Daily Los Angeles herald., 1879-04-18
Erhe Rsa, REFORM.

No man can deny that, under the
present Constitution of California,
the agencies for reform are ample.
All that Is needed Is that the peo-
pie should purify themselves, grasp
to their hearts the idea of great
reform and winnow their candi-
dates for the Legislature. A pure
and elevated Legislature Is oil that
Is needed to bring about all the es-
sential reforms called for by the
evils Of the day. Nothing short OF
that will effect a remedy. Such ex-
pedients as the radical aud revolu-
tlonary new Constitution are the
equivalent of that kind Of surgery
which, to cure a corn, would cut of
the whole foot Of the poor hombre
The Supreme Court of the United
States itself has decided that the
Legislatures of the several States
have the power to regulate railways
within their limits. AS supple
ment to this conceded regulating
authority is the provision In the
Constitution of the United States
bestowing upon Congress the
power to regulate com merce be-
tween the States.
The real deslderatum of those
who honestly labor to correct the
aggressions of railways is Legis-
lature OF California and a Congress
of the United States which togeth-
er. and coincidently, shall labor in
the interest of the people. No alb
acadabra of modern politics, in the
shape OF State Constitutions and
Railway Commissions of three
men, will work remedy.
Not being demagogic, We feel i'm.
pelled to utter some honest truths
to honest partizans Of reform. We
yield TO no one in the belief that
the Central and Southern Pacific
Railways have not adopted saga
cious policy in their schedules Of
freights and fares. If you get down
10 the hard argument of the mat
ter, on arithmetlcal ratios, the rail.
ways, and not the people, have the
logic OF the situation. In trans
porting passengers between Los
Angeles and Mejave, in order tt
pay for the amount of grease need
ed to keep the "boxesn from taking
fire, the Southern Pacific Railway
is Justified In charging twenty
times the rates charged by thu
Penusy lvania Central Railway
bstw Philadelphia ard New
York. In fact, twenty times
nay a hundred times - IL
ridiculously insufficient fig.
TIRE OH the hard mathematical
ratios. For every passenger who,
in twenty-four hours, passes be-
tween Mojave and Los Angeles, o
thousand pass between Philadel-
phia and New York. And so with
frsights. In addition, the work OF
the Southern Pacific Railway is u
thousand times more difficult than
on the roads controlled by the
Pennsylvania Central and the
grades are a thousand times more
practicable on the level stretches OF
New Jersey than on the mountain
ribbed deserts of California.
But, where we condemn the rail
way is just here! The energetic
men who built the Southern Pacific
must have known that they were
pioneers of settlement aud devel-
opment. To make their road en-
duringly prosperous they must
have people to whom they could
act as Common carriers. A saga
cious policy would have fostered
settlement and development. There
was far more money in it, In the
long run.
A Legislature of high cast is
all that is needed In California fol
measures of practicable reform. 1
we can't get such Legislature
then it is the people who are corrupt
Taking period of six years of BIZ
ennial sessions of tue California
Legislature, and admitting tina;
the people cannot make them.
s,lves felt for good, and you have
simply argued away Republican
government. The thing Is a bald
failure.
Having indicated our belief in,
and advocacy of, reasonable reform,
we throw ourselves boldly into the
breach and fearlessly state that
during our personal residence ol
seven years in California, the Leg
islature of this State has com mitted
no great offences. No flaring Off
cial sc candals can be brought home
to any of those bodies during thai
time, and we know whereof We
speak.
We have lived in States In which
great and grievous scandals Of leg
islative subserviency to railways
have been recorded. Notably the
case of Pennsylvania our natal
soil. We happened to be In the
Capitol at Harrisburg when satir.
i,al mem Der got up in his place in
{ re Asse mbly and moved that
Tom Scott having no further busi.