The record-union., 1892-08-16
SAN FRANCISCO AS A DIsTRTBT-r.
ING CENTER.

Inc CENTER.
In the course of long article on clip
per competition with railroads, and the
aims of the Traffic Association conten-
ton in San Francisco, the Eraneiaer says
IN the mouth of lone of the committee
Of the association: 81 tell you this fight is
Of wide significance. It means the re-
juvenation of San Francisco as great
distributing center"
That is, San Francisco is more than
jealous Of interior ability to obtain sup
plies without paying tribute to San Fran
cisco handlers. Now, if San Francisco
will strike out in true merchandising and
seek to distribute to the farthest shores Of
the oceans, and not attempt to live wholly
upon the necessities of the interior, she
will meet with no discouragement from
the latter.
What lone of the committee means,
however, is that the peddlers of San Fran
cisco contemplate the possibility of re-
gaining that level of supremacy that will
make the metropolis the one only and
chief distributor for all the interior of the
State, and the people of the interior the
tribute-payers to the city, regardless of
the breadth of the margin of profit it sees
fit to fix.
San Francisco. it is we'll to remember.
however, never manifested so much as a
snap of the fingers of care for the pros
perity Of the interior. She has never
made an effort to take care of it's trans
portation; has never contributed to the
construction of railroads into it; has not
fostered its schemes of local improve
ment, or given support to its plans to peo-
pie the valleys by marrying land and
water Had the interior waited upon San
francisco for railways, it would to-day
be dependent upon bull teams and prairie
schooners for means of carriage
The truth is, and all this bloviating in
San Francisco hinges upon it, that the
towns and cities of Interior California
are no longer dependent upon San Fran
cisco for supplies, and there is where all
the pinch of the shoe is. The social.
financial, industrial and other conditions
at the East, taken with cheap transconti
mental transportation facilities have made
the interior independent of San Francisco
and her one time monopoly of distribu-
ton.
So it happens that low incoming rates
of freight inure to the benefit of a non
metropolitan population that is now of
much greater volume than the popula-
ton Of San Francisco, and hence these
tears from which has sprung the Traffic
Association with its bewailings. That
association will never be able to con-
vince the producers of California that it
is wise to put their case in the hands of
the association.
San Francisco was once the focal center
Of all converging and diverging CONNER
cial lines on the coast. But conditions
inevitable under steady growth have dis
turbed these lines and deprived the
metropolis of her capacity as a distribut-
ing center. for it is no longer a neces-
sity that the entire commerce of the
coast shall find its entrepot in the Golden
Gate, and it is not surprising therefore
that the city should complain. But it is
amazing that it should continue to be-
wall the inevitable, and to seek no new
fields for its energy. If it imagines for
one moment that by any possible agita-
ton, or activity, it is ever to regain its
supremacy as the sole distributing
center for the State, it is deceiving itself
wofully. The commerce of the State no
longer crosses and recrosses in conyerg-
ing lines at San Francisco, nor can it
ever do so again. If every demand the
Tariff Association makes were con-
coded and the low non-proteetive rates
OF freight still obtained in transconti-
mental commerce, San Francisco would
be no nearer than at this hour to becom-
ing the great distributing center for the
interior. Her opportunities in a broad
and true commercial field are boundless
with the horizon that now circum-
scribes her vision and limits her sight to
peddling areas in the mountains and
valleys of California, she will not become
again "a great distributing center"