Los Angeles herald., 1891-04-13
WHY NOT GET OUR Ri6Hrsq

-
II is q somewhat significant fact that
the people of Los Angeles never seem to
think it worth while to agitate in earnest
for amy of the favors the government
has to bestow. Take, for instance, the
matter of the ten company military post,
which the city of San Diego will in all
probability march off with. Why should
not our chamber of commerce and board
of trade throw themselves, heart and
soul into4he work of locating the post
somewhere in Los Angeles county? For
years and years past Wilmington was
the great center of military operations
in Southern California and for Arizona,
and the great distributing center for
supplies. Why should it not be SO now?
San Diego deserves all she can get, and
her pluck and energy are worthy of all
praise. Our point is, why'do not the
people of Los Angeles show equal en-
'ergyf A people who have been SO per-
severingly neglected as ours by the gen.
eral government ought to appeal trum-
pet-tongued for recognition. There is
great deal of money in atten company
military post. The necessary and in
cidental disbursements are an important
item in any region in which it is To-
Gated. Why not have it here? There
ARE plenty of ways in which the general
government can and ought to do much
to help San Diego. There is little doubt
but that the attitude of the Italian gov
.ernment in the New Orleans affair will
lead congress to decide upon compre-
shensive plan of Notifications, and here
comes in San Diego's opportunity. The
i HERALD is in favor Of erecting at that
point defensive works commensurate
with the importance of the interests
there, and they are certainly very con-
siderable. BUTT sees no reason why there
should not also be works adapted to de-
fend by far the more important of tho
two sections. The HERALD is in favor
of reasonable appropriations to improve
the harbor of San Diego. 1t is equally
in favor of continuing the outlays al
ready begun at Wilmington until they
shall result in the creation of satisfac-
tory harbor. That it can be done ad-
mits of no question. The orig
inal expenditures were founded up
on elaborate estimates of such govern
ment engineers as General Alexander
and Colonel Mendell, supplemented by
reports from other officers of equal
celebrity. We know that the work al
ready done at San Pedro has increased
the depth of water from eighteen inches
at extreme low tide to fourteen feet. If
the French government was justified in
spending $6O,OO0,O00, the work begin
ming under the First Napoleon and
ending under the Third, to make the
insignificant roadstead of Cherbourg an
indifferent harbor, why are not the peo-
pie of the United States justified in
creating two or three harbors on coast
which is notoriously SO poorly supplied
with them as ours? Why should we
not put on bold face and demand that
we should receive some return for the
superb largesses we have bestowed upon
the American nation?
Angeleflos should remember the in
junction of Christ upon his followers,
as recorded in Matthew. 'Ask and you
shall receive; knock and it shall be
opened unto you" If we ask nothing
we shall receive nothing. If we do not
knock, we shall be obliged to submit to
the modification of knock out.
There are some things which the peo-
10 Of AIa OF dC for CT, lev ha-
cause they never remembered anything
of them. The most important of these
deserves more than a passing notice.
Where would these same people be to-
day if it had not been for the unstinted
stores of gold and silver that California,
and, later, the whole Pacific coast,
poured into the national Golfers? The
total amount OF gold and silver now in
the United States does not equal the
sum California alone, by official statis-
tics, sent east. One of the most inter-
esting features of the display at the New
Orleans exposition of 1884-S5 was two
superb cubes, one covered with gold and
the other with silver tissue paper. On
the one was inscribed the legend,
"California's gold contribution to
the currency of the nation, $1,OOO,-
100000" That is to say, billion dol
lars. On the other, the lettering, Cali
fornia's silver contribution to the cur
rency of the nation, $4,000, ,O0O." That
is to say, seven years ago we had poured
thousand and twenty-six million dol
lars into the Golfers of Uncle Sam. Since
then we have added at least $4,000, 900
to this magnificent total, between the
two metals.
Nor does this by any means measure
the scope of the obligations of the peo-
pie of the United States to those of Cali
fornia as far as relates to gold and silver.
These figures were based strictly upon
statistics furnished by Wells, Fargo &
Co. Probably half as much more was
oo so1 oxuoxy ~, {hn ho1to II