The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-01-15
TIE SUBSIDY QUESTION IN CON
GRESS.

The first echo from the late victory of
corporate Doodle in this city is heard In the
vote of the House OF Representatives yester-
day on the question Of subsidies. In these
days of newspapers and telegraphs news
travels swiftly; everything is known. The
people of the East are almost rs familiar
with the defeat for the time being of the
reform movement in San Francisco through
the agency OF the Southern Pacific Company
as CalifornianS themselves. Hence Con-
gresS seizes the first opportunity OF striking
at the patrons of the boOdlerS by reversing
she action of the Fifty-frst Congress on the
question OF Government subsidies. The
vote does not seem to have been altogether
partisan; it was 154 to So The actualnum-
Der of Democrats in Congress is 81 and the
Republicans number IS, besides i represen-
tatiYeS of the Farmers Alliance. who ap-
pear to be acting with the Republicans.
The simple meaning of the vote is that Con-
gres5 as a body proposes to get even with
the corporations, which have not only ex-
travagantly enriched their members, but
have also debauched our politics.
The chief corporation which will suffer If
the Holman resolution should become a law
is the Pacific Mail Company, which now re-
ceiyes a subsidy for carrying the mails be-
tween San Francisco and Panama and be-
tween Colon and New \ ork. and another
subsidy for mail transportation between
San Francisco and Japan and China. At
the time these subsidies were voted in
tellgent and conscientious citizens APP
proved them on the ground that we
ought to foster ocean navigation, and that,
n order to get our share of the carrying
trade of the world we would, have to com
pete with Great Britain and Germany,
which SubsidJze their ocean steamers. Bat
it was plainly intimated to the CHEF owners
of Pacific Mail stock that the subsidies
we're granted on the tacit understanding
that the company would fulfill its proper
purpose of furnishing shippers with a COM
peting line of transportation. aud that lis
charges would be SO reasonable that foreign
traffic would be f0sleTed. The company has
not lived up TO this understanding. II has
accepted double subsidy "A subsidy from
the United States to maintain competition
and n subsidy from the Pacific roads to
abandon competition, and the latter being
the larger Of the two it has refused 70 com
pete, and allowed the railroads to dictate its
tariffs. 1t has not adopted a schedule Of res-
sOnable freghts ana fares; on the contrary,
it charges nearly as much to carry pas
senger from San Francisco 10 San Jose de
Guatemala as it does from the same point to
New York, and its freight charges on coffee
are driving the bulk Of the Central Ameri-
can staple from its natural market in San
Francisco to HaYre and Hamburg by way
Of the Horn.
In striking at the Pacific Mail, Congress is
really striking at the Southern Pac fc.
The same man is President of the one and
controlling Director of the other. The
bulk of the stock in the Pacific Mail Com
pany is held by the railroad companies,
their owners and their allies. Congress
evidently regards them as one and the same
body; and in its haste to Tebuke the shame
less attitude Of the railroad people on the
Doodle question it aimed its first blow at the
most vulnerable point ia the combine.
Wednesdays vote is significant OF the course
which the body will pursue with the sub
Sdy bonds.
The mail subsidy contracts lately signed
by the Postmaster-G General were for ten
years. 1t is hence argued that they cannot
be amended or abroga ted before the end of
that time. But it is pretty difficult TO col
lect money from the Government when
Congress does not see fit to appropriate it.
A suit in the Court of Claims is not a very
satisfactory remedy. Such suits may last
many years, and when the plaintiff wins he
is still helpless till Congress chooses to APP
| prOpriate money to satisfy the decree. A
iudgment-CTeditOr Of the United States can
not levy on the coin in the Treasury or file
a lien on the White House.
The Senate has yet to be heard FROM like
wise the President Their DOSitinu on sinh
sides is as yet matter Of conjecture. In
theory they probably stand where they did
year ago But they may perhaps have
been Influenced by the considerations
which were so potent with the House. No
far-seeing politician can be- Indifferent to
the effect on public opinion Of the unac-
countabe alteration of intellect lately
displayed by the Southern Pacific.