The herald., 1893-06-03
ADVANTAGES OF OUR POSITION.

/
San Francisco seems to be greatly ex.
ercised just now about recovering lie
distributing trade in the portions Of
Southern California which, by the law
OF cheap carriage and of distance, has
left her and come tc Los Angeles. There
is great deal OF talk in that city about
building independent railroads into Che
San joaquin valley in order to get back
the wholesale trade Los Angeles has
captured; but, so far, it is all talk. We
have only seen propositions on paper,
and these hinge, in great measure, upon
the Willingness Of the people whose
trade is sought to literally subscribe to
the stock of the proposed corporations.
1t 10 difficult to see how projects with
80 fimsy a basis for their promotion
can materialize.
The commercial lines are now pretty
clearly defined. Under present conditions
San Francisco can compete successfully
in Southern California go far and no
farther. Whether her dominion over
distribution exists as far south as Fresno
depends entirely upon the contingency
that she can lay down goods cheaper
there than Los Angeles can. That point
is now perhaps the debatable line. But
there is no doubt whatever that this
city controls the Wholesale business in
many, II not all lines, as far as Bakers
field.
The papers OF San Francisco assume
that the establishment Of an iudepend-
ent line of steamers to New York, via
the isthmus of Panama, will give her
such an advantage over Los Angeles as
to successfully invade our tributary ter
ritory in the matter of trade distribu-
ton. This would, perhaps, be admitted
If she had control Of inland transporta-
ton. To obtain this control her mer-
chants and capitalists will have to build
new roads themselves. Will they do
this? In the light of the past, we may
be permitted to say emphatically that
they will not.
In the meantime Los Angeles has be-
come a rival to San Francisco by sea ap
well as by land. We now have a port
whore deep sea vessels can discharge
cargo direct upon the cars. We have
another harbor that accommodates all
but the largest ships and gives them
moorage at wharves where two railroads
can take their freight directly from the
vessels. The government is also COM
mitted TO the construction OF another
harbor, where all classes Of vessels can
sstely in any weather discharge and take
on rnrgu. rhnnciBcu chn uv
more. We are therefore now on
even keel with that city in
respect to importstions by sea, and
we shall, in good time, be
provided with harbor facilities that will
Offset any advantages our northern
neighbors may claim on that score.
San Francisco's bay is little less than an
inland sea. The bay of Santa Monica,
however, is still more capacious and lees
exposed to the violence of storms. A
southwestern in the bay OF San Francisco
makes it as uncomfortable for shipping
in that harhor as a southeaster would
make it for vessels in any part Of the bay
of Santa Monica, reaching from Point
Dune to Point Vincent.
With the completion Of the Nicaragua
canal we shall have still greater ad-
vantage over our big rival than we now
have. Five hundred miles of sea car
riage one way and land carriage back is
what San Francisco will have to contend
with when the canal is finished in order
to get away with the trade from us of
any portion of the San Joaquin valley as
far south as Visala. When it comes to
the railway situation, San Francisco, to
use street phrase, is not in it with Los
Angeles. We possess the key to the
shortest possible all'rail route between
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and we
are the natural commercial entrepot for
all of Southern Nevada and the great
! Salt Lake basin. We are several hun;
dred railroad miles nearer Utah than
San Francisco, and that tells the whole
story OF our future trade relations with
1 the great American basin.