Daily Los Angeles herald., 1884-06-03


the State or counties to proceed for the balance
/; The Controller, under sense Of what he be-
believed to be his legal duty, refused to receive
i the money and has commenced suits against the
company for tine full amount
! The company has rendered the sixty per cant.
{ OF the amount claimed In open court. without
I When this payment shall have been made we will
have the spectacle fer the hrst time that know
I Of. OF corporation which has successfully
{ resisted the payment Of q tax. Voluntarily. by
D reason OF the moral obligations resting upon IL,
: paying into tho State and county treasures
nearly two million dollsrs Ia money. Such q
I record is ono to be proud Of. and no amount Of
l wild vituperaton or abuse will ever dim the
luster OF that record.
II has been said and often repeated, that the
railroad company should keep out OF poll les,
thatthe Railroad company were corrupting the
| Courts and Legislatures. Humanity does not
often extenuate or pardon giri Of IL, who falls
before the temptsr. He requires the bonndless
charity Of God t, that thing, yet we hear Of men
occupying high judicial and legislative positions
OF full age and Ia the full possession Of all their
| faculties. being corrupted by corporations
deny the fac'. deny that any man
in ,,t the null possession Sn,os Of his faculties.
or with any reputation for honesty. occupying
either judici. or legislative position. has ever
been corrupted or approached.
| II th re be any such man, let him speak On
the contrary. as long IA special laws may be
passed. as long as unlimited powers are con.
ferr ID upon Dc ards or Commissions, so long Is II
probable that organizations will txist in the
Legislature and In these Boards, for BLAcKxAiL
AND PLUMBER.
II the fourteeth amendment to the Constitution
OF the United States can be carried out in its
spirit and intent, and u this corporation, which
has been go unjustly assailed, shall be the in
strument OF est iblishng the fact that no legis
lstive body In America shall give to any one man
anything which IL does not upon the same terms
give to all others similarly situated, ard shall
not take fr m any man anything which 1t does
take from all men similarly situated, then will 1t
have brought purity to the Courts and to legis.
iative councils and done more for the prosperity
and welfare OF its country than 1t did when
during q civil war II locked the East to the West
| in It's iron embrace.
In the three years that have been with this
company, know that IL has been the earnest
desire tf its Directors TO ATTEND TO TRAssPoRTA.
| rioN ALONE, That In regard to the practice Of
expending money to control electi' ms, or infu-
ence legislation, they have not the least desire to
| do II. When laws under consideration in
| volving the interests Of any class Of people,
whether they be merchants, lawyers doctors,
| manufacturers. farmers, or wha. not, the persons
Interested VIII generally use the best means in
| their power to have their views laid before the
| Legislature This the railroad ihtetest might
| properly do, but to expend money TO control
elections or influence legislation in any case
| that can be considered in any way tainted with
bribery or corruption. speaking from my expert
ence win this corporation, know they are az
utterly opposed to it as the most scrupuous In.
diyidual could be. They have gone further,
l
that under no circumstances would they submit
/ to blackmail
Says a very distinguished man: cit Is the
| theory OF this republican government that cyery
class interested in the legislation should also
have a voice In the legislation What injustice,
for instance, might be done to the merchants
the farmers, the distillers, the tobacco or sugar
growtrs or manufa, turers or importers, II their
mouths should be shut and their hands tied from |
equal participation with all other In the |
legi lation OF the country"
So far the railroad companies may properly 20;
they may appear before committees In the per. |
sons OF their Directors, or by recognized at |
torneys present their arguments and 30 heard |
as others are heard in legislation. Beyond this |
may be inaugurated, what projects may be set on /
foot to extolt money from their Golfers. In this |
resolution they deseIye--they may not to-day /
receive 10, but will In the snd-the support Of all |
good men.
I submit as a fact, that within the last ten |
years fewer laws can be pointed out as enacted for
the special benefit Of railroad companies and /
more enacted with hostile intent towards them, |
than towards any other large interest In the /
country.
Adopting as my own the words Of the dis. |
tinguished authority from which before quoted, |
I would briefly say that railroad companies have
Is much right to take an honest part in political
Affairs as any other ins itlltions or individuals,
and as little right to take dishonest one, and
human nature goes, think they are little
guilty OF the latter as any Of their neghbors.
One Of the aphorisms Of the day Isl '"rhe State
must control the railroads or the railroads will |
control the State" There would be as much wis
dom In saying: People must drive asses or asses
will drive thepeope.
When railroad companies were seeking subsi-
dies to extend roads into counties that would not
support them, grave question Of public policy |
did arise, upon which honest men well might and
did differ Men at that time might well be array
ed on enc side or the other Of that question, and
might claim that railroad companies by taking
sub-iiies were taking from the people things
which no Government had the right to take, Un-
der such circumstances aman might well say that
the question WAS between the people and the rail-
roads. Now, when the railroads have been con-
struct9d, when they are being operated, no ques-
tion OF that kind can arise.
