Los Angeles daily herald., 1876-03-09
Archer's Ell.

EDITOR HERALD.-As ! have been
the most uncompromising opponent of
the railroad monopoly in California
and the unflinching friend of the
Texas Pacific, what l shall Say on the
subject of Archer's freights and fares
bill will, hope, be duly considered
oy all fair minded men. l wrote an
an article Oh Freeman,s bill two years
ago when it was before the Assembly
and showed by accurate calculation
that the passage of that bill would
have been very damaging to the
whole State as well as to the corpora
tions. That there ought to be legisla-
ton upon this subject no one will de-
ny; but such legislation should not be
dictated in spirit of revenge. There
is an idea extant that legislator, in
order to serve the people well, must
do all he can TO damage all corr ora
tions. This is class legislation, which
is always wrong, and if persisted in
will always prove disastrous. Corpo-
rations are a part of the people, and
their interest ought to be, and are,
| identical, and any legislation that
| tends to enhance the interest of one at
| the expense of the other is dishonest
and should not be tolerated. The leg
islation that is needed on the subject
of railroads is. to prevent unjust dis
elimination, and confine them to their
one legitimate business. That the
companies in some sections of the
country have shown species of favor
itism among shippers may be possible.
complaint everywhere, and ought to
be stopped by legislation. In this
part of the State we have
heard very little if any complaint
from this cause, and to my mind
the reason is obvious. Nine tenths If
not all this favoritism is the work of
subordinates, ,-Superintondents, and
seldom ever reaches the ears Of the
chiefs. In this section, they have a
superintendent whose principles are
honorable and just, and who could not
stoop to discriminate between the pa
irons of the road. Hence we hear no
complaints here. Not so however are
all their roads. Some years ago liv-
ed upon branch of one of their roads
in the Northern part of the state,
| where discrimination was so common
that it became to be grieviOus com =
plaint among all the people, and am
| satified it was all the work of subOr-
dlnates, for speculative purposes. Any
legislation to prevent this Toald be .
blessing to the people, and would no
doubt be thankfully received by the
corporations. Legislation too in re-
gard to holding over passenger tickets,
would be just and right. But for any
one man or any company of men to sit
down in their office and undertake TO
fix a just rate of fares and freights for
all the roads is simply ridiculous The
expense of keeping In repair each road,
the expense of operating each road,
the amount of business done in freight
and passengers by each road together
with the original cost of each road, also
the future prospective business of each,
would have to be thoroughly under
stood before an Approximate calcua-
ton could be made. This is the light
in which business men will look at
this subject. But Legislators are not
always business men. If the Legisla-
ture must legislate Oh freight and fares
the best thing they can do, is to ap-
point two or three business men, to
go over the roads and make the best
estimate they can and then fix the
rate. b. L. PEEL.