The San Francisco call., 1895-12-18
THE THREE-STEAMER WAR
Valleioites Confer With the Own.
ers of the Opposing
Boats,
All Are Agreeable Except Mr.. Hunt.
ington, Who Makes Char.
acteristic Request.

The people of Vallejo are trying to ad-
Just the three-cornered transportation war
now in progress between the steamers
Sunol, Monticello and Herald, or, to deal
in personalities, Piper, Alden, Goodall &
Co. of San Francisco, Hatch Brothers of
Seattle and C. P. Huntington of New York.
Piper, Alden, Goodall & Co. want Hatch
Brothers to carry passengers only and Mr..
Huntington to stay on his railroad. Hatch
Brothers are about halfway willing to
give Piper, Alden, Goodall & Co. all the
freight the Sunol can haul, providing Mr..
Huntington can be m ade to feel that the
Herald can make more money tied up to
the Southern Pacific wharf than taking
people to Vallejo at two bits head. Mr..
Hunting ton only wants his two compet-
itors to take their boats and get off the
earth.
But that is characteristic of Mr.. Hunt
ington of New York, and nobody is sur
prised. The fact that his trains take peo-
pie to and from Vallejo at 81 apiece and
his steamer was put on to eaten the very
small overflow from opposition boats at 25
cents apiece is in keeping with Mr.. Hunt
ingtons dogma, maxim, principle, that
the world is his to have and to hold and to
comb with very fine-toothed comb. All
that is an old if not another story.
The people of Vallejo who have seen op-
positions to the Southern Pacific Railroad
Company spring up, flourish apace and
of the Sunol and Monticello settle their
differences and run their boats In brotherly
love. So committee of the merchants of
the navv-yard town-James Brownie, v.
V. Harrier and Theo +. Burnham-
first addressed communication to Piper.
Alden, Goodall & Co., then to Hatch
Brothers, asking under what conditions
they would take the freight and let the
passengers go by the board; also note to
Hatch Brothers with vice versa PROPOSE
ton. Then in the simplicity OF their good
souls they wrote to Mr.. Huntington. The
first two firms were willing enough to come
to some amicable agreement whereby the
Vallejoites could get to San Francisco and
home again without paying AN enforced
tribute to the Southern Pacific Railroad.
However, they were disposed to spar a
little for an opening, not viciously, but as
becomes men of business. The Sunol peo-
pie thought the Monticello men, being
''squatters," as it were, on their old freight
business, should be first surp!icated to re-
cede. Hatch Brothers wanted something
like guarantee-not exactly guarantee,
but something that would protect their
passenger traffic.
Mr. Huntington promptly filed his an
swer and that answer was again character
istic of Mr.. Huntington. When Mr.. Hunt
ington is not himself he is nothing else.
His dictum was that the Sunol get off the
bay and her owners so back to the schooner
business, and the Monticello take the
Hatch brothers ABOARD and go back to
Seattle.
Then ne swore that he would bring
Brownie Harrier, Burnham and the rest
to his railroad ticket window if he had to
put half of the Pacific Mail steamships on
the Vallejo route. SO here the three-corner
transportation war stands, and the Sunol,
Herald and Monticello continue to ruffie
the bay with their angry wheels.