Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-07-14

That was to be ascertained by Commission
appointed by due authority. They also
provided that five per cent. of the net earn
ings of the roads should be paid into the
treasury of the city of New York, for the
use of that municipality. That sum now
aggregates $780, 700, and taxable property,
by reason of the roads, has greatly enhanced
in value. No one of these Acts places the
fare at less than five cents for given dis
tances, these being specified, and none OF
them covering the whole length of
the roads. The maximum fare for
through trip was fixed in some cases at ten
and in some fifteen cents. Generally the
fare was five cents for five miles, and from
one to two cents for each mile or fraction
in excess. But subsequent to all these
Acts, and the exact details of which are not
now necessary to be recited, the Railway
Commission of the State of New y ork, with
the full concurrence of the press and peo-
pie, and the necessary official bodies, en-.
tered into compact with the elevated rail-
way companies to run morning and
evening commission" trains for the
ing classes, and the fare on such trains
should not exceed five cents between the
Battery and Fifty-ninth street, or any other
distance not exceeding five miles, and that
between the Battery and Harlem river it
should not exceed seven cents, and between
the Battery and High Bridge eight cents.
| But on all other trains, for five miles, the
| fare should not exceed ten cents, or two
cents for each mile or fraction in excess,
and not over fifteen cents for through trip.
1t was also agreed that when the net in
come of the road amounted to enough to
pay ten per cent. on the capital commits
sion y trains should be run at all hours at
! the low rate.
Under that agreement the elevated rail
way was constructed out TO the Harlem
river 4 distance of ten miles. Last year
the Legislature of New York passed an
Act reducing the fare for all distances on
the road to five cents That bill Governor
Cleveland vetoed If he was right in so
doing, he should not now be made the
object of assault. That he was justified in
his veto by every dictate of justice, and the
sentiment of fair dealing, we do not be-
lieYe can be successfully controverted. 1t
would appear to the fair-minded that the
reasons for the veto need not be recited.
They arc patent upon the face of the
statement given. The legislation recited
was a contract, he contended, between the
people and the men who built the roads,
and as such should be honestly observed
by the people. That agreement, said Mr..
Cleveland, is protected by the Constitution
of the United States, that prohibits any
State TO pass laws impairing the obligations
of a contract.
But if a Legislature may alter and amend
the charter of corporation at its own
option, yet in common honesty, when it
has specially agreed not to do so, it should
adhere to the spirit of its contract. By the
Act inviting the building of the road the
legislation regarding frcights and fares on
the road said 1.-THE same shall not, with
out the consent of the company, be so re-
duced as to produce with said profits less
than 10 per centum per annum on the cap
ital actually expended; nor unless on an
examination OF the amount received or ex-
pended, TO be made by the State Engineer
and Surveyor and Controller, they shall
ascertain that the net income derived by
the company from all sources, for the year
then last past, shall have succeeded an an
nual income of 10 per cent. upon the cap
ital of the corporation actually expended"
What Governor Cleveland said in his veto
message must strike every honest man
with the force of conviction . 1t seems to
me that to arbitrarily reduce these fares, at
this time and under existing circumstances,
involves Il breach of faith on the part of
the State, and a betrayal of confidence
which the State has invited" And he
added that it is manifestly important that
invested capital should be protected, and
that its necessity and usefulness in the de
velopment of enterprises valuable to the
people should be recognized by conScrya-
tive conduct on the part of the State Gov
ernment. These expressions he supple
mented as follows: =" But we have espe-
cially in our keeping the honor and good
faith of a great State and we should see to
it that no suspicion attaches, through any
act of ours, to the fair fame of the COM
monYcalth. The State should not only be
strictly just, but scrupulously fair, and i'll
its relations to the citizen every legal and
moral obligation should be recognized.
This can only be done by legislation with
out yindictiyeness or prejudice, and with a
firm determination to deal justly and fairly
with those from whom we exact obcdi-
ence.'
This is all there is in the five-cent fare
veto of Cleveland. 1t is to his credit and
common honesty, if man is to be COM
| mended at all for being honest.
But mark the incongruity of asking the
support of the California Democracy for
| such man as Grover Cleveland, in the
face of such piece of communistic stupid
ity as the platform of the Stockton Conven
ton How could man of Clevelands
views stand upon the National Democratic
platform had that instrument, with all its
absurdities, eyaSions and shallowncss, re-
Elected the scnscless and wildly destructive
sentiments of the Stockton Convention?
How can Democrats in California, who
have bartcred their birthrights for the
Stockton mess of pottage, vote for Grover
Cleveland, being possessed of the senti-
ments he is?
James G. Blaine is the intellectual SUI
perior of Grover Cleveland; he is vastly
his superior in requirements, in national
experience and in service in the legislative
halls of his country. He is representative
of the American sentiment; he is the
choice of the party of intelligence and con-
Scrvatism. Behind him is no solid South,
no principlelesS Democracy. He is fortified
by the best sentiment and manhood of the
nation He will be called TO the most exalt-
cd trust in the gift of the people, and must
defeat Grover Cleveland. But he docs not
need, to secure this end, that his friends
should misreprcsent his opponent or deny
him the credit common honesty awards.
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