Eureka weekly sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1887-1902, 1890-04-19
THE sPLir OF THE RAILROAD
n

Huntington and Stanford have had .
row which eliminated the other day in
the forcing Of the Senator from the
Presidency Of the Southern Pacific haii-
road Company and the election OF Hunt
ineton in his stead. The rumPus Is caus-
inc universal comment in San Francisco
and all over the Pacific Coast, for there
is apparently blood on the moon between
the magnates. Huntington, upon taking
the chair. levsled some broadsides at the
retiring President. He said in effect
that the railroad had been turned into
an immense Republican political ma
chine by the old management. and that
no man anywhere on the Coast could
eyen aspire to q Constableship without
first making . pilgrimage to Fourth and
Townsend street tc inquire il he might
run. He found the ante-rooms and
halls and Offices Of the great railroad
building filed with all sorts OF people
srom all over the country awaiting in
terviews on political subjects. This
sort Of thing had been going on day after
day and year after year. II was q dis
gushing sight TO him and should never be
permitted for . single moment under his
incumbency Of the Presidential chair.
He further stated that large sums OF the
company's money had been squsndered
in this way. he believed that the peo-
pie should be allowed to elect their own
officers, from the highest to the lowest,
without any interference from the rail-
road or those in any way connected with
IL. In . word, be said, politics had
fown out Of the doors Of the railroad
building never to return. All in all, the
Huntington address was such q raking
up Of political dry bones as has never
been heard before at Fourth and Town
send street. We are tempted to ex-
claim bravo for Huntington. II he
sticks to his text there will be fewer
sacks floating around with which to buy
votes for the Republican party. The
corruptionists in Nevada will miss the
one hundred thousand usually sent into
this State at each recurring election.
The ~henchmen right here ct home will
miss the seven to ten thousand usually
allotted to Eureka county, and they are
apt TO carry fewer elections in the fu.
ture. Why should q great railroad,
brought into existence by the aid Of all
the people, be used to Cypress n politi.
cal party and build up another! In
simple decenoy it should be impartial
under the circumstances OF its creation.
II Huntington is not making a "bluff,"
such will be the policy Of the Pacific
roads in the future.
The late change is quite likely to make
other changes in the personnel of the
roads staff officers. Steve Gage and
Creed Raymond may both 20. Both are
ardent admirers Of Governor Stanford
and both owe their places to him. Gage
has always looked after Nevada politics
II he should lose his place there would
be some long and doleful faces visible
among the political bosses in the sage
brush.
The quarrel between Huntington ani
Stanford dates back to the defeat by the
latter Of the late A. A. Sargent fol
United States Senator from California
The railroad promised him the place ant
furnished him the money for the race
When he had succeeded in electing
Republican Legislature Jealous friends
brought Stanford into the field a.
. candidate and Sargent's mel
were bought away from him
About all of the members who voted fol-
Stanford. as we have been told by per-
IONS who assumed to know. received
from 81, 500 to So, 900 each. The money
came out Of the "bunghole Of th.
western Improvement Company" II
those days certain officers of the com
pany could take out any sun under So.
900 without explanation or q voucher,
Presumably it was in this way, if al
all, that the corrupt expenditure of &C
large . sum was kept from the knowl-
edge Of Governor ~Stanford-if ii was.
II 10 charitable to assume that the real
situation was never disclosed to the
Governor. On the contrary he was led
TO believe. ii is commended, that Sargent
could in no event be elected. But this
was q mere sham and Q make-believe.
The Governor was an easy and willing
believer. No other man than Governor
Stanford could have defeated Sargent,
because no other man possessed the sim
W Of war necessary to do it. A posi-.
tive d~eclinstion by Stanford to be a can-
didate would have elected Sargent. An
elusive deciination was given in an in
terview and published, but it fell short
of the mark. 1t left the way open for
Stanford 10 enter the contest ct any mo-
ment. which he did when the occasion
became o~pportune. His defeat killed
Sargent. In view of all that Sargent
had done for the railroad magnates in
securing for them the great Government
grants and subsidies in the days of their
struggles, Huntington did not hes
itate TO declare the action Of Stanford in
entering the field against him as the
I" grossest per6dy he had ever known.
The deposition Of Stanford the other
day is Huntingt on's revenge for the
treschery shown by the former to their