The morning call., 1893-10-08

tD6 transfer was llleRaI, DuI tue very dcI
of transfer will hinder them. for it will
cause more complications to enter into the
trial, more reasons for appeal. more
chances for legal quibbling.
Then came the news that the Attorney
General was about to commence action.
Forewarned is forearmed, hence the piles
in the bay. The famous Chicago decision
gives certain waterfront privileges to indi-
viduals and corporations that have built
improvements. Had there been no extra
piles driven the Southern Pacific could
only have claimed. under the head of i'm
provements. the laDds abutting the broad
gauge and narrow-gauge moles and its
freight and steamship wharves. TIC all
the other water front .hey could have only
claimed title because of the original grant
in which Carpenter was interested, and
which grant it is universally admitted will
not hold water. But now in this State
case they will 60 into court and say:
Look at this row of piles, miles upon
miles of them. All this vast property we
are improving. We commenced work
before the suit was filed. and that it was
not finished is not our fault. for we were
eDjoined. We have improved that prop
! % bJs oh0 uhuOl tAO OhiSo6O OCOioAVh W V
are entitled to all the water 'front.'"
Then they will introduce maps and
pictures to show what they intended doing
when work was interrupted. These pic
lures will represent all the vast exDanse
| filed in with wharves and tracks. Vice
President Crocker outlined it all In an iD-
terview with CALL reporter the other
day. 1t was an ingenious way to let the
| people know what was in his mind. No
! one really believes that the Southern Pa
! cifc intends or ever intended to fill in all
the expanse of water now staked off. 1t
would take thousands of men a century Of
time and m ountain of earth to do it,
No, these piles were driven as pretense
of Improvement, something tangible to 60
| into court Oh, something that would form
better defense than the threadbare title
deeds. the value of which have been an
nulled by the Supreme Court of the United
States. That is why these piles are the
last legs the octopus has to stand on.
Attorneys interested In the case are cer-
tain that the suit begun by the State will
! be the one heard first. The railroad com-
pany will endeavor to have it 80, for, in
the opinion of their lawyers. they have a
better defense in thar one. Whatever
way the State case is decided it will govern
the decision in that brought by the city.
| In measure it is three-cornered fight
| Oakland claiming the water front, Cali
| fornia doing the same and the Southern
! Pacific posing also as the property-owners
The people do not care much whether
the city or the State wins. so long as one
does. The citizens Of Oakland would, of
course, prefer that their municipality con-
troll the valuable property, for the reve-
nues from it would materially reduce
taxation. But the main fight is to have it
controlled by the people themselves
through their government. and not by q
| few millionaires joined together in cor
poration under the laws of Southern
! State.
Should the courts decide that this driy-
| ing of the piles was only pretense, then
the railroad company will be awarded such
property as they have actual improve
ments on or abntting thereto. They will
secure titles to lands leading TO the moles
and wharyes in actual use to-day, and all
the other water front will be turned over
TO the State. Then another railroad can
come down over the mountains aud build
moles out into the bay for their steamers !;
then ferry companies can start up and Sc
cure proper landing places; then manufac-
tories can be bull. and warehouses erected.
On the other hand, should the courts
hold that these piles are an Improvement
and the Southern Pacific entitled to the
abutting property then good-by to all op-
position In the future. No moles save
those owned by the railroad could be built
out into the bay; no opposition ferries
could be run unless the boats went by the
long creek route; 10 railroad could come
into the city from over the mountains; no
factories or warehouses could be erected
unless they were controlled by the giant
corporation. The Southern Pacific would
own Oakland from hilltop to wave-washed
| beach; it would own the bay out just as