The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1884-11-12
oAL1roRN1A CATTLE KINGS.
Tho snobs and snobosracy OF the Pacific
Coast.

Coast.
A San Francisco letter TO the 81. Louis
dispatch says: This is the land of
luck, and fortunes favors, like the rain,
fall pretty much alike on the just and
the unjust. OF all the kings have seen
up to date, whether mining, cattle or
railroad king, the last named go to the
front in the matter Of assumpti on and
ridiculous seli-importance. 1t is small
wonder that Californians detest the
railroads; tho real wonder is that the
antagonism between the people and cor
pOrations has not gone to sanguinary
extremities. Fortune has favored some
shockingly unjust men, and they abuse
their power and position very much as
one might suppose Warren Hastings did
his ascendaney in India.
The magnates here are veritablo
nabobs, and their attendants even as
sumo languid superciliousness to the
last degree presumptuous and inane. A
millionaire whose interest lies largely
with the roads assured me that those
corporations had entirely overdone the
e1tortion business, although he be-
lieved their enemies had, in some in
stances, unnecessarily abused them. At
the den OF railroad king all the under
lings, and they are legi0ns, come and
| go at the call of an electric bell and the
antocrats are as difficult Of approach rs
the car Of Russia, but when one meets
them there seems to be little in the in
tellectual or general ability to
warrant their exclusiveness. Their
homes are palaces, the grounds
are Shaw's gardens, and their attend
ants and equippages are gorgeous and
innumerable. Tho cattle kings of tho
coast, Miller and Lux, are rated at 49,
100000 to $l0000,0O0, and we're poor men
twenty years ago. Mr.. Lux told me
that they had 10000 head of cattle and
10000 head of sheep, Of which latter
they kill 5000 per month. They own an
irrigating canal worth $l000,000, fences
800 miles in length-a fortune in itself;
in California 100000 acres of land; in Ne
braska, 10000 acres, and $4,000 acres in
alfalfa grass. They lately bought 5000
cattle in Nebraska, with large land and
water privileges. Speaking OF ranches
and herding he said:
"Our free grass is matter of the past.
Inc legislature is against US. We are
compelled to take care of the stock. II
our cattle do any damage at all, we
must pay heavily, as tho people are
prejudlcod against any one they may be
pleased to call Il monopoist. And yet,
by their severe measures, they are con
stantly enhancing the price of meat.
We are compelled to buy land and fenc-
ing, which involves a vast outlay OF
money, and of course we cannot give
that money away. They must build
fences, anyway, and, If the smaller hold
ers would fence securely against stock
we could Craze ut less expense and they
could have cheaper meat
but you can't make near
sighted man sec long distance
he must pay for his spectacles. Cali
fornia, as a grazing state, il IA thing OF
the past. And then, you SEQ, we are
heavily taxed. We arc rated arbitrarily
at fixed sum per head, and there is no
lodging or securing rt-;sluation at q
lower figure. We are interested largely
in Oregon, Nebraska and Montana, and
In everything that pertains to tho cattle
interests OF those localities, and will
eitner DO present In st. Louis personally
or by representative. The convention
is n necessity to the business, and nc
cattlemen should fail to lend his conn
tonance or counsel; we must stand to.
gether or all will suffer. And the pso-
pie, the consumers, will suffer. l have
no doubt that IL tho citizens OF the
United State could understand the mat
tor they would see that their interests
and ours are identicle.
"One thing has hindered the growth
OF the cattle interest, which, az q hurt.
full interest, will, to great extent, dis
appear after the convention i'm st. Louis
and that is the timidity OF capital will
respect to cattle-growing. Formerly
banks and bankers only loaned to eat
tic man at rates of interest which n,
other business could pay, and the conse
quence has been that rsnchmen have
had to thrive uuder griovous loans
Now that the matter has become better
understood the covman gets more rea.
sonable rates, but oven yet the feeblei
men are unfairly dealt with, and they
must all look To the convention and il.
result for relief from many discriminn
tons against them"