Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-04-01
A SHIPPERS LAMENTs.
What mr. Armsby says About the
Commerce Bill.


1t is we'll known fact that the major
ity of the leading shippers have always
been opposed to the Interstate Com
merce bill, and the recent tsevere amend
ments passed by the Commissioners
have set them still more by the ears.
The following letter, written by Mr.. J.
X. Armsby, of the millionaire dried fruit
firm of Armsby & Co., was yesterday
handed to HERALD representative, and
will be found to contain some very inter-
esting points. 1t is written On behalf OF
a number of the principal shippers:
fWe see that the Interstate Com.
merce fiend5, not satisfied with punish
ing the railway managers by fine and
imprisonment, if they make concession
to shippers, have now added another
clause which imprisons the shipper who
accepts favor from those bad, bad rail-
road men, and fines him as well, and we
can with safety look for another amend
ment during the coming year that will
imprison the poor shippers children.
burn his wife at the stake and draw and
quarter him to slow music. Few ship
pers realize the danger they are in. For
ourselves, we have simply been reckless
this past year beyond all precedent. We
have been to the Saturday evening prayer
meeting with the noted churchman and
railroad comptroller, Marshall Kirkman.
We have struggled over the ivory market
with Henry Wicker. Have taken soda
lemonade with John Stubbs, and once
(only once, we swear it, we
have taken breakfast with Charlie
Smith, OF the Atchison, and many, many
years ago we got tie pass out of julie
Hannaford, with the privilege of walk
ing over his road both ways, and we
thought this harmless Interchange of
courtesies between two gentlemen, but
we see now it was a dire and fiendish
plan to get US to become criminal like
themselves. Not satisfied to have the
shadow of the bastile hanging over their
own heads, they want to make crimi
nal of US, but, gentlemen, so far you
have been unsuccessful, and now we see
what your fell purpose was. No more,
no more. We buy our own drinks. We
beat our own restaurant-keepers, and we
steer clear of all kind of services that
railroad man has any part or parcel in.
We used to think railroad men were re-
spectacle, but now we know they are
'ticket-of-leave" men.
But, seriously speaking, is it not about
time that this thing ended? 1t is only
two years since this Interstate Com
merce bill was passed. Can any ship
per, can any business man point to any
benefits they have won in their business
from it? Has it given them any better
shipping facilities? Has it done any
thing except shrink the value of railway
nearly one billion dollars? 1t
has taken the income away from thous-
ands and thousands of people who had
invested their little all in railway secur-
tiles. 1t has stopped the building of
railroads all over the land. 1t has para
lyzed our iron industry, and made us all
see that we are steadily going down to
financial bankruptcy as people, and
made US still more doubly sure that this
internal bill is sapping the lifeblood out
of the two greatest industries we have
the railway and the iron interests. And
we again ask, what have we gained? Is
not this subject to think over seriously,
and to take action on before it is too
late? 1t is all we'll enough to
make this howl against capital,
against the combination of capital,
against the tyranny of capital, but what
will those labor interests do when there
is no capital to employ them? Our in
dustries are being paralyzed capital is
seeking new avenues of investment, and
it will remain boarded up in banks or
ssfe deposit companies until this wild
craze of cheap legislators against capital
and the combination of demagogues with
the laboring classes is over, and the
working people and merchants alike re-
alize that the prosperity of capital means
the prosperity of us ALL"