The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-06
Preparations for the Big Mass.
Meeting in Metropolitan
Temple.
SPEAKERS FOR THE OCCASION.
The People Must Protest." Says the
Mayor, cor Such a Bill Will
Become a Law"

Next Saturday evening Metropolitan
Temple will be the scene of the great mass
meeting in which some of the foremost
citizens of San Francisco will protest
against the passage in Congress of the
funding bill. Among the speakers who
will address the meeting are Mayor Sutro,
John 7. Doyle, Henry E. Highton, E. w.
McKinstry, F. W. Dohrmann, Barclay
Henley, Taylor Rogers, James II. Barry,
Charles M. Shortrldge. Charles Sumner,
Frank J. Sullivan, l. J. Truman, Thomas
f. Barry and Stewart Menzies
1.-The Indications" said Mayor Sutro,
yesterday, ''are that San Francisco will
be fully represented, and that she will re-
cord herself as being strongly against the
Dill. l feel that unless the people arise
and protest the plan of the railroad to
evade It's just debts will be success.
huntington has delivered his decree to
the Congress of the United States, and
there are numbers in that body who dare
not dlsobey the order to stand in. If the
Southern Pacific may procure laws that
Will settle their debts in other WAYS than
paying them, may that not be and should
1t not be precedent to be followed In any
commercial transaction? Why should not
the poor man evade his obligations, too, if
great corporation that has the Govern
ment Tor creditor can do so?
But the people must speak in no uncer-
tain terms next Saturday evening and
voice their disapproval of those so-called
funding bills which are villainous schemes
OF robbery, pure and simple"
The fundamental objections to any
and all funding bills" said James H.
Barry, editor of the Star, "are over
wheImlng, both from political and fnan-
cial stanapoints.
ALI debtors of the Government should
be treated alike. This railroad corporation
has for thirty years evaded payment of
the annual interest on it's debt to the
Government by an outrageous decision of
the United States Supreme Court. When
the interest, with the principal, becomes
due In accordance with that decision, pay
ment or foreclosure should be untiinch-
ingly enforced, without reference to cost.
how about the tirst-mortgage bonds?
Well, they should by any and all means
be paid, so as TO give the Government
clear held to foreciose the second.
1.-The question OF getting value out of the
road Itself is altogether subsidiary to that
OF ending an intolerable tyranny and ex-
tortlon-a power over the Judiciary and a
corrupt influence in legislatures which
threatens the very existence of decent
society. But even on financial grounds
alone, any cost thus incurred would soon
be offset III benefits from lower
and uniform freights and fares. A
still greater benefit would be in bring
ing right home the example of the
Dement'S OF Government railroads. Consider
these In contrast with the fragrant corrup-
ton and subordination of the judiciary 10
the railroad power, evidenced by the twist
ing OF the interstate commerce law to pre-
vent men combining TO secure their rights,
and the failure to enforce that same law for
one OF the purposes for which it was en-
acted, which was to prevent the giving of
passes In the Huntington-Stone case. 1t
Is worth twice the cost of the first mort
gage to partially purify our judiciary and
lar more to shut the railroad out of our
legislatures, If the Government does not
own the railroads the railroads will con-
t'nue TO own the Government.
Inc proposition to extend the time for
payment of the debt for one hundred
years, as made last session, or forty-four,
as just announced by Huntington, includes
annual payment of interest; but that
promise was made thirty years ago and
has been fagrantly violated. Is there
particle OF reason to suppose that 1T would
be better kept hereafter than heretofore?
When the century extension OF time shall
have expired Mr. Huntington may not be
among us, as he will then be 175 years old
but his ghost will be stalking around most
OF that time to scare posterity.
1--WE have no right to legislate for pos
terity in anything. We are governed
altogether too much by dead men, and any