Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-02-02
SENATOR STAMFORD.
INTERESTING INTERVIEW UPON
QUESTIONS OF THE DAY.
faciic Railways and Pacific Slope
Mormon Problem-The
Silver Question.
ESPECIAL BY TELEGRAPH TO THE nEoonD-usros.J

CINCINNATI, February 1st-A local pa
per has long and interesting interview
with Senator Leland Stanford, under a
Washington date, in which facts about the
Pacific railways and Pacific slope are dis
cussed. In answer to a question as to
whether the building of several railroads
to the Pacific ocean affected the Central Pa
citic passenger and general transcontinental
business, the Governor said Eyes, very
much indeed. The business across the
continent does not give US very much con-
Germ. The Central Pacific has become the
California railroad in the main. For some
little while we did have pretty much the
whole business across the country. All
was subject, however, to the competition of
the steamship route by Panama Now there
are the Pacific ocean, the Southern Pacific,
Atlantic and Pacific, Northern Pacific, and
Canadian Pacific. There are at least four
other railroads dividing the business. The
Atlantic and Pacific has its agents in San
Francisco. soliciting through business on
the same terms with ourselves. You take
a train from California, and you will be
apt to find good many empty seats, where
some years ago the trains ran evenly full"
THE MORMON QUESTION.
The reporter asked Mr.. Stanford, what
is your idea about the Mormon question ~
" The Mormons have served a useful pur-
pose in this country, and they have their
wiz I hal toll 49, IL m
their President and some of their leading
men, not long ago, and | told them that
they would have to get rid of polygamy
that it was against the prejudices of our
people and their example, and W. were all
persuaded that one wife was all that one
man could afford to support. And yet,
while | sympathized with their frugaIitv
and hardships, they must stop this prac-
tice, lest some injury overtake them. The
Edmunds bill bears hard upon families
which have existed in the past Here is
Mormon with two or three families, and he
must go to jail if he lives in polygamy,
whereas public opinion of his own COM
munity considers him a coward if he
| abandons either of his families. | do not
think they are making polygamous mar
| riages out there, and there should have
been consideration made for the old fami-
lies already established; but this matter
becomes largest at distance. In my opin-
ion, polygamy will die out if left to natural
| causes"
SAN FRANCISCO AND CALIFORNIA.
Governor, is the destiny of San Fran
cisco and California as apparent now as it
seemed to you twenty years ago."
i think it is. San Francisco has about
three hundred thousand inhabitants. That
is an exceedingly large city for the time
the Americans have possessed it. Califor-
MIA has steady growth, and compared to
most other places, remarkable. The ag1i-
culture of the country is coming forward,
and it much surpasses the best in the old
States. The mining development of the
State Is not as sporific as it was, but it is
very large. The gold yield aggregates
well, have owned some mines, and in one
| of them we make profit when we get four
dollars of metal out of q ton of
the quartz. Indeed, quartz mining is
probably in better condition in Cali
fornia than it has been for good while.
The great interest of the new West. except
ing California and Utah, is, first, the mines,
and next the cattle. Now, in California we
probably find more than 125, 600 persons
engaged in agriculture and that is larger
proportion than anywhere west of the
Rocky Mountains, possibly excepting Utah.
Hence the mining interest is important to
be supported. That is. why, upon
THE SILVER QUESTION,
| am for continued coinage of silver.
There is no sufficient reason, in good
morals or political economy, to discontinue
it at the expense of the industry engaged
in it. Suppose we had been coming S25,-
100000 of silver per annum for years be-
fore our civil war, and it had been dis
bursed among our people. Do you suppose
that there would have been such a depre-
| citation of currency as happened with paper?
1t might have been disparaged somewhat,
but as large proportion of the world has
| always used it, and always will, the depre-
citation would have been comparatively
small. In the Pacific States we maintained
gold and silver as our currency during the
war; but if We had undertaken to demon
tie silver at the expense of gold, public
tradition would have repudated US. We
manufactured in the rest of the country
paper, and put the Government STAMP
on it, and ii sunk in value until it was not
worth half the promise on its face. If
silver was deprecated. 20 per cent. it still
should have much greater buying power
than greenbacks gave US Therefore |
say that if you coin silver, and
let it remain among the people of
your country. as it generally will,
you are provided, in a time of panic
or battle, with money that will not depre-
ciate beyond a certain point"
Should not there be more grains put in
our silver coins if they seem to have de-
preciated ?''
Yes; there ought to be enough more
grains put in to diminish the tendency of
Exchanges to make a profit by buying sill
yer at one price and putting it out to the
people at another
COAST DEFENSES.
Referring to naval matters, Senator
Stanford said: There is single vessel
on the Pacific ocean, the Esmeralda, be-
longing to Chile, which could stand outside
of San Francisco. at Seal Rock. and force
the city to be surrendered 1t seems to me
to be most unwise for our people to Law
themselves open to such contingencies.
when very small amounts of money would
supply us with ships to protect these large
ports. The United States now furnishes
the easiest prize, and the richest. ever of
tered to war, in the capture of such cities
as New York, New Orleans and San Fran
cisco. 1t is most astonishing that we hesi-
tate on questions of that kind, while we
are supplying multitudes of towns with
public buildings, which cost relatively as
much as ships of war;