Weekly Trinity journal., 1872-04-13
WANTED PUBLIC SPIRIT.

III u IeCCHC dIllCIc Hchdcu aS hOp'',
the Alta gives the business men of San
Francisco some excellent advice. They
are told in plain language that they have
relied upon their natural resources long
enough. Furthermore, the unpaaltable
truth is thrust upon them for considera-
ton, that they have simply sat and wait
ed for customers to come along without
making any effort to that end. 1t is a
fact that the merchants and capitalists of
San Francisco are behind the age. The
policy pursued by Chicago and Cincin-
natl always, and lately by st. Louis, if
adopted at the Bay would have placed
our commercial metropolis beyond any
assault from the Central Pacific or any
other organized monetary power in the
land. The resources of the Pacific Coast
are not equaed by any other section of
Gods footstool," of which the San
Francisco of to-day is a convincing dem
onstration. 1t is great and pre-emi-
nently wealthy city. Its wealth has been
acquired simply by sitting at the Golden
Gate and levying toll, like the Robber
Barons of old, on all the traffic that nee
essarily passed that way. San Francis
co heretofore has -emnently been The
City of Rings. A bank ring has con-
trolled the currency of the State and so
tar has successfully opposed the circula-
ton of paper money, whether national or
Francisco in this particular, the fact is
known that here, in the town of Weaver
Vile, one man alone made several thous-
and dollars in small business by order
ing his goods from New York City,
during war times. The San Francisco
dealers, while charging a most unwar-
rantable profit upon invoice prices, mdtie
no deduction (0Y The diGerence betVee1,
gOLd dnd currency. When it is remem-
bered that gold at one time was quoted at
two hundred and eighty-seven and legal
tenders at thirty-scven and one half, it is
easy to perceive where the gouge came
in and where the money was made. For
this the interior may thank the bank ring.
Next in importance we may class the
importing ring. A combination of lead
ing importing houses, in concert with the
bank ring, compelled the people of this
State to pay just what prices the combi-
nation saw fit to place upon all imported
luXuries, comforts and even neccssaries
OF life. Nowhere on the globe does an
individual get so little for his money as
in the interior of California. San Fran
cisco could have and can end this state
of affairs. To wind up the gross wrongs
perpetratcd upon the interior, San Fran
cisco must needs have an exporting ring.
1t is not forgotten that when there was II
surplus of wheat, till then our only i'm
portant article Of export besides gold, a
San Francisco ring, by chartering in ad-
vance all ships coming to that port, were
able to present to the world the eXtraor-
dinary spectacle that while wheat was
advancing in price at Liverpool, the great
grain market, it was declining here where
the article was in excess of the demand.
Wrung from hardworking farmers mil
lions Of dollars have gone into the pock-
cts of the "gran ring" Men are always
sensitive when their pockets are affected
San Francisco journals when dcnouncing
the interior because forsooth its repre-
sentatives do not fetch and carry at their
bidding, are rubbing the hair the wrong
way. Overgrown as San Francisco is in
wealth and population, is it not true that
for the interior that city has done moth
ing? Echo truthtully answers the ques-
ton nothing. The other cities we have
mentioned have strivcn to build up all
the material interests of the section of
the country dealing with them, realizing
an enhanced profit and importance from
the increase of trade. 1t is to be hoped
that henceforward the press of San Fran
cisco, in their capacity of counselors upon
all matters affecting the welfare of that
city, will point out not only the dangers
of permitting Goat Island to be occupied
by the Central Pacific but also insist
upon more liberal policy in dealing
with the interior: Let moneyed men
at the Bay no longer, like the old woman
in the fable, "kill the goose that laid the
golden egg" Unless public spirit is
aroused in San Francisco with aims to
promote the general welfare and COM
mercial notions not bounded By city linn
its, the sentiment of the State at large
will find vent in the expressive exclama-
ton: Wanted-a rival city to San Fran
oi.a,