Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1878-02-03


Power Of the Monopoly-How it Has Fought
the Htate-Its Arrogance and Contempt for
the Rights Of tho Public-A Clear Expos
tIon ofths Situation.
On the evening of January 30th,
the Assembly Committee on Corpo-
ratlons held a meeting to hear the
Railroad Commissioners on the
BILLS submitted by them to regulate
the companies in this State. They
have drafted four bills, and these
are now before the Assembly for
consideration.
Commissioner Doyle was the first
speaker. Reviewing the labors of
the Commission, he said that it
could not be expected to remedy
railroad abuses of many years at
once, but they would have to be
taken up and cured one by one. He
thought . rigid public inspection
would prove o remedy for many of
the evils. While corporations
might be invulnerable to private
complaint, they cannot withstand
public scrutiny and criticism. He
said the law already framed had
been entirely ignored by some COM
panies, and many had absolutely
refused to furnish Information. A
mandAmus was served, and they
appealed to the Supreme Court, and
should the decision Of the Supreme
Court rule adversely, the Com
mission had learned unofficially
that they would still persist In their
rofusal to furnish information, and
appeal to the United States Su-
prome Court. Therefore. eome
further legislation was necessary
% arrive ut what was de-
street.-The establishment of an
equitable rate OF freights and fares.
He spoke of the gross exaggeration
Of capital by the different compan-
ios, citing the Central Pacific as an
example. While it was DESTROYS to
allow = fair return on the invest
nnent Of the road, it would be i'm
possible to determine what was
mir, IN view of this concealment
and exaggeration. If it were pos
stble to ascertain the real amour
Invested, 1t might be possible to
legislate SO rs to prevent dividends
exceeding eight, nine. ten or even
eleven per cent, aud by this re-
otriction keep down the rates to a
reasonable figure. These high rates
holped to deter competition and
checked the growth of trade. He
spoke of the mischief growing out
Of the consolidation system, by
which corporations were enabled to
perpetuate themselves Indefinitely.
He spoke Of the consolidation of
various roads in the State into one
company, thus
OPERATING THE ORIGINAL INTEN-
TION OF THE PEOPLE
In aiding IN the construction of the
many roads In question. He spoke
OF the discrimination practiced
against Stockton, which was some
what alleviated after u protest, but
was not entirely removed. He
thought some restriction should
BE- put on consolidation, and if the
oompanies refused to submit, then
refnse them permission TO CONSOLE
date. He spoke of the diff
oulties in fixing freight rates, ow-
ing to the complicated classified
ten system, which he thought
might be more philosophically ar.
ranged. The consideration which
Influences the present classification
= ayatom of railroads is, What charge
>RiIl certain class of freight bear
Abiding to discrimination inrates
upon ores, making the
charges higher upon high
grade ores than on low
Grade ores, he said it looked
like robbing Peter to pay Paul. He
thought q uniform system of CLASH.
hcAtton should be arranged By al
railroads in the State; by means Of
3 conference and upon some philo
eophical basis. Terminal charges
should be separated from move
mont charges, which are fixel
while the former are variable
Railroads should do this ant
publish the fact to the world. AL.
Iuding to the recommendation fol
= systcm Of second-class passenger
fate1v he said it was proper that ao
decentralization should be' demanded
by the State for poor people
Let the accommodations be hum BILE
BUT LET THEM BE CHEAP,
And this would in a great measure
overcome the tramp nuisance
which the country is suffering
from. He also spoke against dis
elimination against persons and
also against localities, and gave
several illustrations of the injuri-
Gus workings of the latter. AS q
general rule the charge for carrying
freight from terminal point to ter
mfnal point is no larger than from
nome intermediate point upon the
road to where market can be
found for produce. Railroad COM
psnles have so adjusted their rates
that It is Impossible for farmer to
make use OF the facilities afforded
BY the Sacramento and San Joa-
quin rivers, unless he lives within
carting distance of them. Freights
having been fixed at u dead level
AL along the line with this view,
the effect OF this has been to cause
. decay of Interior towns. He
spoke OF the necessity of police
bill, and said 10000, 900 passengers
sa6 been carried on Massachusetts,
railroads last year without single
man being killed, while with an
Infinitely less passenger traffic in
this State twenty had been killed,
and there was total of two hun
dred accidents.
EXPLAINING THE BILLS.
The bills were then takan up,
read by the Secretary and ex-
planned, section by section, by
Doyle. Section 2 of the first bill
WAS An amendment to the present
/. law, designed to give the State