The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-01-13


State Board of Trade. l am not familiar with
the opportunities they may have had for judg-
ing OF this matter, but am familiar with the
tact that they have not instituted any inquiry
which would justly them i'll passing Opin-
ion.
The State Board of Trade is the concerted eff
tort OF twenty-eight counties to maintain at
the chief metropolitan center bureau OF in
formation and iii exhibit which will attract at
tention TO their advantages. 1t has been
perfectly unselhsh, patriotic effort. No one
connected with it, except its secretary, has re-
celVed salary, and none have derived personal
advantage.
call the attention OF the public to the fact that
during Its entire existence it has been the vic
I'm OF the meanest malevolence ever visited
upon an unoHendfng organization Chief
among the statements made to discredit its
efforts Is that 1t is an adjunct of the Southern
Paclhc Company; that it has been but little
more than all advertising agency for that COM
Pany and my personal relation with it has
neen pointed to as conclusive evidence OF the
truth of this charge.
inns statement is wholly devoid of truth,
ana take the personal responsibility of say
ing that those who make il are aware of its
1alslty. There has never been al any time any
lands IN which the Central Pacific or the
southern Pacific Railroad Company were in
terested advertised through the agency of the
STATE Board OF Trade Not one pamphlet or
circular has ever been permitted to be placed
upon its counters or distributed through its
agency. When it has made an Eastern exhibit
no clrcu!er or pamphlet relating to any interest
trlDuted through its agency. That the South
ern Pacific Company has been the most liberal
contributor TO It's support is true. and i is true
10 the Infinite credit OF that corporation. Upon
this one fact has been based all the petty
mean-spirited opposition, which when we CON
slder II was launched as an unselfsh patriotic
effort to accomplish some goo0 for this COM
monWealth, becomes worse than contemplate.
l find evidence of this in one OF the inter-
views which has provoked this statement.
OIe gentleman in effect informs the public
mat lie IS ODDOSeQ TO broadening Of the
effort OF San Francisco 10 assert its primacy
among the commercial cities OF this State, and
he says he can understand readily why Mr..
NILS mas been in favor OF Pacific Coast ex-
hloit. He declares the reason that the South
ern Pacific Company has its railroad line to
oregon ana Its steamship line TO the Ha-
waiian Islands.
l could well afford to treat with silence this
denial OF worthy motive underlying anything
l have suggested or done in connection with
the growth OF California were it not that il is
the common lot OF ali who have attempted to
accomplish something for the State TO be in
like manner miSrepresented and maligned.
our contemporary characteriZes the state
ments OF this detractor as candid. / respect
| fully represent that il has mistaken bad breed
ing Tor candor in this instance The statement
possesses the merit of neither truth nor candor.
The Southern Pacific Company mas no line of
steamers TO the Sandwich Islands, ana is not
intereS ted in any such lines. The gentleman
could have made himself master OF this fact
! by the slightest inquiry. That he stated for a
fact that the Southern Pacific Company has a
tlll6 OF steamers 10 honolulu ana declares that
it is in the service OF this line OF steamers that
had made q suggestion is manifestation OF
Willingness to invent line OF steamers for the
purpose of impeaching my motives and of dis
/ paraging me in the estimation of the public |
am wholly Indifferent as to the personal appli-
cation Of this species OF malevolence, but am
not Indifferent to its constant misrepresenta-
ton toward every public-s pirited citizen of the
State. Many OF these have united their efforts
with the state Board of Trade in times past
only to find themselves charged with being
candidates for Office of being in the service
OF this or that private interest.
AS 10 any suggestion | may have made con-
corning commercial exhibit for the Pacific
Coast having relevancy to the line of railroad
from San Francisco 10 Portland NAV say that
it is the duty OF every railroad TO build up all
the territory which it serves; that such action
would be highly commendable in an officer of
a railroad, and that it is my pride and ambi-
ton to be just as useful and faithful to my en-
ployment as my capacities, however limited
may permit. But whoever asserts that this or
any other suggestion relating 10 the good of
this commonwealth had no other or broader
motive than the benefit of a single line of
trans ortaton takes liberty with the truth
which iustifies the declaration that he is care
less of his reputation for veracity.
Permit me to conclude this already too
lengthy communication with the presentation
OF a matter of the highest and most Immediate
Importance TO the people of California. The
growth OF Northern California has been re-
tarded by, its system of large land holdings
The best lands of the great valleys of California
nave been unavailable for colonization. Re
Gently 8 com DlnaUOn has been entered into
between the holders OF the most fertile lands of
the Sacramento Yalley-lands which in all
time since the settlement of this State have
been inaccessible 10 the newcomer: lands pos
sessing intrinslcally five times the value OF the
average plains lands of this State This com
bination has been formed in the hope of open
ing an extensive region to settlement, present
ing the brOadest most striking enterprise in
this line ever suggested.
That combination has now been completed
by the signature OF the owners of the lanu TO
documents which commit them for lirni cd
time 20 joint effort TO open these large and
most fertile areas TO settlement. What is re-
quired is sufficient capital to launch this en-
terprise. Its magnitude and its merit will do
the rest. In this combination of lands en-
bracing nearly seyenty-four miles of navigable
water front on the Sacramento River is f0nnd
an opportunity for breaking through at once
the one hitherto insurmountable obstacle to
the settlement of the Sacramento Valley.
These lands have been combined at rates which
Will justify their offering at less than half the
price heretofore offered for colony lands The
event marks the close OF a dstnctively hstor-
ical era OF land holding in California
The next question which confronts this en-
terprise is, Where can the capital be found for
the consolidation OF these lands into the own
ership of a single corporation designed solely
TO segregate them and secure their settlement?
They are incumbered by mortgages held in San
Francisco of more than $2,000,000. l have
been informed there is in the vaults of the
banks of san Francisco to-day over 800
100000. The question arises can the capital
necessary 10 make this empire of fertility the
the Pacific Coast If not, then the effort must
be made in foreign money markets, where at
the very ontset the enterprise must stand dis
credited as having been repudisted at home
The success of this effort will be crucial test
of the ability OF the people of California to
unite upon an enterprise. The questions
which arise and which must be answered I
take the liberty OF asking now: Will the mo-
tives OF the persons who have promoted this
undertaking be impugned? Will its merits be
inquired into by those who make the law OF
public opinion concerning it, so that their as
sertions relating TO it will have solid founda-
ton in truth?
Can this undertaking, fraught with so much
promise OF good TO California, receive encour-
agement at the hands of capitalists at nome
where its real value may be fully and clearly
understood? VIII the people of California
make themselves masters of all the facts reIst-
ing to ii, and if they find it worthy of their
support can they be united in an effort 10
carry it TO complete success? Will it receive
at the hands OF the public journalists of this
State that judicial fairness which all public
enterprises, having for their object the good OF
the commonwealth, are entitled to receive?
In brief, will great undertaking, having for its
object only the Reinforcement of the popula-
ton and the capital of California, receive at
the hands OF the people of California fair ana
candid consideration and treatment?
Los Angeles arose from city of 5000 to
city of nearly 100000 in less than twenty
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