The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1895-10-16
STATE DEVELOPMENT.
An Estimate of G. P. Huntington's
Work.
How the Railroad Builders Have Been
Hounded by an Unscrupulous
Press.
IFrom the Sam francisco Wave. |

the less pronounced inclinations Of &C.
quaintanceship, enter as elements in our
estimate of the man. We know of him
as the member of the quartet of railroad
builders to whom fell the Eastern finan-
cial management of the California rail-
road concern. We know he went a
stranger. fresh from the mercantile life
OF small inland town, TO the crowded
busy money markets of the East, for the
purpose of engaging in financial transac-
tons OF the largest, and, at the time.
most unpromising character. We know
that for a quarter of century he has
rubbed up against the eleverest tinanciers
of America, without falling into their
clutches. We know that shrewd, far
seeing spectators and promoters with
national reputation have entered W all
street before and after him, with chances
more promising, and under circumstances
more happy, only to go out physical,
financial and mental wrecks. We know
that Mir. Huntington Succeeded-that is
all. The fact that his success or failure
was matter of deep portent to Califor-
MIA is all that gives TO his operations any
thing of public interest. 1t fell to his lot
to maintain the credit of our local rail-
way corporations. His conquests abroad
were victories for The State, and meant
the construction of additional lines of
railway, and, therefore, rapid State de-
velopment. His failure, his defeat, meant
the suspension OF railroad construction,
and, therefore, retarded State develop
Inent. That he achieved the ends to
which he labored has been California's
gain, as we'll as that of himself and his
associates. These are all things OF COM
mon public knowledge.
Without understanding the value or
importance of the labors falling to his
confreres; without abating jot or 1.-THE
from the full need or praise which is
their due, it may be assumed that more
real responsibility fell upon the shoulders
OF Mr.. Huntington than fell singly upon
any one OF his associates. Had he failed in
his endeaVors; had the manipulators of
Wall street lured him into financial
traps, or entangled him in the meshes of
their ever-spread nets; had he proven
mentally unit for the trust, and unable
to cope with the skilled and often un-
scrupulous jobbers of the East, the whole
fabric of our railroad institutions might
have fallen IN a wreck years ago. The SCOT
hng creature, whose puerile understand
ing can appreciate nothing but the fact
that this man has himself grown rich;
the citizen whose obscured perceptiye
faculties permit him only to see the
vision 10 the benefits coming concur
rently to the State, is ungrateful. if moth
ing more. Such a man would expert
ence no sensation of gratitude toward a
companion IN danger, who, by some he
rOic act, had saved his life, simply be-
cause the life of him who acted was at
stake as well.
No doubt it is unfortunate for Mr..
Huntington that his own interests are so
fod ,yith I Ee, i,tfa
OF the State itself. a man of his ii Der
would have grown rich in any line OF
effort. Had he acquired his fortune by
any less noteworthy, and, to the State,
any less beneficial method, he might
have been free al least from the inquisi-
tive, intermeddling espionage OF the
press, and never been made the su bject
of the cartoonist and the funny man."
His simplest utterances are distorted,
and given meaning and intent never
dreamed of by himself. He is frank and
outspoken to the verge of imprudenc e;
and no cause Is SO poor. no sentiment so
unpopular with the masses, as to lead
him to hesitate in expressing q contrary
opinion il he feels 1t. he cannot, even
by his detractors, be charged with
knowledge of the fine subtleties of diplo-
macy which conceals. with words, the
thoughts which abide within him. and
he, therefore, leaves but little warrant. or
excuse for journalistic scrivenerS TO dis
tort his language or1ts meaning. But he is
not liked among journalistic harples.
Long residence in the East denied him
knowledge OF press that needs SUBJ
sidy to be respectable; and, therefore,
when he swept from the payrolls OF the
company long list OF subsidized sheets,
he engaged the deep hostility OF the buck
sters, who mold public opinion at SO
much per mold. Looking over the field
il REQUIRES no very astute man to dis
Germ. with mathematical eXactness, just
which sheets he has so grievously in
iured. They all display acute hatred to-
ward him personally; and the more bit
ter, the more malicious and persistent,
the more rancorous and uncompromis-
ing they are in their treatment of him,
the more certain you may be that at some
period OF their existence he has come be-
tween them and subsidy.
There is no standard by which one
may measure the benefits accruing to
California through its railroad builders.
The development which has followed
their operations; the multitude Of men
whose condition has been improved; the
many who have grown rich, directly or
indirectly, through their enterprise, will
never be set down in print; nor, prOba-
blv. will there ever be accorded 10 the au-
thors of this development, or to their
memories, even approximately, the need
OF appreciation, which is their just and
honest due. The abuse heaped upon
these people, through the jealousy and
rivalry of competitors; the cupidity of
the press aud public officers, contempo-
raneous with railway growth and the de-
yelopment of the State, has proven a
burden, which, at times, must have been
most sickening and unbearaDle; and,
what is more shameful 10 confess, has
prejudiced the minds of honest men.
It seems hackneyed to point out the
public benefits that may be justly cred
tied To the railroad builders. 1t has been
done before-done ad nauseum. So often
has the tale been told with all the me-
chanical monotony OF truth, that now,
though true. it falls most stale and flat
upon the public ear. Meanwhile the in
genuity of the railroad-phobist runs riot
in the realm of romance; invents new
atrocities; distorts old rumors into new
facts. and is never at loss for false, but
plausible reasons why the public should
hate the railroad builders. They have
not been saints, these railroad men: they
have been merely human, and moro hu-
name, perhaps, than their detractors.
The immeasurable benefits the State has
already reaped from their endeavor does
not entltle them 10 exemption from the
penalties which should accompany the
sins of omission or commission of which
they may be guilty; but they are at least
entitled 10 fair and equitable, if not gen.
erous, treatment at our hands. Anything
snort OF this is beneath the dignity and
honor Of this people. and stoops TO simple
sayagery. They have made mistakes.
those who are up and doing must stumble
against error in their course. 1t Is the
man who does nothing who never does
wrong.
But II these mon have erred. so. too,
have the people, often with openly eX-
pressed reconciliation. The curse OF the
commonwealth, and the greatest eDemies
TO the corporation, have peen, and are to-