Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-05-08
THE LEGISLATURE.
SENATE.

I SUDJCVI u CIAllMpU [n4I
/ the schedule of freights and fares adopted by
! the present Commissioners was fraudulent and
deceptive.
I Gross addressed the Senate at some length in
j favor of the amendment. He held that the
/ charges of eXtorton on the part of the railroad
companies were not sustained by the facts and
I read from the sworn statements of the company
! TO show that the average annual profits of the
company, Notwithstanding the vast capital re-
qIlired TO operate their roads, do not exceed the
I incomes of several Senators earned in their law
practice. In 1852 the Central Pacific profits on
gross business OF upwards OF 80 600 600, were but
| $4,000. 1t had been alleged that Il large pro-
! portion of the employees of the company were
/ Chinese. He had taken the trouble 10 ascertain
| the IrNmber of persons on the payroll of the
/ company in Sacramento, and found that it was
/ LOGS, and among these is one Chinaman who is
/ employed simply as an interpreter to give in
formation 10 persons of that nationality travel
{ ing over the roads II had been argued that
Railroad Commissioners Humphreys and Car
penter should go before the people
( for vindicatioT. Senator Lynch had declared
/ that these men have been derelict i'll their
/ duties incompetent and corrupt. If this fact
| were so clearly established why not proceed
! against them in the only lawful. legitimate
] way? Why should Senators stand here shiver-
/ ing and trembling with fear to give these men a
hearing If they are so palpably corrupt, incom-
/ petent and derelict? He, for one would be will
! ing 10 introduce Il resolution TO have these Com
J miSsioners investigated rs provided in the Con
stituton. and if the charges that have been
/ made against them should be sustained hi
would vote 10 turn them out Office. The law is
plain on the subject il provides in unmistakablC
1 language how and for what reasons Railroad
/ Commissioners may be deprived OF their offices,
/ and ii is cowardly to proceed against them
! by any other methods. He then dis
! cussed the official acts of the Board
! of Commissioners in establishing Il reduced
! schedule of freight and fare rates. and pro
ceeded to show that they are not fraudulent or
evdsive, but, on the contrary, are based on fair
/ business principles. and afford the relief de
manded by the producers of the interior These
reductions freight in many instances amount
/ to some - per cent. The freight schedule had
been prepared with special reference to the car
/ rying rates between interior railroad points and
! those on tide water where competition set in.
/ Every man. woman and child in the state has
been benefited by the reductions made by these
/ greatly y-tr3duced Commissioners The classified
schedule of reduced freight rates was
considered bys items and eluCidated in
Il manner to show that the allegation
that the Commission had done nothing
was fallacious and unjust 10 the members of the
Commission. Despite all the Vaccinations of
their enemies, and of men who assumed To be
their friends, these Commissioners have stood
( their ground and performed their duties accord
ing 10 their convictipns of right and sense of
justice to all concerned. He had no criticism
to pass upon Mr.. Foote for desiring a greater
reduction in railroad charges than his colleagues
/ Carpenter and Humphreys thought would be
right. II was simply difference of opinion be
! tween these gentlemen, and each has right
! to his convictions. In the Democratic State
! Convention he Gross had voted for the nom
/ inaton of II. NJ. LaRue for the position now
/ held by Mr. Carpenter; but the latter was nom
mated and elected, and so long as that gentleman
! does what he concelVeS tObe his sworn duty, he
/ Gross would sustain him. These men had not
/ been i'll Office three months when they were
abused for not reducing freights and fares.
/ Why u man cannot master the art of driving q
/ bull-team properly within that time. person
cannot learn To handle razor properly and Ia
shave n man within six months; and the idea
! that these Commissioners should have been able
. fa hn nf raj no
within IL few months is prepoSterouS. He would
venture to say that not Il Senator on the floor
could tell how much fuel is required to run a
! locomotive from Sacramento to san Francisco.
! He did not believe one of them knew how much
material il took to paint ear. He was certain
! that there was Il total lack of knowledge among
members of the Legislature on all matters con-
nected with the running and maintenance of
railroads.
/ The Senator from Napa had cited as one in
/ stance i'll which Messrs. Carpenter and Hum
( phreys had overlooked an opportunity To reduce
] railroad fares, that the rate from Napa TO SAN
Francisco had not been reduced from its origi-
nal figure-Sl 80 for distance of fifty miles.
