The record-union., 1895-12-06
TO II. NJ. LARUE AND DIR. STAN
TON


Gentlemen: We recently had occasion
in the interest of perspicuity, to depart
from the usual form of editorial writing
and address to you directly the consid-
erations which are jointly addressed to
you and to the public which you serve.
You will therefore be prepared to look
with leniency upon repetition of this
method of calling your attention to the
position in which you are placed by the
the exercise of the functions vested in
you by the Constitution of California
as Railroad Commissioners of this
State.
AS in our former presentation of these
matters, we must again remind you
that you accepted the nomination of
convention which had erected plat
form upon which you should stand. It
is idle to say that you were not bound
by the declarations of that platform.
You accepted the nomination of the
convention which constructed the plat
form, and were impliedly bound to car
ry out the views expressed in it. That
platform, without sufficient data, de-
c1ared that the rates Of transportation
in the State of California We're SO 1-3
per cent. too high; that is, that re-
duction Of % per cent, which would
leave in force but 70 per cent. of ex-
listing rates, would be a measure of
fairness between the carrier and the
shipper. True, the convention which
made these declarations, which were
iInpliedly, if not specifically, accepted
by you. had no data upon which to base
fits statements. Nor were you in pos
session of any data when you accepted
the doctrines enunciated in the plat
form. You accepted. solely because to
do so. was to popularize your candi-
dacy.
After nine months incumbency in Of
fee you proceeded to adopt certain
regulative measures, among them, an s
per cent. horizontal reduction of the
grain schedule. One of your number.
DR.. Stanton, was pursued by the San
Francisco Examiner. He was bullied
and cajoled in turn. He was coaxed
and warned at alternate intervals You
sought the advice of an attorne~ not
high-thinking, right-minded states
man, but some little fellow, who looked
upon the holding of Office as an oppor-
tunity for the exhibition of demagog-
ism.
Through the imbecility of the counsels
you have taken and your surrender to
the journalistic bullying Of a San Fran
sisco Democratic daily, you not only
enacted into the form of an ordinance.
such as you are authorized to pass, a
grain schedule: but with one ear to the
ground. and your stinger swaying to
and fro in the air. you stated that you
were prepared to make a reduction on
the whole railroad tariff schedule from
top to bottom of % per cent.
At this point you were destined to dis
cover that you were not the Railroad
Commissioners of the Democratic party.
nor the born thralls of the San Fran
cisco Examiner. but that you occupied
a quasi-judicial position, representing
the whole people Of the State. and
bound to serve the highest interests of
all property owned by its citizens. The
sinple-minded innocency which you
have displayed in abandoning the
natural independence of your position
TO become the contemplate servitors of
the spite of a newspaper toward the
railroad has brought upon you the
friendship of none and the contempt of
all. You were forced to recognize the
fact that the functions of your office
were accompanied with high account
ability. Your ill-advised action must
now undergo judicial scrutiny, and if
proof was wanting that you have been