Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-07-19

Oh tle IlSnl OIL the TAilTOau OHneIS To uOIu
and use for their own benefit the property
which was conferred upon them in consid
Grafton of important services rendered and
to be rendered of the advantages accru.
ing to the public from the increased trans
portation facilities; of the other side of
the case, in fact. With the recklessness
and hardihood of Sand lot spoutee, this
candidate for a judicial office accepts as
truth every lying rumor he finds in his
way; takes for granted every misstate-
ment any ether demagogue has made and
without knowing enough about the subject
to make practical rate between any two
points in the State, commits himself un-
hesitatingly to Tom Fowler's proposition
for twenty per cent. reduction all round.
A more thoroughly disgraceful self.ex-
posture has never been made than w. W.
Foote has made in this letter. As an illus.
tration at once of his profound ignorance
and his shameless lack of principle, we will
take his remarks upon the contract system.
He says: :" The contract system, enforced
upon the merchants of San Francisco, by
means of which they are forced to pay
% double prices unless they ship their
goods by rail, partakes more of the ma
" ture of crime than a mere breach of
" duty" Now it is perfectly evident
here, first, that he does not know what he
is talking about, and second, that he does
not care how grossly he misrepresents the
facts. For land We say this deliberately,
and challenge refutation of it, the con-
tract system is a system which involves no
element of coercion which, on the con-
trary, offers conspicuous advantages to
shippers; which is never availed of by
them but to their benefit which they en-
tirely approve of and eagerly seek which
is based upon well-recognized and univers-
| ally approved mercantile law and custom
and which is only denounced by dishonest
men who have sought to cheat the rail-
roads and their fellow citizens under it, and
have failed. We intend that the people of
California shall fully understand this con-
tract system long before the campaign is
over, and when all the facts concerning it
are made known it will be seen with what
reckless mendacity Mr.. ". W. Foote has
disgraced himself in speaking of it as I" a
" crime"
This latest specimen of the Anti. Mo-
nopoly political tramp species, however,
has written his own character in his letter,
and it certainly is not an agreeable one to
analyze. His proposition to reduce all
fares and freights twenty per cent is alone
sufficient to stamp him as an impracticable
imbecile, for it would be absolutely impos-
sible 70 carry out such reduction without
entailing ruin upon every struggling indus
try in the State, which stands in need of
transportation, and without paralyzing the
movement of the crops even. 1t might
have been supposed that every tyro was
by this time aware that freights are ad
justed on very complex system, and that
while it is the practice of all railroads to
carry freight which will rot bear high
charges, often at the mere cost of trans
portation land sometimes below that cost,
higher rates are charged upon goods which
will stand them. This being the case it
follows that twenty per cent. reduction
would have the effect of cutting off all
revenues from low class freight, and of
making it impossible to recoup the losses
on high class freight. And as the low class
freight includes wheat, lumber, coal, iron,
and nearly all recessaries, it does not need
to be explained that such reduction
would render the transportation of the
freight which is most used and which most
requires transportation, impossible.
Thus Mr.. W. w. Foote would, in the
alleged interest OF the public, close the
railroads altogether. Or perhaps, like
other wild bowlers of his kind, ne is in
favor of forcing them to do service for
nothing, or at positive loss. That kind
of proposition would no doubt be quite in
his line, though it is certainly somewhat
stale. As, however, he actually asserts
that if he is elected he will at once propose
a reduction of twenty per cent, he gives
fair warning to the public that if he is
elected he will be a mere dummy on the |
Board of Railroad Commissioners. This |
conclusion is inevitable, and for the reason
that unless three idiots are made Railroad |
Commissioners it is inconceivable that |
there should be a majority in favor of the
preposterous measure which this Oakland |
demagogue has committed himself to. He,
however, does not trouble himself about !
the future He is now willing to promise
anything for the sake of election. but it is
in order to point out that he plainly be-
longs to that class of unprincipled office
seekers who, precisely because of their
readiness to take any ground they think
popular are cure to be Enthusiastically if |
they are put in office. A candidate capa-
bic of such gross falsehoods and such reck-
less pledges as this fellow has committed |
himself to, ID equally capable of making
market of his position on the first oppor.
tunity. Honest men do not lie, and will
not PREJUDICE causes in which they expect to
exercise judicial functions.