Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-11-20
the war and with the completion of the

the war and with the completion of the
Central Pacific Railroad, and our business
men are now brought into direct COMPETE
ton with the business men of the East.
They saw the Northern Pacific Railroad
building from the Mississippi to the mouth
of the Columbia; they saw upon the COM
pletion of this road it was inevitable that |
! the city of San Francisco should lose the |
great northern trade of Oregon, Washing |
| ton Territory, Montana and Idaho.
THE RAILROAD PEOPLE,
Foreseeing the blow that would be struck |
at their system, endeavored to break its |
| force by connecting the valleys of the Sac
ramento and the Willamette by railroad. |
| Four thousand men were employed con-
structing the road through the mountain
passes that separate us from Oregon.
While they were doing it, while they were
pushing this work with energy and resolu-
| ton, determined by its completion to ward
| off the blow that was being aimed at them,
| and through them at the trade of the city of
San Francisco, the Democracy of this city,
blinded by demagogism, and the merchants
of the city, rejecting the sentiments of the
sand-lot and Of the political Democratic
Adventures of the class of Wallace, Great
house, Delmas, Spencer and English,
united and conspired together for the pur
pose of calling an extra session of the
| Legislature, with the avowed purpose of
arresting this work and impairing the
credit of the railroad people by attempting
to regulate their fares and freights below
living profit; they endeavored to impose
upon these railroad people system of tax
alton unjust and Illegal to take from them
the protection of the principle of fixing the
assessment of their property values upon
the same basis as property is taxed to all
individuals
THIS POLITICAL CONSPIRACY
Succeeded because it was encouraged by
the merchants of this city, not only by
their Indifference but by their individual
assistance. The Chamber of Commerce
and the Board of Trade were asked to pass
a resolution recommending that the Oregon
land grant be set aside, which, after debate
they refused to do. The commercial class
of this city is directly responsible for the
suspension of railroad work connecting our
city with Portland and the northern rail
road system. The Chamber of Commerce
had the folly to reproach the railroad peo-
pie that they carried freights across the
continent so cheaply that it was destroying
the shipping of the port; they had the
impudence, after long years OF complaint
in regard to the discrimination of fares
and freights, and after reaping the benefit
of this policy, to demand of Mr. Towne
that he withdraw from the merchants of
Los Angeles the benefit they received from
4 their pearness to the Eastern market The
people of Los Angeles have had the good
sense to appreciate the favor they had en-
joyed from railroads, and they have reaped
the advantage of them.
THE WHOLE SOUTHERN COUNTRY
Has advanced in population and wealth.
Its land values have been largely increased
by the building of railroads, and it was
great piece of impudence for our Chamber
of Commerce to attempt to deprive that
part of the State Of its natural advantages.
We may accept the fact that the port of
San Francisco and the merchants of San
Francisco have lost an important part of
their northern and southern trade they
have lost it through their own lack of en-
terprise, their own want of sense, their
own lack of courage, and because they
have not been just and generous enough to
appreciate the service that has been rem
dered them and the people of San Fran
cisco by the railroad builders. The mer-
chants of st. Louis, Chicago and New Or
leans are sending their productions within
our borders, and unless our merchants
awake to the realization Of their peril and
put forth some effort to save the rest, we
think it not improbable that they will
make still further encroachments upon our
trade.
MORE FOLLY.
Referring to the senseIess fight made
E against the railroad obtaining room for a
terminus at San Francisco; to the crusade
that drove such location out of the city
| to the foolish war against permitting car
and ship to come together; to the suicidal
! policy of San Francisco that resulted in
{ Port Costa, and the abandonment of the
o San Francisco water front by a commerce
/ that she might have retained; the 4rqo-
ndt concludes that the city cannot prosper
1 II the great lines of transportation do not
: prosper. That so long as we permit dema-
= gogues OF either party to attack and de-
n stroy their credit, and embarrass them in
/. the management of their affairs, no more
: railroads will be built; the great barrier to
o northern trade will not be broken down
q San Francisco will lose the advantage OF
q her splendid port, and her trade be con-
+ fined to the narrow limits OF her own
n borders. Any party, it adds, inimical to
f the Interests of the railroads is an enemy
to the best interests of the city. When
San Francisco's policy is such as to invite
capital to it, to encourage it to make its
y , home there, to call off the legal dogs bark
= ing at its heels, to value its property as is
/. private property, for assessment, then, the
e | Arg0aaut holds "we shall have passed
: beyond the
d GOssIPPY VILLAGE
r Condition and entered upon our career as
d commercial city. Unless we determine
y to do this, we had better lease the town
+ and harbor for a term of years to syndi-
}, cate of Chicago drummers, with the hope
II that they would introduce some greater
5 liberality than now exists, with a covenant
d i'll the lease that they would not endeavor
$ to harrass, annoy, or drive out of the city
e every man of brains and money who had
d better luck than themselves We should at
c least indulge the hope that they would
S have sense enough not to bite the noses of
|, their own faces by preventing the construc-
r ton of a railway from California to Ore
Q gon, and that they would allow the ter
e minus of all the California railroads to
e be made within the borders of the city OF
: San Francisco; that they would mind
r their own business, and not attempt the
$ impossible by endeayoring to regulate
: fares and freights. So long as this depres-
o sion continues, affecting, as it will, all gen.
t eral merchandise, depreciating the rent
II and values of all real estate, reducing the
price of all labor, and making hard times,
let our citizens reflect that they have
themselves to thank for it all-themselves,
q and only themselves to blame"