Daily Los Angeles herald., 1881-02-16
Mule teams and the U MON Pacific,
alp Van "a Mt sAa ra ma Sfaua II

Then Mr.. Gage threw out his
chest and said: "Every allegation
OF the preamble Of the Williams
memorial Is falee, and I can prove
1t to any assemblags In the world
that will listen to reason"
THE IMPERTINENT CITIZEN AGAIN.
"Hold on" said the Impairment
Citizen, who happened to be one OF
the awed crowd In the lobby;
"Hold on, Mr.. Gage. I dom /
think. you'd be able to do that.
You do give special rates to Ward,
Phoebe and some other places,
don't your"
"Certainly, sir" answered Mr..
Gage, frowning.
swell, that's all the preamble Of
the Williams memorial says. You
agree as to that foundation fact,
but you choose to give 1t . differ
cut name. Mr.. Williams calls 1t
discrimination and robbery, you
call 1t the extension Of . special
privilege, and claim that 1t 10 not
only justifable but praisew0rthy.
1t IL only y quarrel about words be-.
tween you and Mr.. Williams, after
ALL"
"But," said Mr.. Gage, "the pre-
ambls charges the Central Pacific
with discri Eliminating between per.
sons az we'll a. between places. That
Is not true. We 60 into q Compel
Tive point and offer the special
contracts to any who choose to
avail themselves Of them. No
merchant at q competitive point
has any privilege from which any
other merchant in the same place
10 declared.
"Exactly." said the Impairment
Citizen, "but Is 1t not true that the
only condition urOn which you will
grant this privilege Ia that the
merchant shall have all his carry.
ing done by the Central Pacific?"
"Certainly, sir, certainly; aud
that Is eminently fair"
"Of course. You do a town the
favor to enter 1t, and you call the
merchant out aud throw . special
contract down before him and
draw bead on him with your mo.
nop0ly gun and say blaudly: Sign
that my friend. I offer you the
privilege Of carrying your goods
cheaper than your neighbor if you
agree to let me carry them all. You
needn't accept. my terms If you
don't want TO. You are perfectly
free to refuse il you feel 60 disposed,
but If you don't sign I shall feel IL
my duty to pull this trigger aud
drive you out of bust ness.'"
"That 10 not y fair way Of put
ting It," protested MIR. Gage. 1--WE
make nobody worse off than he
was before, and make those who
sign the contracts better off"
"Neither is that fair way of
putting it," retorted the Impsrti.
nent citizen. "If Jones and 1 each
run q grocery store In QuartzvilIe,
and each pay you 81 q hundred for
bringing the bacon a. d -four which
we sell, we are on equal terms. II
YOU enter into a private arrange
ment with jones to bring his stuff
for fifty cents hundred, I may be
no worse off absolutely than I was
before, but / am relatively, aud
Jones will be able to undersell me
and drive me out of business"
"But suppose Offer to bring
your -four for the same lowered
rate as I do Jones's and you fuse,
is 1t your fault or mine that you are
driven out OF business?" demanded
Mr.. Gage triumphantly.
"Yours, Mr.. Cage" answered
the Impairment Cilizes promptly.
1T IL not right that com mon car.
rier should be clothed with the
power to force the people to give
him business or be ruined. You
ought not to be the judge of my
reasons for declining to give all my
carrying to you or to mule teams.
My brother may own the mules
and wagons, or my mother.in.law
may have an interest 10 them. At.
fiction or fear or q dozen other
powerful motives might compel
me to refuse your terms. You
speak of the natural advantages of
competitive points. You tell
US that God Almighty gave
San Francisco her SUPERB
GRITTY as . competitive point over
Reno. The lesson you wish US to
draw from this ia that we should
not scour because nature has not
been kind to us-that we who live
at nOn.cOmpetitive points should
sit down and thank God that our
lot Is no worse. Now il you have
such reverence for Heaven-created
competitive laws, why do you in.
terfere with them BY striving to
deprive San Francisco of her nat.
ural advantages by subsidiziug the
Pacific Coast Steamship Com paDy,
and thus en,ieavoring to cheat he
of the benefits of sea competition
If you try to overcome the laws
competition by subsidy aud cor.
ruption, why shouldn't we ask
| Congress to interfere y little by
law? Then, sir, by this spscIal
contract system In Eastern Neva.
da, you clOthe yourself with the
same despotic power that you are
able to WELD at non.compstitive
points. At the latter you say:
We'll charge you just what we
like, for you can get no other car.
rier. What are you golnig to do
about it2 To the competitive
points you say: Here, we'll put
our rates just a little below the
mule teams. We offer you certain
terms. Accept them or 60 out Of
business. What can q poor devil
do at either place but submit. un-
less the law steps in 10 protect him
from your tyranDy?"
Mr.. Gage laughed, and some.
thing coming up In the Senate Of
general interest the conversation
was dropped and the crowd left the
lobby for the chamber.
I A Grand Reputation.
| Warmers Safe Kidney and Liver