The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1895-02-10

establish rates. BY rates are intended
lust and fair rates. AS matter of fact,
the Commission has never establi shed any
rates at all. What it has promulgated as
rates has been merely schedule dictated
by the railroad 1t has been shown how
'fust and fair" these rates are.
The last board went even further. 1t
lodged its duty on the shallow pretense
that the Commission is court and can
take no action until somebody comes to it
and makes a complaint, and thereupon it
refused to establish any rates. The COM
mission has been absolutely subservient
to the railroads from the beginning, and
is so still. 1t has not only failed to protect
the people of California from railroad ex-
tortions, but has steadily protected the
railroad in levying those extortions.
The railroad policy has usually been to
who was allowed to make Just as much up
roar as he liked, but who could never do
anything against his two fellows. The
railroad members of the board were always
taken care of, it is alleged. The cases of
two members of one of the boards made
one of the greatest scandals in the history
of the State. AS usual in such cases,
nothing could be legally proved in the
matter, but it is certain that after their
term of office these two men had a quanti-
ty of property which they did not have
before.
The lovely unity of views between the
railroads and the Commission has been
proved by such facts as these: On Sep
TENDER 8, 1888, the San Francisco Exam
liner proved by fac smile publications that
a schedule of passenger rates published by
the Commission had previously been cor
rected by one James W. Horsburgh, Jr.,
still or lately in the employ of one of the
companies, and at that time private secre-
tary to General Passenger Agent I. H.
Goodman. The freight schedules adopted
on October 25 of the same year were
printed and furnished to the Commission
by the Southern Pacific Company.
The succession OF the minority Commits
sioners in the board has been Gen.
George +. Stoneman, W. W. Foote and
Patrick White, Since these gentlemen
served there has been no minority, all
three of the board members having been
railroad men. 1t does not yet appear
what is the character of the board elected
November 8, 1894.
The control of the board established on
from being the only political power exert
ed by the roads or watched over by Mr..
Huntington. That very wide-awake per-
son watched increasingly over the Califor-
MIA delegation in Congress. All of them
were observed recommended, helped or
hindered at election times, and otherwise
dealt with as each case might require.
trell, from the Third district, was most
peculiarly blessed with the Huntingtonian
attentions. He is recommended to Cen
eral Colton's special care at least seven
times in the years 1874 and 1876, as fol-
lows:
Nov. 30, 1s74.-'I am glad to learn
that you have Luttrell in your charge,
but you must be careful not to let him
get anything to strike back with, as he is
a cuss, and l do not think it safe for
Stanford to talk with him about our mat
ters, as it is Just like him to get up in
Congress and lie about what Stanford said
to HIM. He must have solid reasons or
he will go back on you"
Dec. 1, 1S74.-'I will see Luttrell when
he comes over and talk with him, and
maybe we can work together; but if we
could brush him out it would have good
effect
Dec. II, 1s74.-"Now, if you think you
bring over Colonel Gray with you.
Jan. 20, 1S76-'I wish you would
write letter to Luttrell, saying that say
he is doing first rate, and is very able,
etc, and send me copy" :,
Feb. 26, 1S76.-"Your letter to Luttrell
was good. | noted its effect
June I, 1S76.-'I hope Luttrell will be
be q misfortune if he was not" Gle was
not).
Nov II, ,1S76.--'I hope Luttrell is elected
and Piper defeated, as it was generally
understood here that our hand was under
the one and over the other"
The unhappy Piper was not only beaten
accordingly, but was called by Mr. Hunt
ington ga wild hog.''
The railroads have in like manner con-
trolled the California Legislature and
any other official bodies and individuals
whom they might wish to control. AS
was said above, the machinery by which
this was done was always carefully kept
out of sight as much as possible, and de-
tails OF evidence can hardly be given at
all. But any well-informed Californian
will consider evidence of this state of
things about as needful as evidence of this
mornings sunrise.
An occurrence at Washington during the
summer of 1894 will to some extent illus
trate this condition and the common opin-
ion of intelligent Californians about it.
Charles A. Sumner of California made an
energetic protest before the House Com
mittee on Pacific Railroads against the
proposed refunding of the Central Pacific
Railroad debt to the United States, in
which he charged broadly that the COM
pany had corrupted courts iuries and
legislators. ~
Representative Geary undertook to de-
fend the State from this accusation. He
did so by admitting that the company had
corrupted political conventions and Legis-
latures, had paid for seats in the United
States Senate, and advanced money to
candidates for Congress. In fact he con-
tradicted only one of Mr.. Summers asser
tions. He said that the company had
never corrupted a California Judge. Every
thing else, Mr.. Geary 'let go by the rum. :"
Even as to the judges, Mr.. Geary's state
ment did not cover the ground. He left
room for the suggestion that if the rail-
roads did not corrupt any judges it was
because they found enough corrupt judges
ready made.
The railroad method of controlling the
State Legislature has been, first, to secure
as many trustworthy friends to the rail-
road as possible among the country men,
bers, and, second, to secure the San Fran
cisco delegation bodily. AS this delega-
ton was a quarter of the whole Legisla-
ture, it was usually, with the assistance of
the country members, amply sufficient to
guide legislation. The method by which
the San Francisco delegation was Sc
ing and electing machinery. This, as
in other cities, has been governed by
a boss and his staff, who ran the city
elections. nominally on political princi-
pies, but really on financial ones. There
was an elaborate machine for securing the
primary elections, the nominating con-
ventions, the elections and the counting
of the vote. When the right time came
proper credit or sum of money was sup
piled to the boss, and he did the rest.
Then the lobbyists directed the campaign
at Sacramento, and any bills which the
railroad wanted passed were passed, and
otherwise, otherwise.
The most notorious San Francisco boss
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