The morning call., 1893-08-06

The bridges are not numerous and the
soil Is firm Nine months Of the wear
there IL no rain. and even the storms of
the other three do not affect the loadbed
and repairs are lighter than anywhere
else. Through this valley the Southern
spurs, and these roads for the money in
vested are the most profitable 10 the
world Trains run at the least possjble
expense, roadbedS hardly ever need re-
pairi g-rever, | might say, until the
earth becomes loosened by the passage of
trains. Yet here the heaviest charges are
made, and only because there is no compe-
lev are paying ST. on goods they shin and
So toward the enormous bonded debt of
the corporation; toward such inionitous
charges as the Pacific Mail subsidy was
and toward substituting individuals and
corporations who are dishonest enough to
either be bribed into doing dirty work for
the monopoly or not make such work pub
lie by keeping silence. Every time the
farmer here pays So. two-thirds of it is
stolen from him and put into something
else.
In 1891 the Southern Pacific earnings in
the San Joaquin Valley were S12O a
mile. Judging from the increase of shin.
ments in 1892 over those of 1891. the earn
ings for last year could not have fallen
SHoit VI SIo,VOo pei ul'le. Roads in Iowa
aggregate less than $4,000 per mile, those in
Kansas below $4,000. and those in Nebraska
$500 Yet they all make money.
Now, on the basis Of Kansas road. let's
see what farmers in the San JOAQUIN Val
ley are being robbed of. take Kansas
road as an example, because the lines in
that State and those III this valley are
equally level. therefore equally cheap TO
run. But the storms in that State make
repairs much heavier. and their repair
| charges are greater. But giving the South
ern Pacific the benefit of this, let's see
| what the result is. Take the road from
Stock ton to Bakersfield, a distance of go
miles. Place the earnings of the Southern
| Pacific in the valley during 1892 at only
$4,000 per mile. and the total Tor the dis
lance is So, 100000 Now, for a stretch of
road for like distance in Kansas: Earn
| ngs. $1,000 per mile; distance, go miles :;
total, S690,00O. Excess Of the Southern
| Pacific earnings over those of a similar
| line in Kansas. S2,3Oo.O00.
| But one must bear in mind the further
| startling assertion that the Southern
| Pacific mileage earnings are an average of
all the miles of road n this valley. Over
| This $50 miles. of course, are two lines, one
| draining the country to the north, the
other 20 the south. They both must be
| taken into con sideratiOn. So these figures
must be doubled, enormous as they are,
and we find that the farmers and mer-
chants of the San joaquin Valley are pay
ing the Southern Pac fic blood money to
the amount of S4.600.000 per annum, and
this Is not all, for l have only made esti-
mates on distance of 230 miles.
Il it any wonder that men start vine
yards, watch them for few years then
become discouraged and stop, that Or
chards are grown and fruit allowed to
waste. that people refuse to settle in this
| country?
| The money the Southern Pacific has
cheated the farmers OF the San Joaquin
Valley ont of would build and maintain
the Worlds Fair and the Cent ennial; but
greater and better than this, it would have
made the land we live in, the State we are