The record-union., 1893-05-10

= AAHOAsSO, says lulS pEdcllcdl DuSl-
ness man-and his remark applies to all
localities advantageously situated-needsi
10 gather raw materials from available
quarters. and to utilize the natural pro-
duct of her territory, and through mills
employing her people present an output
Tor transportation to markets-and, adds
the letter-writer, the transportation COM
panies will distribute them at any prlce
not carrying actual loss upon the cost of
movement. 1t requires no technical
knowledge of the laws of business to un-
derstand that therein lie the highest and
best interests of carriers.
That the wool and leather of California,
for instance, should twice cross the CONT
nent before we can use it in manufactured
form, is reproach to a people claiming
to know what are their own interests.
That we should import in manufactured
form those things which our soil will
produce, and may as well here, as else
where, be worked up, is a confession of
business incompetency or financial indif-
ference.
But. as Mr.. Huntington indicates, San
Francisco appears to be moon mad with
the idea that she can subsist and the
state prosper, upon the mere trading
line; that by means of cheap transporta-
ton she can continue to be huckster and
grow; that by merely handling the goods
of other and distant manufacturing CEN
ters, San Francisco will rise to any higher
level than that of the peddler.
The idea that certain misguided intelli-
gences in the metropolis present with
persistency, that the road to commercial
greatness lies within the system of bring
ing Eastern manufactures to San Fran
cisco, and distributing them back any
considerable distance over the lines
whence they came, is fallacious, and more
it is dangerous, since it tends to destroy
selt-helpfulness among our people.
1t sounds very loudly to talk of bring
ing in Eastern manufactures so cheaply
by transcontinental carriage that they
can be sold back eastward along lines
OF their entry at a profit. But it is
simply absurd, since the Eastern manu-
facturer will, rs he does, deliver direct in
the area of distribution that we are told
California can control by greatly cheap
ened transportation.
We have in mind now extensive nail
works near Oakland that closed down be-
cause, and only because, the freight on
nails from the East is so low already that
they cannot be made protitably here. 1t
will be remembered that the Judson works
complained of inability to proceed with
its manufactures on that same ground.
For these reasons, illustrations of which
might be listed at great length, we repeat
that rate wars are not desirable for Cali
fornia, but tend to depopulate the State.
There is room for the manufacture in
California of goods that we can distribute
without fear of the Eastern rival. There
is room enough for such industrial activ-
ity as will fulfill our most ardent desires,
and SO stimulate and conserve soil pro-
duction as to put into agriculture and
horticulture vitality that we now hold to
be too tanciful for realization.
In the matter of food products alone,
properly prepared, Mr.. Huntington
thinl-S
manufacturing activity is practically un-
limited. 1t will scarcely do for theorists
to antagonize the suggestion that is born
of far-seeing business intelligence.
We must realize in California that the
policy of the Eastern manufacturer is to
break down incipient manufactures on
this coast; that whenever this State or
coast has been large patron of an East
ern establishment, and a mandatory in
the same line has been established upon
the Pacific, the Eastern manufacturer. in
order to maintain his trade, has spared
no pains to prevent his Pacific rival gain
ing a footing. To that end he will sell
his products at cost to break down his
competitor, having in view recoup-
ment when that is accomplished. If the
railroads crossing the continent Join with
the Eastern producer by means of undue
low rates the home endeavor is at once
handicapped. If, for instance, they give an
exceeding low rate on wool, on the theory
that if our cloth is woven at the East the
wool will pay rate across the continent
twice, then home manufacturers of wool
are antagonized. The same is true in
leather lines, and other articles of pro-
duction and manufacture. What Califor.
mia needs most of all, therefore, is to de-
vote her best energies to founding such
manufactures as can maintain themselves
here, instead of wasting energy in the
! endeavor to second the effort of the East
ern manufacturer to dominate in our
midst.
We need to less consider the schemes of
the importer and more conserve the in
IOAoSto Va AOho PlONuCllOui ulduuIaCIur6
and distribution. The mass of mer-
chants in San Francisco who have been
deyoting themselves to questions of
cheap transportation are not working in
the interests of the consumers in this
State, but in the interest of widening the
margin of their own profits. The simple
truth is that the highest. best interests of