Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1880-09-16

,alue, including all our improves
nents, as high, say, as S45 per acre;
,ur equities have been rudely de-
nied, and all the powers of every
of the Federal Govern
ment have been legitimately and
Illegitimately invoked to secure the
Of our property for the
benefit OF this grasping corporation,
which Is In the hands of the same
persons by whom the Central Pa
cific Railroad ia owned. And your
will not overlook the
fact that these two corporations,
which represent three men aud the
estate of one deceased person, by
consultations and purchases. legal
or Illegal, control nearly all the
railroads in the State, as well as
the trunk lines to Ogden and to AR.
iona; several steamship routes to
the Atlantic States and to Asia; the
ferry between San Francisco aud
Oakland and street railways in San
Francisco; that they build or de-
stroy towns and raise or depress the
taxable value of property at their
pleasure; that they regulate fares
and freights substantially all over
tho Pacific Coast, and exercise a
despotic sway over its trade and
commerce, and that all this enor-
nous wealth and influence was nc
quired by them from the people OF
the United States, and is admins.
tered exclusively and seliishly for
their own benefit, with an almost
total disregard Of the public rights
and interests, and through net
work and Ratification of
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL INFLu'
T ENCEs,
In which party Distinction are
submerged and individual indepen.
dence and manliness destroyed.
They are in effect an emporium IN
imperio," forming their combina.
tons and administering their af-
fairs in the city OF San Francisco,
and, but for the reserved and in
alienable powers still retained by
the people, they would speedily
and effectually revolutionize our
institutions in this portion of the
Union. Is it surprising that hav-
ing doubts, founded in the facts
and the law, as to the continued
legal existence of the Southern Pa
cific Railroad Company itself, and
as to the legality of its original
title, as well as with reference to
Its compliance with the conditions
prescribed by the Act of 1865, we
desired to have these doubts judi
cially and finally resolved before
we completed our purchase, and
that, il the title should prove suf.
ficient, we expected to purchase by
the standard originally set up by
the corporation, aud not by new
standard adopted for the purpose of
appropriating the results of our
labor and Investments, in view of
the success Of our experiment? 1t
must be evident that the common
est prudence, apart from our pecu-
MARY necessities, dictated this
course. But if such a course had
been permitted, while justice would
have been done to both sides, con-
fiscation would have been impossi-
BILE. Within the last few months,
therefore, the Southern Pacific
Railroad Company obtained
JUDGMENTS IN FJECTMENr
Against twenty-three of our num-
Der in the United States Circuit
Court for this District. These judg
ments, insuums rous insta noes, were
practically by default, and not
only for possession, but for dam.
ages exceeding the value of the
disputed premises. Situated as We
are, it is hard for us to procure
bonds, but we succeeded in taking
three of these cases 10 the Supreme
Court OF the United States, and we
were prepared TO abide by the
decision of that tribunal, even
though it should reduce the wives
and children of six hundred Ameri-
cans to beggary, and themselves to
the condition of homeless and des-
:itute tramps. In fact, we supposed
that the remaining cases would
abide the result of these three, and
this supposition was encouraged by
the action Of the company, which
temporarily stayed proceedings,
and entered into negotiations with
us, in which we soon found that, on
Its side, there was no real abate-
ment Of its pretensions. Then sud.
denly, and almost, though not
quite without warning, the work of
eviction was inaugurated. The
United States Marshal, was sent
down to our country with writs of
possession. He was of course dis
charging O purely official duty, and
the company was apparently en-
forcing q strictly technical right.
But the parties to whom possession
was to be delivered were vindictive
and determined men, hostile to our
people, eager for the use of physical
force, and provided with
THE MOST APPROVED ARMS AND
AMMUNITION.
They, and they alone, apart from
any Federal authority, as far as we
are now aware, precipitated o diff.
Guilty in which five of our citizens
In the first instance, and them
selves ultimately lost their lives.
OF the merits of that difficulty, be-
yond this reference, we do not pro-
pose to speak, because 1t has re-
suited in an indictment for alleged
conspiracy to resist the Marshal
and for actual resistance. syainsf