Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1880-12-03
STANFORD, DICTATOR.

Ever since the Central Pacific railroad be
came a permanent institution Leland Stan
ford. its President, has been virtually, Dicta
tor of the Pacific Coast. All attempts te
loosen his grip upon the throat of California
commerce haye signally failed. he has &C
CURED real estate wherever he wanted it, ia.
ken ND water rights at will and driven settlers
from their lands who had acquired title by act
nal purchase from the Government and per-
fected it by occupancy and improvement. He
has owned a controlling interest i'll every
Legislature that has met in California for the
past ten years, and the Judges upon the
bench have been nothing but wooden puppets
in his hands The c. p. Road has been no.
thing but tape worm in the stomach of this
coast It has absorbed the profits of every
industry that can be named; and can on a
few months notice crush out any business
that does not pay it tribute. This coast Is
gradually succumbing to the terrible strain
uron its vitals: Real estate is depreciatin 6
in value, farmers can hardly make a living,
merchants barely hold their own and there is
scarcely any industry not being devoured by
this already gorged and glutted monopoly. The
mechanic is toiling on half wages, the mer-
chants are doing their own clerking, men who
once had good incomes are scrimped like
misers to pay their debts that this merciless
monopoly may be fed. The farmer is sowing
srain and reaping taxes the laborer must dig
his own grave at dollar day or see a Chi
naman do it; the miner must divide his earn
ings with his comrade out of employment, and
toilers of every grade must delve and sweat
and die that Stanford, Croker Il Co. may
rear their palaces to the clouds. Boys grow
my up on the coast find nc place to learn
trades and drift off into the channels of crime
which sweep their human debris into the pen
etentiary, while working girls unable to make
living at honest industry have a choice be-.
tween starvation and prostitution. While
the people Of California who contributed the
money to enable Stanford to build his rail.
road were groaning under the load which they
piled upon themselves they finally determined
to create q Railroad Commission to regulate
the freight and passenger tariffs upon the
California roads. The railroad company pro-
fessed to be willing to accept this Commission
as a solution Of the difficulties which had ex-
listed SO long between the road and the peo-
pie. Hsw the commission is succeeding in
their work of regulating the charges of the
railroads is shown in dispatch dated Decem.
h>~ 1.k f-o,,o ca E.opo;soo.
Leland Stanford, President of the Central
Pacific and Fred Croker, Vice President of
the Southern Pacific, and various heads of
the departments of both railroads, were be-
fore the Railroad Commission this morning in
relation to proposed schedule to be fixed for
the freights of all the railroads in the State.
Governor Stanford, on behalf of the Central
and Southern Pacific roads, objected to the
Commission fixing any tariffs for freights for
either of the roads, claiming that both roads
were operating under charters from the Fed
eral Government, and that the law directing
this Commission to regulate freights and fares
only applied to railroads operated under a
Furthermore intimated that if the Commission
undertook to regulate schedule of freights
for either of the companies which he repre-
scented, he would seek an injunction from the
United States Circuit Court The Commission
took no action in the premises.
When the United States Government at
tempts to do anything with the Central Pa
cifc the road evades the issue by claiming
that it is an,enable to the States through
which it passes. When the State makes a
similar attempt Stanford lodges on the other
tack. His attempt to bully the Commission
CTS is pretty certain sign that he cannot buy
them. While California is suffering from the
paralyzing tariffs of the G. p. Co. Nevada is
doubly afflicted, as it costs to deliver carload
of Eastern merchandise in Nevada nearly
double what it would cos. to put the same
load down in San Francisco. We are told to
lsok to Congress for relief, If Congress
SHOULD pass the necessary act. Stanford &
60. could continue to eyade it for the next
ten years. By the end of that time the coast
would b, sucked orange.