The record-union., 1893-05-27
THE JEALOUSY OF SAN FRAN
CISCO.


The Visalia Times has shown in 8
series Of very intelligent articles that Los
Angeles is four hundred miles nearer tc
New York than is San Francisco: that
Nlsalia and the country surrounding it is
nearer to Los Angeles than San Francisco
These are statements of geographical
facts which have their commercial sig.
nIticance. A deep-sea harbor at Los An
geles will be the natural outlet and inlet
of very large area of country. This is
another fact, and the question arises;
Who on the earth can eliminate it2
discussing this the San Francisco CAL
says that the Visalia Times is trying to
convince itself that a railroad from
Fresno to Los Angeles will serve the San
Joaquin Valley as well as a railroad from
Stockton to Bakersfield. We should be
delighted to see railroad from Stockton
to Bakersfield; and we shall also be
equally well pleased to see one from
Fresno to Los Angeles. If San Francisco
has right to reach out by railroads into
the heart of the San joaquin Valley for
trade, Los Angeles has an equal right.
Why should either city deny to the other
this right?
The theory held to by the people OF
San Francisco is that local competing
lines of railroad will build up city on
the sea; that consideration is just as true
as relates to Los Angeles as to San Fran
cisco.
But the most amusing feature of this is
the attempt of the CaU to belittle the
railroad facilities of Los Angeles. 1t saws:
ut is true that the Southern Pacific Com
pany and the Santa Fe have branch lines
to Los Angeles" The CaH and the BuEEe-
tan have time and again declared that the
Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific Com
panies have main lines to Los Angeles.
and that the competition between rail
roads in the south has built up that
country. Competition between railroads
in the south has made city of Los An
geles, we will say, but just as soon as that
city reaches out for trade, desiring to be
city in its own right, and no longer a
mere auxiliary, inland town, San Fran
cisco says that there are no trunk
lines leading TO it. The CuU has discov-
cred that there are no trunk lines to Los
Angeles. If the Santa Fe has only a
branch line to Los Angeles, where is its
main terminal? At San Francisco? And
if it has its main terminal at San Fran
cisco, then there is direct competition be.
tween the Santa Fe and the Southern Pa
cifc Company at the city of San Fran
cisco.
We have heretofore called attention tc
the fact that the rate to San Francisco was
the sameas to Los Angeles, and that, there
fore, if there is competition in the south,
it has been equally effective in the north,
since the rates to Marysville, Stockton,
San Jose and San Francisco and Los An
geles are exactly the same.
And now comes the CAL to confirm all
we have said, by declaring that the
Southern Pacific Company and the Santa
Fe Company have branch lines to Los
Angeles.
The Sunset route from Los Angeles tc
New Orleans is the shortest on the Ameri.
can soil from tide water on the Pacific to
tide water on the Atlantic. There is a
commercial sense in which Los Angeles
is a terminal, and an ocean terminal al
that, on the Southern Pacific Company
route. Can the CaU gainsay this? The
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe has a
main line, constituting a great trunk line
of transportation from Los Angeles tc
Chicago. owning and controlling the
whole line under a single management
Is not Los Angeles the ocean terminal OF
that route2
When Los Angeles has a deep sea har-
bOr and Pacific Mail Steamship Com.
pany's ships and the North American
Navigation Company's ships land at I.o.
Angeles, the freights coming from Cen.
tral America to Salt Lake to Californis
and to Arizona, will be discharged at Lo.
Angeles. We see no reason why thai
city should not have the ambition to be
come great seaport independent O
other seaports on the Pacific Coast.
The Call says that there is probability
that at some future day Los Angeles ma,
become the distributing point for th,
goods taought by the North American
Navigation Company's Panama line
That is Just what it is fast becoming anC
what it will in time become. 1t, how
ever, urges that no attempt be made t,
connect Los Angeles with the San Joa
ouin Valley, because, it says, that Sai
Francisco will be the largest Pacif
Coast consumer of the products of tn
San Joaquin Valley, and that therefor
railroad communication should cente
there. 1t is plain. therefore, that the con
struction of railroads by San Francisco