New-York tribune., 1880-03-10
TIE crpSE OF CArLTAL.

vowed that they would die sooner than accept
a dollor q dav. one of the speakers declared
that as soon as the Chinese had been cleaneu
out the people intended to make the capltal-
lists 60. Some of the capitalists, as our leao-
ers know, are going already and the deple-
t,on of the capital of the State since tne
adoption of the new Constitution has Deeh
rapid enough to cause business men no niue
alarm. But the levelling process is still too
slow for the mob, and although marked
hostility to moneyed corporations has been
displaved in the Legislature, Kearney is by
no means satisfied. He told his followers re-
Gently that "if the people knew one half OF
"the villany that was going on at Sacra-
"mento they would rise en- masse and 30 UP
there and strangle that Legislature"
PERHAPS there is no form OF incorporated
capital more odIous to the average agl'ator
than railway company. The California
roads have been attacked with special bitter
ness. They are accused OF grinding the peo-
nle by excessive charges, doubling the price
of all the necessares of life and c1pphng
both the merchant and the consumer 10y
exorhitnnt rates OF freight. While the
clamor continues, Of course the extension
of the California railroad system Is ar
rested, for no company can afford to buld
new lines when it is forbidden to en-
plov cheap labor, and threatened besides with
a legislative reduction Of its income Il Is
strange that even ignorant and excited men
such as those who are now marching about
the streets of San Francisco with threats OF
vague and terrible vengeance against the
"opprcssors Of the people" should not see
what on injury they are doing to them
selves by this war upon capital; bat
the time will come and come soon, when they
must feel the consequences of their costly
mistake n the prostrauon OF all their indus
tries, and the inevitable suherings OF an over
stocked labor market. -Four years ago, when
a wild bill for regulating fares and ircighis
WAS before the California Legislature. Mr..
Leland Stanford, president Of the Central Pa
ciGc Read, printed q torcibe statement OF the
companys side of The question under discus
sion. and AT the close Of it made IA calculation
of what the railroads had saved To the people
of the State during the previous six years. If
lhe same passenger and freight movement
between California and the Last had been caI-
ried AZ the old steamer rates which prevailed
before the road was opened. the additional
cost for tie years 1S70-'7j would have been
S91 100000 that sum consequently repre-
senting what the people saved by means OF thc
railronds. II is estimated that thc saving for
ten years amounts to at least $150,0O0,O00.
These figures certainly do not prove that
tbe present rates are fair, but tLcy prove that
railway corporations are not public enemies.
The complaint of excessive charges has be-
come sort of popular habit. and il is not
clear that merchants have not themselves %
blame in part for Tire odlum which has been
excited against all the companies mdiscr'mi-
natelv. A lady in san Francisco was recently
CHARGED So for chid's straw hat, tie price
Of which In Ncw-YOrk would have been about
70 cents. In justification OF this eXorbltan,
demand the shopkceper pleaded the cXtortIon-
ate freight charges Of the railroad. The story
reached an officer of the Central Pacific Road,
and he had the curiosity to investigate tho
case. The shopkceper's freight bill was pro-
duced. and the charge was found for one box
containing 80 many straw hats it made the
freight on each hat about tw0-thirds Of
cent. Yet the dealer who put forward
freIght charge of about / per cent as an
excuse for adding 5CG per cent 10 the
pllce Of q sx-shlling hat was perhaps
not altogether lnsincere in his denunciations
of the grasping railway corporation he talked
so from the force Of habit Denunciation
seems TO be in the air of the Pacific coast.
The more we look into the California
troubles the slighter appears to be the excuse
for the alarming development of Kearneysm.
The real cause of tho disturbance is found III
the reckless and spendthrift habi.s of peo-
o,,-bo hova RIM "a OF gpoculatfnn auI
extravagance, and, having reached the un-
avodablo period Of collapse, find ii hard now
to be saving and industrious. They lay their
embarassments, now to cxactng corporations,
and now to the competing Chinese. But there
is no proof that the corporations are earning
ANYTHING more than a legitimate profit on
their operations, while they are certainly en-
ablng the people TO make money if they
choose to work. And as for Chinese
competition, it is formidable to the Sand Lots,
not because the Ccestlals are cheap, but be-
cause they are steady and reasonable.
"Chinese cheap labor" is a dclusion. 1t
seems to be imagined that the moon-eycd
"leDer" works for Il few cents a day, and
hives on rice. On the contrary, he obtains
fair wages-about as high as those Of ordinary
Iaborers and servants at the East-and he laws
m money. When the agitators have driven
him out of the State, they will soon find that
their own condition has not been improved
by the operation and in the end they will be
glad to take the pay on which John Cbinaman
thllves.
THE LIFE-S1VING SERVICE
Mr.. Cox's bill. which he introduced last week