The record-union., 1893-01-26
CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE PROS
PERITY OF THE STATE.

San Francisco has determined upon a
course destructive of the interests of the
interior. The issue made by Mr.. Leeds
before a Senate Committee on Monday
night shows plainly the intention of the
Traffic Association of San Francisco. Mr..
Leeds contention was that the local
roads in California should be considered
separately, and that treatment relating
TO them should have no reference what
ever to the trunk lines with which they
are connected.
The significance of this will escape the
attention Of persons not familiar with the
real object underlying it. The railroad
system supplying California, and con-
Meeting it with the East, as well as rami-
tying the State, should be considered in
unity; otherwise, the overland trunk lines
could not exist at all. This is not a mere
tanciful statement, nor one put forth
merely for the sake of argument; it is
patent fact. The overland system of rail-
roads traverses long distance of desert
country wherein no freight originates;
but for its connection with the local sys-
lem it would not produce revenue enough
to sustain communication between Cali
fornia and the 65,OOO,O0O people of the
United States.
What Mr.. Leeds has announced is a
doctrine which would cut off communi-
aatiOD bafxyaa,, tbo NF=-.-,-.. nj 49, 4,
the Pacific Ocean by rail. He demands
that a line operated in a densely popu-
lated territory, as between San Jose
and San Francisco, shall be operated
with reference TO the revenue it
will raise. and the interest it
will pay on the cost Of producing the
road. If every line in the State were
treated in this manner, the lines serving
sparsely populated districts would either
cease to exist, or be operated by such
high rates as to make further develop
ment in that portion of the State impos-
sible; and ifithe railroads in the valleys
of California were operated at rates
which have no relevancy to the cost OF
operating railroads in mountain districts
or to the maintenance of railroad COM
munication between California and the
East, then the road from California 10
Ogden, which does not originate enough
transportation, either in passengers or
freight, to pay the salaries of the station
agents, would cease to exist, since there
Is not enough transportation along the
line of that road to pay the cost Of its
operation. These statements are capable
of verifcation. Thus it becomes appa-
rent that the Traffic Association of San
Francisco has entered into conspiracy
to drive the overland railroads out of
business in the interest of the merchants
OF that city.
The railroad communication between
California and the Eastern States is con-
terring to-day so per cent. of the value
possessed by all real property in Cali
fornia, This is capable of demonstration.
At the beginning of the railroad era in
1870, the total assessed value Of the real
property in California was SI69. .536, ,546.
Twenty years of railroad operation in
California gave total assessed value to
the real estate of California of $3.50. .S24.-
651. So far as wheat-growing in Cali
fornia could confer value on real
estate, its maximum of effect had been
reached in 1870, because the wheat then.
as now, found its line of communication
by the sea. All other cultivation lis de-
pendent upon the railroads. The decidu-
GUS and citrus-fruit shipments of the
year 1892 aggregated S25, 100000. It's use
less 10 enter into the statistical details of
these shipments. 1t is well known that
the figures are underestimated, rather
than in excess of the actual fact. A part
of the value of every acre OF land in Cali
fornia and every town lot is referabIe to
the fact that fruit-growing may be prose-
cuted here with profit. The prospective
development Of the industry itself con-
fers no value.
The reduction of the rates on the local
system in California proposed by the Traf-
fc Association Will throw an additional
burden on the overland transportation.
and thus it is that the Traffic Association
is engaged in a conspiracy against the
highest interests of the producing classes
of the State. There is no mistakinp the
facts of this situation. Mr.. Leeds an
nounced distinctly that the system should
not be considered in unity; that each
particular section of it, connecting towns
in the most populous valleys of the
State, should have the rates determined
upon the basis of the. revenue derived
from that particular division of the line.
In the very nature of things, this is
measurably so now; it will always be SO:
but when this principle is arbitrarily es-
tablished and goes into operation, the
development Of the sparsely settled por-
tions of California will be arrested at
once. Moreover, as already indicated,
the rate Of transportation over long and
non-productive lines of railroad, now in
part sustained by the profits derived from