The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-03-26
Crop Outlook i'm California
Rather Blue.
ture-AII Coast Democrats Want
Federal Omce-Odds and
Ends.
From our special Correspondent
san Francisco, March IA, 1873

CIOp-CIOaheE Is DeafQ IN the IdQu. he Is
to the fore in quantity, executing upon his
larnyx his regular annual prank in the
minor key. And truly the good croaker
hath justification for the vernal wall of
him, albeit he similarly goes a-dismaling
when he hath not. We have had enough
of winter rain, but its distribution in
point of time was faulty. Our entire win
ter was condensed into three weeks of I'M
broken storm in holiday tide. Since then
the weather has been of the picnic sort,
dear 20 the early consumptive, but i'm
perfectly valued by him who has stake
in the country. The agricultural situation
is briefly this: If within the next thirty
days we are rewarded with rain according
to the measure of our merit the land will
laugh with abundant harvestage; if not,
we shall have to worry through with two
thirds of a crop of cereals. Fruits we
shall have, no end, rain or no rain, pro-
vided that if it come it do not, in the
manner of it, wind up with a whooping
frost; for the dear goddess who spells her
name with has pushed her little an
nual miracle of bud and germ with a
lively forehandedness suggesting an en-
gagement elsewhere. The baby peach is
already born and the warm weather is
rapidly midwifng the other sorts. On
the whole, the outlook for a prosperous
season is hopeful, particularly if we can
be favored with a war between England
and Russia, as now seems probable. It
has been suggested that in the prayers for
rain, which the good parsons commonly
put up at about this time every year, the
Divine attention be directed also to this
other need. This possibly will not be
formally done in the pulpit, but there
is many pious old deacon engaged to-
day in trade, who will tomorrow bow his
bald head reverentIy in the church and
silently memorialize Heaven for a COL
Iision between the Russian and the Eng
lish forces on the Afghan border. If a
good wholesome check can be given to the
growth and export of wheat by Russia
will be manifest in California and the
wicked unbeliever put to shame.
OUR LEGISLATURE
Has adjourned after stealing everything
from Siskiyou to San Diego. It is bold
thing to say of Legislature that it was
worse than any of its predecessors, though
in this State it is always said and COM
monty true. The progress of these hon
i-orable bodies along the line leading to
the ultimate goal of total depravity is
! Occasionally we have the moral phenome-
non of a Legislature in which one House
| is less rascally than the corresponding
| House was in the last one, but in every
! such instance it will be observed that the
! other House is uncemmonly criminal. 1t
was so in the Legislature of '83; the AS
! sembly really did very little harm, but the
! Senate was "holy terror The Senate
which has just adjourned was a shade bet
| ter than its predecessor, but the Assem-
/ bly's extravaganza of depravity was I'M
thinkable. Thus, with diversity we have
uniformity, and a just balance and aver
| age are preserved in NATURES traditional
way. A Legislature in which both Houses
! should manifest conscience would be so
! startling a reversal of the appointed order
| of things that it would affect the commu-
nifty with something of the same Kind of
( shock that one would experience in seeing
the shadow going backward on the dial.
In illustration of the character of this
l 7 Eo1-o he
| ton of
RAILROAD TAXATION.
! This is a burning question in California,
for there are due and unpaid by the rail-
roads something over million of dollars
of taxes with interest and penalties. For
years these corporations have refused to
pay, on one plea and another, principally
because the New Constitution provided
for them a special method of assessment.
In a recent decision OF, Judge Field this
was declared void under ehe Fourteenth
Amendment to the Federal Constitution.
According to that decision, all property
must be assessed in the same way, under
the same general law. Yet this Legisla-
ture mas passed COuSliIuIIOnal dultuO-
ment making the discrimination more
marked than it was before-setting apart
railroads from all other classes of prop
erty and taxing them on their gross re-
ceipts earned in this State. The rate is
two and a half per cent. Calculated on
the basis of their receipts for the past few
years $50 far as these can be ascertained
from their own books this will yield a
revenue about quarter of a million dol
lars less than that which is now charged
against them.ss That, however, is of no i'm
portance; they pay nothing and mean to
pay nothing. The absurdity of the thing
inheres in its obvious unconstitutionality
and in the fact that it was drafted by the
railroads attorneys, and forced through
by the railroads money and influence.
They would not pay before because their
property was taxed differently from ether
property; if their precious amendment is
ratified by the people they will again re-
fuse to pay for the same reason. What