The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-04-11

put upon the HOcF OF me legislature and
Of the Constitutional Convention. It
was, in short, one OF the classics of the
discussion,land formed the capital stock
in trade OF the denunciation of the day.
1t is of record, also, that the San Fran
cisco press was not second in such de-
nunciation Of the carriers, though the
rule operated directly and Importantly to
the benefit of San Francisco's CONNER
cial interests.
1T will be remembered-as one of the
illustrations of the time-that the ship
pers of wool in the interior, who shipped
from Elko, Corinne, Terrace, Battle
Mountain. Winnemucca and Reno, COM
planned bitterly that the rate on wool to
Boston was the rate to San Francisco
first, and back to the starting point sec
ond, and thence to the East. That is, to
the through rate from San Francisco to
Boston the local rate from the starting
point to San Francisco was added. This
put all the wool into San Francisco, and
enabled the commission merchants to
make a commission profit out of the
trade.
The justifying plea for this procedure
was that San Francisco had sea COM
munication with Boston, and hence was
competing point; that it was, therefore,
cheaper to send wool from Elko and other
Nevada points to San Francisco, and then
back again through Elko to Boston, than
to pay the way rate from Elko direct to
Boston, 1t was an enforced long mile
age by'which San Francisco gained a di-
rect benefit from the immediate transac-
ton, and drew to herself large amount
of incidental business. In this proceed
ing the city of San Francisco took benefit
and the railroad company took abuse,
but the latter gained so far as has ever
been discovered no friends in the San
Francisco press by reason of this favorit-
ism to that city.
There came time, however, when this
practice was discontinued; when for al
most the whole part the system ceased.
Through points other than San Francisco
were recognized by the railroads, more
equitable rates were established, and the
practice that was the occasion of so much
animosity was broken down. Even had
there been any desire at any time since
to continue the practice, it became impos-
sible; the people would not submit to it;
the new conditions of commerce made it
obnoxious. and the commercial changes
of the coast put it out of the question.
Now, what the San Francisco Traffic
Association really demands, just what its
contention naturally and inevitably leads
up to and logically ends in, is the revival
Of this obsolete and obnoxious practice
or rule. Wrapped in all manner Of de-
ceptive guises, masked by platitudes and
seemingly benefcent schemes for the
benefit of San Francisco and the interior
restore the old discriminating and now
impossible rule that Eastern connections
forced upon the coast carriers at one
time. The State and coast have with
these Eastern people taken on Importance
now that gives to the interior more nearly
what equity demands and the develop
ment of the Pacific territory makes abso-
Iutely necessary.
In the change San Francisco has suf-
fered, and along with it Sacramento has
taken harm-that is, when the present is
compared with the old order of things.
But because of these changes, because
of the insistence of the interior that there
shall be no return TO the old practice, the
absurdity and injustice Of which are
obvious however defensible in the past,
it is neither logical nor decent to charge
that the country is engaged in an effort to
cultivate hatred of San Francisco and to
create antagonism between the interior
and the metropolis.