The herald., 1896-04-05
CONFUSING THE ISSUE

A futile attempt is being made by a
newspaper of this city and q few noisy in
dividuals, prolific in language but deficient
in logic and facts, to confuse the harbor
issue as presented in Congressman Nc
Lachlan's telegraphic effusion. These local
agents of Coils p. Huntington persist in
representing that the refusal of the people
of Southern California to abdicate their har-
Dor choice in favor of that of the railroad
lobbyist imperils the prospect of Los An
geles county ever having deep sea har-
Dor, threatens the prosperity of this section
and robs labor of employment.
To the people of this part OF the state 1t
is not really necessary to reiterate what
The HERALD has SO often set forth, that
the real peril to their prospects of securing
a deep sea harbor is found in the scheme
to secure federal aid in the construction of
the Southern Pacific harbor at Santa
Monica. Every dollar that 10 appropriated
from the federal treasury for the building
of the Santa Monica harbor endangers the
San Pedro propositions; is expended in de-
f1ance of the will of the people of this Sec
ton and for the exclusive benefit of Mr..
Huntington and his business associates.
A most casual survey of the situa-
ton at Santa Monica cannot fail to impress
the least observant with the unalterable
fact that harbor constructed there, as
proposed by Huntington, will not be for
the people Of Southern California. but for
the Southern Pacific company of Ken
tucky. And it does not require any exalted
degree of intelligence to understand that if
the United States government builds a
harbor in front of the Southern Pacific
property at Santa Monica, it will not build
one at San Pedro. The people of the re-
mainder of the United States would right
fully resent with indignation the preposter-
GUS proposal to ex pend the many millions
needed to build two deep-sea harbors on
the Los Angeles county coast within
twenty-five miles of each other. The
citizens Of Southern California could
not decently ask for such concession
and they would not get it if they did. So
the issue 10 not ''shall Los Angeles have
two harbors or none?" but, shall the fed
eral government construct q deep-sea
harbor for Los Angeles or for the Southern
Pacific? The issue is nowhere better
stated than in Mr.. McLachlan's last dis
patch, wherein he says that appropria-
tions can be secured, not to construct deep
sea harbors at both San Pedro and Santa
Monica. but ''to complete INSIDE harbor at
San Pedro and construct DEEP-sEA harbor
at Santa Monica," or "Huntingtonville," :"
as it might be more appropriately called.
Even Mr.. McLachlan has too much sense
to telegraph fairy tale about two deep.
sea harbors at government expense.
The only menace to the prosperity of this
part of the state, that is extant in conse-
quence of the harbor discussion, is the
threat conveyed in the design of Hunting
ton ct al. to persuade the American con-
gress to assist him in owning the harbor
facilities upon which this section must de-
pend to achieve the full measure of pros
perity that q lavish nature has made DOS.
sible.
To the people acquainted with the work to
be done at Santa Monica and the employ
ing customs of the Southern Pacific philan-
thropists, the news that the Huntington
project would be boon to labor will be
nothing less than startling. As matter
of fact the chief benef1ciaries not only
VI sLO IL IL 10 OuIt dt odltSt
Monica, but Of the work of constructing it
would be the Southern Pacific crowd. In
the estimates submitted to the committee
on rivers and harbors with the plea that
was made for Santa Monica harbor, it will
be found that 1t is the expectation of Hunt
ington to furnish from quarry owned by
the railroad at royalty of $500, 900 the
very rock essential in the construction of
tine Santa Monica breakwater. The ma
terial would have to be transported over
the Southern Pacific lines at the railroads 8
own price-all the traffic would stand
and the work of construction would be
done as all the Southern Pacific work of a
laboring character has been done by
Mexican poems. Mr.. Huntington has al
ways been patron of cheap labor, foreign
labor-in the north Chinese, in the south
peon. The American laborer is mot in it''
with him.