Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-09-28

Inc pOsllion anu prestlBe vi tht phy
were blows
AT POLITICAL BUCKET SHOPS,
Which left the Examiner sharps on the
street, without license even to peddle
their own worthless paper. For them
and their confederates there was left no
margin for gambling puts, calls, spreads
or straddles; and all concerned were
duly notified before hand, that Demo
cratic suretyships ON proinissory obliga-
tions, other than those specified in the
platform, were revoked and henceforth
refused. Spectators in wildcat con
tracts and electionoering shams, were
told that they must 60 elsewhere for
accommodation endorsers and collateral
support. After that the party could
neither be bound nor beaten by pledge.
making campaign. To the extent that
such campaign was afterwards inaugu
rated, for the selfish purposes Of few
for forbidden special favors, It becnme
and was a cutting and scalping war OF
competing demagogues, without the ca
pacity TO lead or sense enough TO follow.
Pretendera to virtues of which they
were never accused, their only chance
to worry through was in wild scramble
of falsehood aud treachery, in which TO
observe sparty usage, or to bo decent,
was TO challenge The honor Of their enmiiy
and opposition.
II IS, perhaps, no cause Of surprise,
that in the exceptional results Of such
contest, its accidents. malice and treach-
cry have been prolonged They have
given to reiterated pledges the sem
blance Of performance; TO clustering pre-
tence, tho credit of earnest endeavor,
and to canting hypocricy touch Of
arrogance. Shamming to no purpose or
TO bad one. with airy importance, pre-
tenders and their dupes, mistake their
own sinister demands for constitutional
requirements. Tom Fowler's discarded
horizontal twenty per cent. amendment,
for the Democratic platform, demented
dcmagogues for public benofactors-
inflated stump-speeches, full OF
emptiness, for abounding homes of
plenty, and the pinchbeck stock
in trade of political peddlers and pawn
brokers, for the varied staples of teening
industries. Thrice convicted traitors,
whose abuse is compliment and whose
praise is an insuilerable disgrace; whose
lying imputations Of incompeteney and
corruption in others are only true II ap.
piled to themselves, come swelling aud
swaggering from the guard. house Of the
party to dictate It's policy, and from the
prisons of the country to obstruct and
assail the administration of its official
trusts. Having no business of thoir own
they are looking with laborious idleness
TO that of Others. The incompetent
harlequin who farms out the business of
Attorney General, and returns only a
beggars thanks for his salary, may over
see the Office OF another to the advantage
Of his own.
ANOTHER REGRETFUL OLD FAILURE,
dead as a smelt, but pretending TO be
alive, again seeks as demagoguo TO re-
trieve tho loss to himself of resignation,
which, had it taken Judge from the.
bench might have given lawyer to the
bar and something more than a scream.
ing sandpiper to politics. And to such
incompatible frauds may be added the
full.grown small men, budded with bar
ren honors, and made yet greener than
| before.
Such are the faithless renega les who
Aippanlly denouncs constitutional ofli-
GERS for the alleged violation OF partisan
| pledges never made, and which could
have been exacted or made only in view
of controlling official obligations, and by
common consent subject to them. The
accusation could come from mono but the
harmless frauds who make it, and | pass
il with the contempt il deserves.
| IF naaInI tbo ,f,af alarp of tha
vention which nominated me should be
my eompurgators. They know the dis
passionate precision with which my po-
sition was taken. Were any defense re.
quired, both friend and foe would attest
how the provisions of the Constitution
and the common law rule, as coditied in
See. 2l73 of the Civil Code, were stated
and made the criterion aud limit of the
material reductions OF fares aud freights
to which the party in convention had
committed itself. could put in evidence
letter written by me July | til, 1882,
and published in the Butte Record,
wherein, after referring TO the spreading
.epidemic for vagrant pledges, entered
my protest against "preiudging matters
properly left to official investigation and
decision" and declined to prcdetermine
cause of action, avowedly to obtain the
vote of party theroto.h In my letter
of October Bird, 1882, published in the
Examiner, after stating the functions of
Railroad Commissioner, requiring the
exercise of unbiased judgment, / gave
due notice chat | would make mo pro-
mise inconsistent with the fearless exer.
else of such judgment" Again, as on
all occasions, "the common law rule
which requires the charge to be reason.
able, is adopted and applied as the mea.
sure and limit of the material reductions
promised by the Democratic party and
its candidate for the office of Railroad
Commissioners. Thus as such officer
without any violation of pledges, extra.
wires, or otherwise, l may respectfully
leave to the renowned Judge Bridugoose
the equivocal honor of deciding cases by
dice.
But hap-hazard cast of dice were
better than the ready-made decretal
orders and decisions, which irresponsi.
bic and officious dictaters assume the
power to impose upon the Commission
To know what ought to be done and
how to do it, most of them must be put
back to common schools, From the
Chronicle, and its barking sun.dog, the
Ecamiaer (ueither dog nor Democratl,
the most that can be learned is chow not
to do it, How to do nothing but
to irritate and tease popular complaint
and to know nothing but how not to
cure or relieve the aggravated evil,
would seem to have been their only
study They have yet to learn that
government donations of lands and
bonds to railroad companies were prizes
drawn from the lottery of the Rebellion,
and belong, with the bloody shirt, to a
closed account of profit and loss. They
seem never to realize how very idle and
impertinent il is to wave
THE RAGGED SYMBOL OF A LOST CAUSE,
With loud lameutation, over the best
and most enduring of its collateral
results. Aud yet it is time for even the
most superficial solicitors for the giving
and forgiving ovsrnment to know that
national aid to the overland roads was a
condition precedent only to their con-
struction and continued operation, and
to transportation of mails, munitions of
war, etc, fixed by explicit terms of the
granting act, AT fair and reasonable
rates of compensation, not to exceed the
amounts paid by private parties for the
same kind Of service
This is the rule by which the Federal
Government compensates for services ON
all the overland roads. 1t is adopted
and codi6ed in this State as follows; "a
common carrier is entitled to reasonable
compensation, and no more, which he
may require to be paid in advance. If
payment thereof is refused he may re-
fuse to carry" (Sec. 2l73 Civil Code. }
1t is then by this rule that rates of fare
and freight are to be regulated. And
assuming the right to regulate, it is
stated in the leading Granger case and
in many others, as follows: ''If there are
no statutory regulations upon the sub
iect, the Courts must determine what is
reasonable" "The right to
establish the maximum Of charge, as one
of the means of regulation, is implied