Daily Los Angeles herald., 1881-03-18

his liberal offer, the merchants Of
San Francisco had bsen aroused
rom their lethargy and they came
aud requested . renewal OF the
offsr which had been voluntarily
made to them. BY this time Mr..
Towne had taken Q different view
Of the matter, but he finally agreed
70 allow the San Francisco drum
msrs transportation at half rates.
The result was that q heavy trade
between the country about Salt
Lake and San Francisco sprang up.
Accustomed to large profits, and to
handling . large line OF goods
which had been brought to San
Francisco from the East. where
they had been manufactured,
the San Francisco business
man was until lately sui
qsneris. Many Of these goods had
been sent to the East in crude
shape, such - wool and hides, and
returned to this Coast In Q manu-.
factursd form, thus describing q
tremendous circuit before being de.
livsrsd In Arizona and New Mexl.
90. It was absurd to suppose that
merchants 90 handicapped could
compete with the Eastern shipper
In Eastern manufactured spscial-
ties. The remedy laid In the man
ufacture Of our own crude products.
The San Francisco merchant could
hope to compete with the Eastern
member Of the guild just as soon
- he had built up. production and
manufactures on this Coast. The
remedy did not lie In any sense
with the Southern Pacific railway.
No matter how low they might
place their freight rates, the Atch.
issn, Topeka and Santa Fe people,
with the advantage of the in.
shorter route, could SEQ
them and 60 one better. 1t was true
that there existed In San Francisco
. special knowledge Of the wants
Of frontier and mining communi.
ties which, in many things, went .
great why towards neutralizing the
advantages possessed by the East
ern shipper. Besides, there were
many articles Of machinery In de-
mand at the mines that could be
made in superior manner In San
Francisco, and as to them the great
diffsre nee in the cost Of transporta.
ton would be more than counter
balanced by special local skill and
knowledge. In view Of these facts,
1t must be admitted that, for the
present, San Francisco must ex.
pect to suffer little by the.co
plstion of the new transcontinen-
tai road. She must rely upon the
energies and resources Of her peo.
pie to regain the ground lost and
to improve upon. her old status.
That would undoubtedly come, In
time.
CUR SOIL PRODUCTS.
To an inquiry as to how the COM
plstion Of the new road would af.
feet the soil products of Los Ange-
les county, Mr.. Towns said that he
had given tho subject some
thought, and 1.-The result Of his re.
Elections was that he believed that
va should both gain aud lose.
Take, for instance, the question of
corn. The Atchison, Topeka and
Santa Fe railway ran through an
extensive region in which the
farmers were glad to sell their CORE
for thirty cents q bushel and, in
some years, for even less. He be-
lieved that Los Angeles farmer
would consider himself ruined II he
had to raise corn and sell it for 20
low . sum as that. No amount Of
good will on the part Of the rail-
way company, even II they were
willing to carry his produce for
nothing. would enable the Los An.
geles farmer to compete with his
Kansas brother In such staples 40
corn, barley and perhaps -four. The
Los Angeles farmer was brought
into competition with an industri-
Gus set Of Kansas producers who
were willing to get up at four
O'Clock In the morning and work
till eight O'Clock at night. He was
content with returns for his labor
at which y Californian would turn
up his nose. The demand for Los
Angeles barley In Arizona and
New Mexico would be met by q
plethora Of cheap corn from Kan.
sas. Barley had grown to
be the leading feed for horses
in California because, except
In Los Angeles county, and q
few other limited areas, corn
could not be raised In this State,
Cheap corn will unquestionably
cartail the market for Los Angeles
barley for the purpose Of feeding
stock. On the other hand, It 10
quite probable that, owing to the
superior quality Of California
brewing barley = lively demand for
this staple may spring up In Mil.
Waukaa and okhar 0raak haar-sL