! Now what has Mr.. FOOte offered to do He
| proposed Il rate of three cents per mile for pas
senger fares. Ii is fifty miles from Napa TO SAN
Francisco, and Mr. Foote'S proposed rate would
! leave the fare at exactly 81 90, just where
! Messrs. Carpenter and Humphreys left it, He
I. Gross believed that was fair rate for the dis
. tance mentioned. He thought that three cents
! per mile would be fair rate between san Fran
7
would be equally fair TO make that
| the rate from San Francisco to Col
/ fax. Now, the schedule proposed and
adopted by the present Commission affects ali
/ points in the state connected by rail Isolated
/ places had been mentioned to show that for
/ such the material reductions had been made,
but lesser between points in more thicky settled
! communities Had these Commissioners sought
! merely to curry public favor they would have
acted on an entirely different plan. They would
| have confined their reductions TO routes be
tween the more populous places and have left
{ the little obscure towns out in the cold. But
/ their very action proves their sincerity of puT-
/ pose, good Judgment and competency for the
/ duties of their Office. The producer it is who
gets the benefits of the reductions made an
! inspection of the tahulated schedule will show.
/ Recess
AFTERNOON SESSION.
After recess. Mr.. Cross resumed his argument,
continuing his analysis of the freights and fares
schedules put into force by the present Railroad
( Commission, and deducing therefrom facts that
had been avoided by the opposition III their ar
guments against the acts of the Commissioners.
Referring to the assertion of Senators that - the
voice of the people is the voice of God, the
speaker cited numerous instances i'll religious
/ and prOfane history TO prove the contrary.
/ There time, he said, . when the voice
/ of the people of America proclaimed that
! slavery was right and proper. That sentiment
/ has changed, and has now become odiOuS. Can
/ it be said that ii was ever the voice of God ~
He secuted the idea. Still, he denied that the
/ voice of the people OF California was demanding
/ that Humphreys and Carpenter be removed
/ from their offices because they had not Obcyed
the behestS Of certain persons and journals. He
cited the case of Tildcn, who, he claimed, was
elected President of the United States in 1876,
and said that many Democrats were now de
manding that he shall again be nominated in
order that he may have that justice done him of
which he had been deprived, and which - the
! voice of the people had acquiesced in. To re-
! move Messrs. Carpenter and Humphreys at this
time. without trial, on the charges laid against
them and in defiance of the voice of the people
that elected them, would be equally as great an
abuse of power as that employed in the ease of
Tilden. The voice of the people, as eX-
pressed in the fundamental law OF the
State declares that these Commissioners may be
removed from Office on due investigation; and
If so much consideration is to be given to r0f
p0paf. why not invoke it in this case? He had
never favored the cutting short of any man :
term OF Office. unless he had been properly tried
and found to be scOTrGpt or incompetent. Mr..
! Cross next compared the systems OF the Central
Pacific and certain leading Eastern roads, and
the results as shown by the official reports of the
several companies. He showed that the net
profits of the former are onethird less per
mile thar those Of the Erie Company, notwith-
standing the hue and cry that has been
made of eXtortion and overcharging on the
part of the former. And still the Central Pacific
company continues TO pay its employees 80 per
cent. higher wages than is paid for like service
by any of the great railroad companies of the
East. If either MessrS. Carpenter and Humph-
reys are to be charged with corruption, derelic-
Senate proceed toward them. Why, IN the
manner laid down in the fundamental law. Let
us have the courage TO proceed properly in II
matter of this kind, and not undertake. in an
indirect manner to shift from our shoulders the
responsibility that rests upon US. The Constitu-
tion does not point ont method of shirking our
responsibility, which is plain and unmistak-
able. He did not believe that any number of
Senators on the floor really considered these
! Commissioners corrupt and dishonest /: if they
did, the way was plain and open to prove such
/ corruption and dishonesty Why shut their
/ eyes to the only true and manly course? If the
( Democrats in this Legislature should oust
/ McSsrs. Carpenter and Humphreys without
trial the act viii have the effect of warranting
/ the Republicans should they next come into
1 power to legislate every Democrat out OF Office
! without cause; and the Democrats should not
/ complain. For himself, he believed in the
great republican principle that men whom the
people elect to office should be allowed to serve
out their full terms, unless proved TO be unfit to
hold them.
! Mr.. Cross concluded his argument at SIS and
! the law particularly specified such officers as
were subject to impeachment and the Railroad
Commissioners were not included among them
/ The Constitution gives the people the right to
amend that instrument at will, and to change
their servants whenever they may be so dis
posed. If Messrs. Carpenter and Humphreys
were TO be tried by committee of this Senate
it is perfectly plain that they would be eXoner
ated from the charges made against them. These
men would be perfectly safe in the hands ol
this senate. II would be useless to have Il law
suit with the devil and have the case tried in
hell.