The San Francisco call., 1895-12-21
He Calls for the Raising Of
Means to Fight the
Funding Bill.
JOHN T. DoYLE's DISCLOSURES.
The Railroad Accused of Having Hood
winked the People and the
Government.

The committee of fifty appointed to
raise money to fight the funding bill which
President Huntington of the Southern
Pacific Company is preparing to present
to Congress, met in Mayor Sutro's office
at the New City Hall yesterday and made
preparations to fight the measure TO the
last limit. About thirty members OF the
committee were present, and the earnest
manner in which they got down to busi-
ness evidenced their determination 10 con-
duct the business of the committee in
matter that will insure success at least in
the matter of raising funds. Mayor Sutro
opened the meeting in an address which
was as follows:
Gentlemen: The American people are agitated
Just now over the question whether England
shall be permitted to adjust her boundary line
in a haif-civiiiZed, almost unknown. part OF
South America, for it's said the Monroe doc
trine and the honor OF the American people
are involved.
Nation is involved thousand fold more if
Congress is to be bribed into the passage OF
funding bill the most unjust, unfair and in
iQuitous measure which has ever come before
an American Congress.
Here we have q set of men who received
generous aid from the United States of many
millions of dollars to construct an overland
u. >
strip the road of all that was valuable, and who
now have the effrontery, the cheek, the impu-
dence to demand that the money owing to the
Government, amounting TO over eighty MIL
lions OF dollars, be practically given to them.
What have they ever done for the people TO
warrant such an lmpudent demand? These
men, by bribery and CORFU ptlon, have so man
aged TO get control of our Legislature, the
judiciary and the press that they ride rough
Shod over our rights.
What show have we to go TO law under such
XNa how
Injustice, to extortion and humiliation.
Is there any manhood, any honor, any public
spirit left 10 stand up against these oppressors?
The greatest danger Is threatening, for
bill now before Congress is sure to pass, if we,
the people OF San Francisco, do not act
promptly.
You, gentlemen, assembled in this room
have been appointed on this committee as
body OF honorable and patriotic citizens to do
public duty at this critical moment. know
you viii doit.
There is an army of LOBBYISTS swarming
about the National Capitol, eager and ready to
bring their influences TO bear on members of
the National Congress.
We must act at once and send agents to
Washington to counteract the evil influences
of these professional lobbyists. This requires
money; not large amount, but we require
enough 10 employ truStY agents to be sent to
Washington, and to defray printing and postal
We should have so, 900, paltry sum for a
City worth over $500, 900 900 OF taxable prop
erty. If you will raise that smount we will be
able to pit it against the millions OF the enemy
and still gain the day.
Let every member of this committee vie
with the others to promptly raise this amount.
Without it we are lost, and fifty years more of
slavery, humiliation and wrong will De our
lot.
He then told of previous fights against
the railroad company before Congress, and
said that the only way TO reach each Rep
resentative in an effective manner was to
catch mis- attention in some startling way.
He had sent letters to Congress headed
How Congressman Are Bribed,'' and had
found that such headings had reached
where ordinary matter would not.
In conclusion he called upon the COM
mittee to put forth its utmost efforts, and
to raise the necessary $4,000 without
delay.
Continuous applause followed his ad-
dress, and Henry Z. Hlghton took the
floor to address the committee. He gave
statistics intenied to show that the rail-
road magnates had grown rich by their
control of the Southern Pacific, and that
the time was ripe for the people to step in
and demand their just dues. He compli-
mented Mayor Sutro on the stand he had
taken in the matter, and said that if every
mem Der OF the committee would show as
determined front the battle was already
won.
John T. DOYLE followed him and created
a sensation by stating that the Pacific
Railroad Company had deceived the coun-
try and Congress by evading the laws of
the United States and doing things that
were now intended to be justified by the
funding bill
1.-The net profits of the Southern Pacific
system since 1870" he said, ''have been
divided between four people, one of whom
q nd Ic
to crowd a measure through to defeat the
Will of the people.
According to the law of the land it is
now the duty of the United States Attor-
neY-General to foreclose the Government
lien upon the railroad. That is why Mr..
Huntington is now SO anxious to make
some arrangement to pay the immense
debt owing the American people
IF the people were to foreclose IL would
put Mr.. huntington IN very bad light
even IN the light of a swindIer The
$27 10000 so-called first mortgage bonds
on the railroad property were sold as first
mortgage bonds when as q matter of fact
they were not. The Government lien
takes precedence over everything, and If
the matter ever came before the Supreme
Court Of the United States the decision
could not help but be that way The act
OF Congress which authorized those bonds
stated that they should correspond In
NUMBER ana all other particulars to the
bonds issued by the Government to cover
the Indebtedness, but as a matter of fact
they do not and the railroad will be in a
bad plight to explain its position if the
case is ever brought into court. These
facts are not generally known to the pub
lie, but they are to the Acknowledgement
and the Secretary of the Treasury and
will most likely figure in the matter when
officially brought before Congress-
Mr.. Doyle concluded by offering a reso-
luton that committee be appointed to
draft a memorial to Congress petitioning
against the passage of a funding bill. The
resolution was carried and Mayor Sutro
appointed Messrs. Mckinstry, Doyle.
Rogers and Bassett TO draw up the protest.
The meeting then got down to the actual
business of raising money, and o. D. Bald
win proposed that each member present
put his name down for the amount he in
tended to contribute toward the expenses
of the fight.
This proposal was received with favor,
and list was at once opened with the fol-
lowing result:
I. y JORDAN ...-.....-.....---..--... 1G00
f. ]. Sullivan. ....-.....-....-............ 100
o. ID. Baldwin. Observation-Disclosures. 100
W. ii. Bunker Observation-Disclosures. ........ 25
George Is. Fitch Observation-Disclosures. 100
j. J.. ayie. Observation-Disclosures. 100