Almost every subsidy granted by the counties
of the State Of California has been retu ned. No
subsidy was granted by the Federal government.
except alternate sections Of the public land with
certain limits on each side Of the road. Such !
contract any land owner would have made with |
any person who proposed to build q railroad,
and 30 far as thec Central Pacific Railroad Company
Is conc ernad this grant lirs mostly In the dsert
and has been Of little value. doubt IL there is
now private land owner In this country whose
lard lays 800 miles away from any railroad who |
would not cheerfully give one-half Of It to In. |
dnce the construction OF railroad to that land, |
and think he had made good bargain at that.
THE GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTED NO MONEY THE
BUILDING or THESE ROADS; the government loaned |
its currency bonds, and they were sold by the |
company at an average of. sixty cents on the dol.
lar In coin That loan is now being repaid In |
gold, AZ bears six per cent interest upon its
face, but In fact . rate Of over nine per cent.-s
greater rate than has ever been paid In the |
world upon similar security.
These companies have filled up no rivers, have
destroyed no wagon roads; every facility that
existed for transportion before these roads were |
built still exists. On the contrary, these roads
have made garden OF the valley Of the San
Joaquin. and an orange grove OF Los Angeles;
have rendered almost priceless the lands in
Northern California, which at the time OF their
]
81 per acre
1t has been attempted TO array the farmers
against the transportation companies, and no
weight is given to the fact that since the first |
load Of wheat carried over the Southern Pacific
Railroad from Port Costa to New Orleans, near
iy 1000 900 tons Of wheat have been shipped
from California. That the single shipment above |
mentioned reduced freights upon those ship
ments not less than 81 900 COO, thereby giving TO
the farmers OF California amount greater
than all the State taxes paid by the whole peo-
communities Of this State the most prosperous |
in the word 1t was said, when this great re.
duction was made, that shipping would be driven
from San Francisco; The prophets Of evil have
failed Two years have elapsed. The barber Of |
San Francisco Is white with the sails OF merch-
ant ships and freights lower than ever.
tNote.-"we are now in the Spring OF 1884 and
on the eve OF another bonanza crop to California |
and Of full crop in Oregon. But instead OF a
small excess oftonnage We have unprecedent-
ed supply with which to begin our new shipping
seaeon. San Francisco Chronicle" May Is,
1884.
An effort has been made to array the laboring
men against these companies. Yet they have in
their service about 900 employees. These en-
ployes are about evenly divided between the two
great political parties Of the State and In no in
stance, TO my knowledge, has the Central Pacific
Railroad Company, or any e5mpany under the con-
troll Of its Direco ever sought TO know the poll
tics OF an employe.
They have never attempted to suppress, but on
the contrary have encouraged their Labor Un
ions. They are paying to-day substantially the
same wages that they paid to tn IL employ es 6f
teen years ago Theirs is the standard by which |
at least skill ed labor in the State the labor Of
the iron-worker, the upholsterer, the mechanic
and the engineer-is fixed. Times WITHOUT NUMBER |
HAVE THE REPRESENTATIVES, tF MANUFACTURING
IsTEREsrs IN SAN FRANCISCO APPLIED TO THE
BOARD OF DIREcIORs OF THIS COMPANY To REDucg
TnE wAGEs OF ITS SKILLED LABoRERs. These re-
presentatiyes have urged that the standard Of |
fifteen years ago Is too high for TODAY. The |
Directors have replisi that many Of these men
have been in our employment from the start. |
Many OF them have their little homes partially
paid for. They are saving out OF their earnings
enough to make their monthly payments, and u |
we were TO reduce their wages We would deprive
them OF their homes. As long as the railroad
companies now under our control remain, so |
long we will. II we can earn enough, pay the
rates OF wages which we are now maintaining"
In more than one instance the representative Of |
the manufacturing interest has bean known 10 |
90 upon the streets CT San Francisco and preach |
crusade against the railroad company, but al
ways cencealing the reason which excited his
enmity.
1t was gravely proposed, In the Board OF Rail-
road Commissioners, to reduce the fares in this |
State to the maximum OF cents a mile which
which was said to be the Georgia rate. The maxi
mum In Georgia Is 3, and cents, according 10
the classification Of the roads. A reduction to
the Georgia standard would inv olive more than Q
reduction to Geo gia wages, for the price OF fuel
In this State cannot be reduced and the reduc-
tion would fall upon labor
large proportion Of the employees upon the |
Georgia railroads ara negroes, who work very |
cheaply. What advantage would the laboring
man OF this State take from the exclusion OF the
Chinese II they wele bound to labor at the rates
fixed in Georgia, and at the same time bear the