The record-union., 1896-10-17
THEIR HOMES THREATENED.
Railroad Employees Address to Their
FollOW-WorkerS.
What the Defeat of the Funding Bill
Means to the People OF
Sacramento.

The Executive Committee OF the Con-
solidated Railroad Shop Mems Souno
Money Clubs held meeting last nlgnt
and discussed the political SITUATION
and decided to issue an address 10 the
men in the employ Of the southern Fa-
cific Company in this district
The following address was finally de-
cided upon:
To the employees Of the Southern Pa
cific Company: The local issues in this
campaign affect the welfare, prosperity
and future happiness of every laboring
man in this community, and particu-
larly the employees of the Southern Pa
cific Company We are now confronted
with a menace that threatens our very
homes and even the lives of those we
hold most dear. The one issue of par
amount Importance to us is involved in
the election of a Congressman.
The reason of this is because our en-
ployer the Southern Pacific Company,
Is indebted to the United States in the
sum of nearly S7O,OOOOOO, for which,
as security, the Government holds a
second mortgage upon the railroad. The
Government threatens foreclosure of
this mortgage while the owners of the
road have offered to pay the debt in in
stallments If there is foreclosure the
road will be Sold and it is admitted
that enough cannot be obtained at that
sale to pay the first mortgage, therefore
the United States will receive practi-
cally nothing.
In case the proposition of the owners
of the road is accepted, the United
States will receive every dollar of the
l1h Of
rnent of this debt in installments has
been embodied in a bill pending before
Congress, and this is what is known as
the Funding Bill" By it the railroad
company is permitted to pay it's debt
to the Government in installments, with
low rate of interest. Unless that bill
passes Congress the Government mort
sage will be foreclosed and the road
will be sold. The only people able to
buy at public auction this road are the
great Eastern railroad Syndicates, and
all Of these syndicates have railroad
shops of their own and every facility
for conducting railroad business.
In case of the foreclosure or sale,
Sacramento will have to say goodb by
to the railroad shops that have made it
what it is, and we will have to seek
employment elsewhere. The homes
which the employees of the Southern
Pacific Company have with frugality
and so many years toll constructed will
be valueless to their owners. The busi-
ness of Sacramento, which is derived
almost exclusively from the railroad
shops. will be paralyzed, and Sacra-
mento, from being prosperous city of
90, 600 souls, will be a village of few
Inhabitants. less business and no hope
CT future.
If the funding bill passes Congress
matters will remain just as they are at
present; the employees Of this company
happily at work and receiving the larg-
est wages paid to any employees in the
United States.
The question, therefore, becomes one
Of our homes and our future happiness.
But one Representative from the State
Of California has stood by Sacramento
in it's fight for existence, and that man
IS the present Republican nominee for
Congress in the Second District. If he
is defeated at this election it means
that the funding bill will probably be
beaten; If he is elected the success of
the funding bill is almost assured. His
defeat, therefore, means distress and
ruin to the city OF Sacramento and to
each of us individually. His success
means continued employment, prosper
ity and success.
His opponent is pledged to destroy
the Southern Pacific Company if he
can and to ruin its business. The ruin
of its business is the ruin of ourselves
our homes and our families. In view OF
these facts, as your friends and your
co-workers, we earnestly ask every man
who is interested in the welfare of this
city, every man who takes pride in his
home and in his family and who de-
sires TO see his home community happy
to cast his vote for Grove L. Johnson
for Congress in the Second District
E. L. Requin, President.
Charles JOY, Vice-Presdent.
D. J. Davis, Secretary.
G. NJ. TRULY, Treasurer.
Duncan Grant, rolling mill.
John McCaslin, blacksmith shop.
Richard Thornton, foundry.
F. II. Hawes, car shop No. 5.
John West. boiler shop.
j. S. Clark, roundhouse
James Camp machine shop.