The morning call., 1893-09-09

poverty of California, It's inability to sup
port more than one railroad, one steamship
line. one SCI of people In the transportation
business, and poacheIs will be timid about
intrudlng on the Pacific Coast preserve.
With this policy always clearly before II.
the company has fortified itself at ali
points against attack. The approaches to
San Francisco are well guarded. Oakland
has literally been walled around. so tnat
the city itself cannot squeeze out without
bursting something's dread consumma-
ton which il is now bent upon achieving.
San Francisco has also been fenced across
on the south, and The city has been exceed
ingly generous in tying up a great tract of
land IN Mission Bay which the company
nndS useful in doing nothing with. and
which may be regarded as buffer against
competitors from that direction.
The Railroads.
But II the Santa Fe or the Atlantic and
Pacific or any of the northern roads. ex-
cept perhaps the Great Northern. which is
non-professional road quite phenomenal
In the strict business principle OF its con-
struction and ambitions. were in Califor-
MA with termlni in San Francisco to-
morrow, it does not follow that they
would be competitive. They also have
overland systems to look after as whole,
auN nave AHbiI pIluClpai interests III the
East and West. The Santa Fe certainly is
OF this character, and very much bound by
Its Chicago ramtfications. They would all
IKE, IN predatory way, to have peck at
California, but they are all downright hos
tile 10 IL for purely local benefit and are
all IN dead earnest in dislike of ocean COM
merce and competition. Every ton of
freight, except from China, Japan or Aus
tralla, or the Sandwich Islands, which en-
ters California and does not pass over the
n "a 4l,.,
railroad treasures. They do what they
can by hook or crook to drive business
overland. If they could they would have
nothing delivered by sea. All that comes
to California should, according to their
tneory, be manufactured in the East or i'm
ported at Atlantic ports. And all that
reaches California from the Orient should
go direct by rail to Chicago. St. Louis, New
York, Philadelphia and Boston for distr-
button up and down the Pacific Coast
after another long haul journey. Chi
cagO IS thus in the happy posi-
ton OF doing business all over the
territories and the coast under the very
nose OF San Francisco. Merchants may
CRY out, but they are told that they are not
enteTprlsing and that anyhow such beau
tIful system Of distribution suits the pro-
pTleties OF railroading. DISCRIMINATION
against sea rOntes always will be the rule
of the overland railroads until Californ ia
mas INDEPENDENT competitive lines branch
Ing all over the State, from the Oregon
border to the Mexican, and in harmonious
louch with all the ports of the coast.
Overland railroads have 10 interest in
doing that which local railroads must find
IL their interest to do.
Dividends.
One principal concern of the Southern
Pacific IS TO avoid the payment of diV-
deBds. 1t never has paid dividend, and
never will. Whenever the revenues ap-
proach divldend-paying out 60 more bonds
and on goes more raiir0ad-feedeT cOnstruc-
tlon- Ine bonds yield their interest, and
that is enough for any railroad financier.
Huntington understands this game 10 per-
lection. He could give lectures to dis
tressed universe on the art of growing rich
by miliin1s a year by a road that cannot
pay lis Government debt, and considers il
dishonest and uDgrateful to hint at such
A monstrous proposition after such brilliant
services to this State and the rest Of the
u country. Bonds, contracts and the han
ding of land grants are kept in view, not
dividends, and nobody can find out from a
cOmpanys accounts what comes of re-
ceipts or how expenditure went under
such system. The system Is best de-
scribeG railroadnP.
a local railroad, managed purely for
traffic and the profits thereon, is in the
same position that a man nufacturing busl-
ness is. The poorest stakeholder ought to
be able by an examination of the books to
tell precisely how his interest stands and
whether the business is honest or is in the
hands of ring. like mine with corrupt
speculative board and the superintendent
an accOmplice.
CALIFORNIA; Area.
California has an area of 156, $50 square
miles, and had population of 1,208, 130 In
1890. Next to Texas it has a greater area
than any other State. but there are twenty
one States ahead of il in population. and
half of them very much ahead. Yet not
one State has its advantages of climate,
nd A of is
desert, yet not an acre of that desert is
untillable if irrigation utilities the abUnd-
ant water supply of the rivers and the
Sierra. The foothills of the Sierra, in
Placer County and elsewhere, are not by
any means desert The finest fruit of the
whole State Is there grown. and could be
produced 10 an almost unlimited extent.
But what keeps these regions back? Why
are they uninYtting 10 the farmer who is
looking out for the best investment for his
capital? Simply because the transporta-
tion is oppressive. The outlet is forbid
ding. Fruit rOts because 1t cannot be
marketed. Some OF it is sent 10 market,
but it is tithe of what could be grown in
one of the fairest and sunniest regions on
earth. As things are the long haul rates
are frightfuly oppressive, and 1t is no
better TO ship to san Francisco or any
other local market. for the chances are
thele is glut and the return is Door. But
the railroad company always has its price.
The rancher has TO pay that or let the fruit
rot.
Long Haul-Short Haul.
Now, whatever happens to the long haul
the short haul over a competing local rail-
road would do the fruit-growers the best
possible service. lie. at least, would not
be taxed for hundreds Of miles of unprofi-
table desert mountain and alkali wilds, or
TO provide interest on bonds loading every
mile Of railroad at about three times the
actual cost of construction. So with other
portions Of the State. Break up this
bondage to one railroad ana industries will
spring up in many places to utilize our raw
materials for manufactured articles. At
present the railways want California to
consume and the Eastern States TO manu-
facture. 1t pays them that way, and there
fore say they, our prosperity is the main
thing and the public can 90 to where Van
derbilt consigned them before they took a
hand in their own welfare. Wheat fruit
and wine must go East or TO Europe, and
the railroads want these products grown.
But manufactures can wait. They might