Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-03-12
MR.. C. W. SMITH,
ce-President of the A., 7.
IS. F., in Town.
HIS VIEWS OF RAILROADS.
He Does No. 9Greatly Confirm the
Flying Rulnors for the I'm
mediate Future.

As announced in the HERALD yester-
day Mr.. c. W..Smith, First Vice-Presi-
dent aud General Manager of the A., I.
& s. +. railway arrived here in the pre-
vious evening in a handsome special car
Of his road. Yesterday afternoon the
gentleman was found aboard thu car in
an apartment nicely fitted up as an Of
fce- In answer to the announcement
by HERALD reporter that he had come
in search of something what might be
Of interest to the general public, Mr..
Smith said:
"Well, l might as well say at once there
is absolutely nothing to say, not one
word Of interest TO the public.
The reporter referred to the reports
relating to great Developments about to
20 on at Cotton, from which point Mr..
Smith had come. In reference thereto
Mr.. Smith said
'Those reports may prove correct and
may not. 1t all depends on Cotton.
Several months ago the people of that
place made the A. & p. Company a
proposition coupled with promises to do
certain things. am not one OF the A.
4 P. officers, bat OF course the A., I. &
s. +. shareholders own half the stock Of
the A. & p. road. Hence we know
what ia 10 be done by them. Acting in
good faith on these promises
the Company paid $4,000 for the
brick schoolhouse and made good
many improvements. On the part OF
the Cotton people all that has been done
is the promise to do. Among other
things it was agreed that street was to
be vacated. Even this has not been
done. Now the matter is all in the
hands Of Cotton TO make the next step.
II they will do as they themselves pro-
posed, then when these things are done,
Mr.. Victor will give attention to any
proposition they may have to make. If
these matters do receive attention and
are done, then the Company may locate
their division repair shops at Cotton"
The reporter suggested that the failure
Of Cotton to secure the shops might
prove an i'll wind to that town which
would watt an argosy OF benefit to
Los Angeles. To this the official re-
piled:
.'Oh, Los Angeles is a place where
anything might properly be placed. You
have here very pretty place, prosper
Gus, progressive, enterprising. But
whether you get the shops or not is
matter of little moment 10 you. II they
20 to Cotton the benefit will fow in here
Just as il they were here themselves.
Los Angeles cannot bs retarded in her
development. She is and must conti6ue
to be the center Of everything in South
ern California for all time to come"
The reporter next referred to the
branch to be built from Fenner to the
Providence mining camp.
THAT" said Mr.. Smith, sis canard
started on Wall street, New York. You
know Wall street is always putting up
little jobs l do not pretend to know
in what interest this job is, but it was
set afoat on Wall street. do not
know that there is anything in it"
The trunk line up ths Antelope Valley
from Moiave, through the TETON Pass,
and via the San Joaquin Valley to San
Francisco Bay, was called up, and Mr..
Smith acknowledged such rumor might
be found to have some foundation in
fact. saying;
"That is a very different affair. 1t is
not at all improbable that such thing
may be done. In the event of certain
matters being done, such road
would not be built for long
time TO come. But should affairs
which will not name to you, take
different turn, 1t Is certain that trunk
line will bs constructed. The money is
on hand to do it, and there will be
necessity for the road. In such an
event it will be built most certainly."
Mr.. Smith said the Santa Monics
branch line in view his people had moth
ing in and he did not know anything
about it. The purchase Of Sentor Fair
Of the marrow guage" and its extension
to Santa Barbara and beyond, he said
was also matter in which they had no
interest and of which he did not know
anything.
The cut rates, railroad war, the nd
iustment OF the rates and the end OF the
war were not touched up. The reporter
happened TO have read that Mr. j. II.
Goddard, traffic m lnsger Of the A., I.
s. +. had said that this road must have
what it demanded before the sclaping
knife could be laid to rest, that Mr.. G.
P. Huntington, Of the s. P. Co., had
said his road had made an offer better
than 1t would ever make again. The
fact was also fresh in the reportorial
brain that Colonel Violet and the
other excursion agents were. reported
by contemporary to be preparing to
hold a meeting TO make q treaty OF
peace, and that as no such treaty bad
been promulgated it was presumable
their efforts had not been successful.
In view Of these facts. it was thought
batter to spare the busy railroad man
unnecessary trouble in answering re.
porter's questions. He, therefore.
withdrew, and left Mr.. Smith to attend
to the duties Of his important position.