Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-01-30
TRADE DEPRESSION AT THE BAY.
Strange Cause Assigned by the President
of the Board of Commerce.

of the Board of Commerce.
EDS. REcoRD-UNIoN The following is
an extract from the address of the retiring
President of the San Francisco Chamber of
Commerce: There have been, however.
special causes for dullnesS in trade in San
Francisco. Our business has been steadily
clipped off, both at the north and the south.
not only by the rivalry of Portland and Los
Angeles, but by the hostile discrimination
against us Of Railways DESTROYS Of obtaining
g the long haul" Of gO5dS sold Ia Chicaqo and
ST. Louis The competition of the Northern
Pacific, little over year ago, and of the
Oregon Short Line within the year. have
each made some inroad upon our business.
At the same time the influence of hostile
railways, identified with Eastern interests.
has been keenly felt in Southern California
and Arizona. 1t is difficult to estimate this
loss, but it is very considerable and | see
no means of making it up. Enterprise is
very well in its way, but it cannot remedy
hostile freight tariff"
The logical inference from this extract is
that the railroads terminating at San Fran
cisco are guilty of unjustly discriminating
against the latter city, and are therefore,
largely responsible for the depression in all
kinds of business.
A retrospective view of the complaints of
the business men of San Francisco reveals
the fact that they have complained of I'M
Just discrimination against the interior
towns of this State and the adjacent States
and Territories. Every merchant should
know that the railroads entering San Fran
cisco must make rate in competition with
the cheapest of all means of transportation,
viz: the ocean. 1t matters not what the
rates are to interior points. The San Fran
cisco rate must be in competition with the
ISthmuS and Cape Horn routes.
Now, within the last two or three years,
Sacramento, Stockton, San Jose and Los
Angeles have been made common or ter
minal points-that is to say, rates to and
from these points have been the same as to
San Francisco This seems to the San
Francisco merchant Ian unjust discrimina-
ton against him of railways DESTROYS Of
obtaining the long haul of goods sold in
Chicago and St. Louis.
If the expression in this connection means
anything at all, it means that goods bought
or sold in Chicago or St Louis by the San
Francisco merchant receive the full benefit
of the " long haul, as compared with Sac
ramento or Los Angeles for it is certainly
longer "haul' from Chicago and St.
Louis to San Francisco than to Sacramento
and Los Angeles. and vice versa, and the
longer q" haul in this instance pays no
more than the shorter. In other words,
Sacramento and Los Angeles pay the
same rate for a shorter haul" that San
Francisco pays for a longer one, and if
there We're any unjust discrimination it
would apparently be against the former
places. Yet there is no unjust discrimina-
ton against them, because San Francisco
enjoys what, by nature, the former places
cannot enjoy-a free ocean, with the cheap
est of all means of transportation. The
giving of San Francisco the benefit of the
long haul was III obedience to law Of
commerce which no transportation agency
can ignore. The giving to Sacramento and
Los Angeles the same advantages, except
that of charging the same for a shorter haul,
was in obedience to complaints having their
origin in San Francisco. urged on by aspir-
ing politicians of both political parties for
the sake of the capital there was in it. If
San Francisco commercial enterprise were
equal to its lethargy there would be no
cause of complaint against railroads desir-
Gus of obtaining" long hauls' of goods sold
in Chicago and st. Louis, particularly when
San Franciscans reap the benefits of the
g. long haul"
When business is depressed it seems to
be natural to lay the blame on some one
aside from self, and it has become fashion,
able in California to lay it to the railroads
Think you. commercial men of California,
that the railroad business is not suffering
quite as much as YOU are in consequence of
business depression? Do you demand that
the transportation agencies shall bear the
burden wholly, that your profits may not
be lessened? How much greater would
your average percentage be if you had your
wares transported for nothing? When the
average percentage on thcvalue of all goods
transported in the United States charged
for transporting them is less than four per
cent, you could not increase your profits
any more than that amount if you had
them transported for nothing California
is no exception TO the general depression
which pervades the whole commercial
world, unless it be that it bears more lightly
upon her, and her merchants should not
raise a false issue in regard 10 it.
EN-NfFRCHANT