The advocate and Topeka tribune., 1892-09-21
PLAYING A BOLD GAME.
HUNTINGToN's EFFORTS TO MAINTAIN HIS
MONOPOLY.


Creditors likely 10 demand the appointment of
O TeCeiUer.-A California correspondent tOYtteS
q GsCoTcEin0 reUtel0 Of the 1Ody the Southern Pa.
cttC does business.
The daily increasing sntagonism be-
tween Huntington's railroads and the
people Of California Is claimed to be
largely due to the domineering manner
and arbitrary rulings of Vice-Presldent
Stubbs. A California correspondent,
however, denies that Mr.. Stubbs Is any
more responsible for the reckless treat
ment of patrons and shippers than any
Of the other officials Of the company.
Mr.. Stubbs, he says, Is supernumeE-
ary-R cog In one wheel of q combination
of wheels. He is as much bound and
circumscribed by cast-iron rule, or set
Of rules as the freight agent of way
side station. His official line Of conduct
is marked out for him, and he no more
dare deviate from 1t than an engineer
dare pull out from station without the
train dispstcher's order. He may suggest
and propose, but he Is much more likely
to be called a fool, as he once was by
Huntington himself, than to have his
proposition adopted.
One of the things, the correspondent
says, the Southern Pacific never does is
to give an employe credit for an idea or
suggestion. II valuable suggestion is
advanced, 1t Is cOughed down or sneered
at for the moment, and appears later as
the property Of member OF the COM
pany. Mr.. Stubbs goes to Chicago or
elsewhere and wrestles with the traffic
associations, but his demands and conces-
sions come direct from Mr.. Huntlngton's
private Office at No. % Bond street, New
York.
In discussing the question why Mr..
Huntington pursues policy that Ia an
tagonizing the people, retardlng prosper
ity, obstructing development, injuring
his own business, and making the open
ing of other railroad lines between San
Francisco and the east necessary, the
correspondent says:
The answer is that he cannot help himself.
Like Macbeth, he has waded in 80 far that it
is as well to go on as to return. If the
capacity Of the pack animal is 250 pounds,
and 750 pounds are piled on his back, he
will sink beneath the burden. If q man at
tempts to force quart and half into q
pint cup he will experience failure. You
cannot make three minute horse 90 in
2:08. If railroad that costs $4,000 mile
is made to earn per cent. on bonded in
debtedness of $4,000 mile, besides its op-
Grating expenses, it must maintain rate of
fare and freight charges so Onerous that a
grating, CALLING friction between it and
those for whom it is common carrier can
not but exist. This is the position of Mr..
Huntington. That it is unfortunate does
not lessen or remove the fact. He is strug-
Cling with the impossible task Of making
his system of railroads earn 6 per cent. per
annum on q sum not more than three times
the total cost of their construction and their
operating expenses besides. In addition TO
this he is paying many hundreds of thou
sands Of dollars annually to the Pacific Mail
and other transportation lines in considera-
ton of their keeping up freight rates to the
figure he dictates.
can pay interest on three times the amount
of money invested and maintain more than
an ephemeral existence. A combination Of
favorable circumstances has enabled the
Southern Pacific TO evsde q receiver much
longer than would have been POSSIBLE under
ordinary conditions, It's opportunities for
apprOpriating to itself, or rather to its own
ers, valuable properties to which it had no
right or title have been unprecedented, and,
30 far as / am aware, not single one Of
these opportunities has passed unimproved.
Il has enjoyed immense subsidies Of money
and land. Il has seized and sold land grants
which it never earned, and to which it has
not and never will obtain patent. With
out lawful title it took possession Of and
thus far has managed to hold the entire
water front Of the city of Oakland, which it
values at some $4,000 900. It wheedled the
government into indorsiuR its paper to the
amount Of nearly $40,0O0,0O0, on which il
has not paid the interest, and is now seeking
to repsdiate the principal. By bubble Of