will be ty another.
The Central Pacific Company cannot aft rd
TO wait. 1t must build the road, and that
soon, in order to complete its system. and
secure the trade of that vast and fertile re-
giou which lies along the San Joaquin aud
around its sources, as well as 10 control the
transcontiusutal rouls along the thirly-6hh
parallel.
The other bill provides for the construc-
ton Of road by the Southern Pacific Rail-
road Company, through Monterey and San
Luis Obispo Counties. The same object ous
apply to this bill. No route is designated
in The bill. nor is the number Ct miles lin
tied in those counties. For aueht that ap-
pears there may be sixty, eighty or a hun
dred miles in either county. II is said that
in San Luis Obispo the road would traverse
a part Of The county of little agricultural
value, and The county, therefore, would be
loaded with a crushing debt without any
corresponding benefit Indeed. there can
hardly be any justification for Placing such
incumberauces upon those counties This
corporation has also large and valusbls
land grant, which it will doubles secure,
and which is worth probably four or i've
millions of dollars. 1t must build ito TOAD
or forfeit its grant. When t does build the
road it wllI own it absolutely, With all the
profit and advantage which may result from
Its operation.
In San Luis Obispo County the taxable
property, real and personal, 10 eighteen
hundred and sixty.nine, is given in the Con.
trolIer's Office at nine hundred and fifty>6vs
thousand one hundred and eghty-seven
dollars, Of which five hundred and sixty
thousand two hundred and eighty .thres"
dollars was real estate. If there are sixty
miles Of railroad constructed in taat county,
the amount Of bonds would be three hundred
and sixty thousand dollars, aud the amount
Of State debt, at The same ratio, would bs
ninety millions. or nearly forty per cent up
on the total valuation of real and personal
property in eighteen hundred and sixty
nine. No such debt could ever be paid.
If lbe coast counties and the counties in
the San Joaquin Valley are to bs burdened
with debt, as is contemplated by these bills,
immigration would shun their borders. No
man would be willing to settle or purchase
property in an overtassd and bankrupt
county. The experience Of counties n Iowa
is not favorable to the policy sought to be
inaugurated by these bills. We ought TO
profit by their unfortunate experience, and
shun the financial ruin in which some
Of them are engu'fed. Had there been
nothing but simple proposition for Sac
Francisco 10 subscribe one million Of dollars
to secure three hundred additional miles Of
road, aside from the questionable principle
involved, the result could not be disastrous;
but The more | reflect upon these bills, the
more repugnant they seem 10 just principles
and to sound policy.
1t has been said, on another OCCASION,
that "all the railroads we need will be built
by private enterprise, without loading the
State with an incubus Of debt. Gripping its
finances for half century, and forming q
prolific source for corruption" The policy
of county aid is far more liable to abuse
and more dangerous than State aid, and
while regret to differ on this subject, from
gentlemen for whose integrity and judgment
| entertain great respect, am content, for
the justice and soundness of the views above
expressed, to abide by the Developments
of the future.
| feel confident they will be sanctioned
by the deliberate judgment Of your honora-
BILE body, and that they will meet the wshes
and expectations Of our common constit-
uents. II. H. HAIGHT,
Governor.
REVOLUTION IN MEDIcINE.-It is not gilded