Arizona citizen., 1878-04-12

therefore by New Mexican merchant.
 and If the second crops of Arizon
 had been average there would hay
 been a surplus. As we have two rain
 seasons and raise two crops annually
 mean the Fall crops by the secon,
 crops. But small portion of the agri
 cultural land is as yet cultivated, an,
 what is still unproductive is sufficien
 Tn area to amply support any pOpula
 ton Arizona will ever have. Aloni
 the Gila Valley, extending from tn
 mouth of Salt river nearly to Yuma, i
 a body of from 300,000 to 5OO,OOO acre
 of rich land with an abundance O
 water for irrigating one crop a yea
 certainly, that is now surveyed, unOc cupied, public and railroad land. Fron
 this it will appear that no importanc,
 does or can attach to agricultural pro
 ducts with reference to their importa
 ton into Arizona from any quarter and, with railroad, the terrItor,
 would rank high as an exporter of cat
 tie and wool.
 2. Machinery of all kinds, mining
 agricultural, etc.
 As far as my knowledge extends, and
 l am familiar with the subject, all quartz mills erected in Arizona during late years, have been purchased in San Francisco and freighted from there aud farming implements, as yet few and unimportant, have come from there also.
 It is therefore to the third division, viz; general merchandise, groceries, dry goods, clothing, etc, that the principal interests attaches in this con. nection. There is no question that but nearly all of this trade is now held in New York City. Its amount may be approXimated when it is known that one firm here, Lord & Williams, to. day received a single shipment of 122,- 900 pounds of assorted goods.
 The great trade has been lost to San Francisco not because of the rates of freight charged, but because the New York market furnishes far better in- ducements to purchasers in the essen tial items of stock, price and terms i; the exact advantages any merchant can determine. Before the railroad was beyond Los Angeles, the principal mercantile houses here, had resident purchasing partners in New York, and goods were bought there and shipped via San Francisco by rail and then 10 Yuma by sea Shortly be- fore the s. P. R. R. reached Yuma, the course of freight changed, and it was brought through New Mexico from the termini of the Denver and Rio Grande, and the AtchisOn, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroads, in Colorado, at such low rates that the Southern Pacific found it impossible to compete and mako money. To-day freight can be brought from the East cheaper through Colo radO and New Mexico to Southern Arizona than by way of Yuma. It isl however, brought the latter way be- cause it is much quicker, so that not near as large a capital IS required to. transact a given business, and becauseI he New Mexican Ox-teamsters spend no money for gram or repairs, but. irain it from the country. The South ern Pacific Railroad in placing through freight from New York to Yuma at ower rates than from San Francisco to Yuma, is not discriminating against 1our city, but against the Colorado Railroads.
 The people of Arizona would prefer 0 trade with San Francisco, for many ,f them came from there, and from its 'ull coffers must mainly come'the cap tai to open our mines, build our ir- 'igating ditches and open new lines of raffic, but until your merchants and papers cease striving to make a scape- ,oat of the railroad company, and themselves offer some inducements to ,ur buyers, the trade will remain where t is.
 If the Southern Pacific could be ex- ended into the territory far enough to ut off some of the heaviest teaming he question would present a different ,hrase. Sharp competition from the Colorado roads would then be impos- ible, and if the present rates of freights till prevailed there would be evident against San Francisco. The road cannot be extended however, without Congressional sanction.
 One word more and 1 have finished. There seems to be an Idea abroad, prev lent in Arizona as well as in Califor- ornia, that the Southern Pacific Rail oad is, by discrimination and unjust egulations, endeayoring to stay pros 'erity. Now what could so much bene- 1t that road as the vigorous and iealthy development of Southern Cali ornia and Arizona, and who has as nuch as this company at stake in this ection? The Railroad owners are only l: len, and as such must desire some re- urn from their outlay in building a pad over mountains and across vast eserts with a resIstless energy that hould make them the pride of the l.