The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-10-27
DUTY OF TnE RURAL DISTRICTS.

The campaign against corruption cannot
be conducted TO close in the city OF San
Francisco. The country must do its share.
Every county in the State is as deeply con-
cerned as this county in checking the growth
of generalization. for every county may be
the victim of venal legislation. Rottenness
has been less conspicuous in the rural oiS-
tricts than here; but it has f0urished every
where, and every section has suffered from
the arbitrary policy Of the railroad. The
comparative freight schedules published by
the Traffic Association show that our farm
ers pay from 20 per cent TO IS per cent more
for the transportation of their produce than
the farmers Of Kansas
The people OF the rural districts viii con-
suit their own in terest If in voting for As
semhlymen and Senators they look beyond
the question whether the candidate who
solicits their vote is a Democrat or Re-
publican At the stage we have reached,
something more is required of representa-
tive in the Legislature than fealty TO one OF
the two old parties. No man ought to be
| chosen who is not sound on the question OF
railroad regulation. and likewise firmly re-
solved not TO disgrace California by send
ing a disreputable person to the Senate
| Where the Democrat fills these conditions,
| and the Republican does not, il Is the duty
| of Republicans to vote for the Democrat;
! and where the Democrat has heretofore
marched in the Buckley ranks, while the
| Republican bears a good name. and does
| not wear the railroad collar, It is the duty
| of Democrats to vote for the Republican.
| This is not a time for trifiing over dead is
sues. What California wants is men who are
abreast of the times and alive to the I'M
| portaDee of the questions of the hour.
With the great national issues on which
citizens divide In the ch0ice of a President
| the Legislature of California has only a
secondary concern. It will have to choose
a Senator ard it is to be hoped that it will
choose a citizen who will be a credit to the
| State. But it will be far better for rura
| Assembly district to choose an honest
| Democrat than a member who will cast his
ballot for Mike de Young. The main bust
ness OF the Legislature, however, will be to
! repair the evils which stand in the way oil
the growth Of the State and its chief city
evils which may be summed up as pOliti.
cal corruption and railroad domination
and representatives should be chosen
who will fight those evils, early
| and late and all the time. 1t i;
1 llCAc ~ oNAlC " ch1f 90 bAO NAiihAh
| and Kelly organ does. that people ought II
| elect railroad tools and eorruptioniSts TO the
| Legislature in order not to jeopardiZe Re.
publican supremacy in the Senate. 1t /:
important that that supremacy should not
be imperiled. But it is far more important
that corruption and yenality and subser
viency to a corporation should be checked
Of two evils choose the least The country
will survive tie in the Senate; but tht
State cannot survive a continuance of the
present era of political profigacy. We are
already a byword in the East, and 1t is M
wonder.
The rural districts have generally beer
represented in the Legislature by men Of
honor, faithfully devoted to the interests Of
the State There have been a few black
sheep among them, but they have been ex-
ceptlons In the country everybody knows
the Assemblyman, and a man who has once
fallen down has small chance OF nomtna-
ton Is il asking too much of rural con-
stituencies TO appeal to their State pride to
rise, If need be, above party and to with
hold their vote from any man who has been
identified with corruption In the past, or
who wears the railroad collar round his
neck ? They surely owe so much to theiI
State.
1t is absolutely fatal to State 70 be sus.
pecIed OF suDjeetion to a corporation. For
many years the influence Of the Pennsylva
mia Railroad in New Jersey was so potent
that the State was humorously called tn
State of Camden and Amboy. The sobri
quet was deadly. People would not live Il
New Jersey if they could get houses any
where else. Real estate was about half tn
price which it commanded in the county o
Kings, a couple of miles of. The State be
came a subject for jibes and sneers. HI
story went that when q drowning man
struggling painfully toward shore. was tol'
by spectators on the beach that the land b
was approaching was New Jersey be turned
about sadly, and swan out TO sea to die
rather than set foot on so benighted coast
Intelligence was so rare that the State gave
its electoral vote to Mcclellan In 1864
Some years have passed since railroad dom
ination ceased In New Jersey, but the Stat
has never got over the hard repute it VOL
from that cause. What befell New JERSEY
will befaI California If no effort is made
throw of the railroad incubus.