The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-27
approval of the annexed bill, being Assembly

176, are these:
The bill entitled can act to amend an act
entitled An act providing for the sale of rail-
road and other franchises in municipalities
and relative to the maintaining OF franchises,
approved March %, 1882 The body of the
ect contains but few changes from the one
which it purports to amend. One is a minor
change as to the advertising of the application.
The other provides that the hour as well as
the day of the hearing shall be mentioned.
These changes are in themselves trivial and
could hardly have been the cause for the
amendment in question. The act provides that
"every franchise or privilege to erect or lay
telegraph or telephone wires, to construct or
operate railroads along or upon any public
street or highway, or to exercise any other
privilege whatever hereafter proposed to be
granted by the Board of Supervisors, Common
Council or other governing or legislative body
OF any country, city and country, city, town or
district within the State, shall be granted upon
the conditions in this act. provided and not
otherwise
This provision was in the law sought to be
amended, and the words, "Shau be granted
upon conditions in this act provided" were
the controlling and mandatory portions of said
clause. The act then proceeded to provide
how the application and the advertising for
such applications should be made, and de-
clared that the advertisement must state the
character of the franchise or privilege pro-
posed to be granted, the term of it's continu-
ance, and, if street railroad the route to be
traversed, the day upon which tenders will be
received for the same" thus providing, under
the act of 1898, that the council should grant,
after advertisement and application, railroad,
telegraph or telephone franchises upon certain
conditions stated.
The new bill uses substantially the exact
language of the old act in regard to the fran
chises, the fact that they should be granted,
the persons or companies to be affected and
changes the clause last above quoted to read
as follows: '"This advertisement must state the
character of the franchise or privilege pro-
posed to be granted, the terms of its continu-
ance and, if a street railroad, the route to be
traversed and the day and hour upon which
sealed tenders will be received for the same"
The only substantial change in the bill as to
the franchise that is to be granted is made by
the addition of the crooked little letter 's'' to
the word ''term," as it existed in the act sought
to be amended. In that act it provided for the
grant, stating the term of its continuance, in
dicating only the time.
In the amendment, by the insertion of but
one letter, it is made to read, "the terms of its
continuance" which means the conditions
under which it must exercise the franchise to
be granted Under the old law before the "s''
was inserted, time only needs to be stated.
Under the new bill conditions beneficial to
the corporation applying for the franchise may
be applied for and granted. 1t may provide
that railroad line shall run parallel within
two blocks of the petitioning company. 1t may
provide that not more than certain number
OF blocks in all of or any other line shall be
used by a competing line. 1t may make a
thousand conditions beneficial to itself, which,
if secured from the municipality, gives it an
absolute monopoly.
The line making application may provide
absolutely against competition. While the
letter ''s" is small and of seeming insignifi-
| canoe, the manner in which it is inter-
iected into this bill and is attempted to be in
terjected into the law would make it of the
utmost importance. l doubt whether ever be-
fore in the history of legislation the addition
OF a single letter in the alphabet has had more
| potential significance
| While the law as it was, giving a certain
! term of continuance for the franchise, might
not have been unwise, any law allowing q
corporation or person to purchase an absolute
monopoly or franchise and privilege for the
erection or laying of telegraph or telephone
wires, or the construction or operation of rail
roads upon any public street or highway
would be plainly against the principles of our
institutions.