The San Francisco call., 1896-02-03
Mayor Sutro Denies Huntington's s
Remarks About a Row
at Lunch.
EXPLAINS THE WHOLE AFFAIR.
How the War Was Started Over a
Five-Cent Fare-A Plain
Statement.


| ing the Senate committees inquiry into
the merits of the funding bill:
| Coils P. Huntington, president of the Cen
| tral Pacific, said that he would prefer to de-
fer the statement which he desired to make
until the committees next meeting. showing
| that the Central Pacific was little better off
| than it appeared to be.
"That viii be very agreeable news to the
committee, said Frye. The Senator also
ADDED aafs pleasantly, They DO say that you have
hlm to stop these attacks in the press. Is there
any truth in that %
huntington replied that sutro asked him to
lunch at his place one day; that he told him
/ ne wanted to build q road from San Francisco
to his place, about eight miles; that he (Hunt-
ington) said he could not do it then, but would
some time; that then Sutro said: fI am going
to fight you," and that Huntington replied,
Commence your fight now, - you,'' and
got up from the table and went away.
Yesterday Mayor Sutro made the fol-
lowing statement regarding this incident:
The Call In regard to the questions put to
Mr. Huntington by Senator Frye of Maine be-
fore the Senate Pacific Railway Committee and
Mr Hunnngton's replies thereto viii say the
following:
l well recolleet when Mr.. Huntington was
out here TO lunch on the occasion referred to
in his remarks. He was accompanied by II. E.
Huntington.
The conversation did not take place at the
lunch table, for did not propose to talk about
business matters while at the table. 1t was
after lunch that called him and his nephew
into another room and broached the subject
about fares. / told Mr. Huntington that /
had kept Sutro Heights open as free as air for
many years, an expense to me of $25 900 per
annum, to all the people that chose to come
here, to white and TO black, to the poor more
than to the rich.
l told him that 1t was a hardship on poor
families TO have to pay double fare of 10
as / desired Sutro Heights to be open par
ticularly TO mechanics and laboring people
thought 1t an imposition that people should
have TO pay this double rate.
told HIM that San Francisco City and
County consists of thirty-six square miles, and
that single Scent fare existed, and now ex-
ists in thirty-four square miles, while the
two square miles embracing Sutro Heights
Sut-o Baths, the Cliff House and the Richmond
District were subject to double fares.
appealed to him to reduce the rate to q
single fare.
Mr. Huntington says, according to the tele-
graphic dispatch, that the distance is eight
at once show that the distance from the bay to
the ocean is seven miles. Existing ca bic roads
then covered more than half that distance
What did say in that conversation was
raising my finger as l spoke: "If you do not
give US tive-cent fare IN make you do it''
II is stated that Mr.. Huntington said: "Com-
mence your fight, - you."
That is not so. He may have said, "Go
ahead" but he did not swear, nor did he 90
away in anger.
This is general statement OF what happened
at that particular time
But there is another story that underlIes all
this and which Mr.. Huntington takes very
good care not to tell.
Several years before that occasion 1 had
Senator Stanford, Ch aries Crocker Sr. and
c. +. Crocker Jr., If m $ recollection serves me
right = Mr.. Huntington, also-out at Sutro
Heights, and took pains to show them the
beauties of the neighborhood, which is simply
unsurpassed by any other place on the Pacitic
Coast for its grandeur, its view, its saIubrfty
ofclimate and also for its accessibility being
within the City limits and but three and q halt
miles from the geographical center of the City.
They were simply astounded at the beauty
of the scenery, the lay of the land and its
eminent adaptability for public resort. They
cast their evil and envious eye upon it and |
could see by their actions that they had made
up their mind to possess the property.
l have later on called that corporation, the
for it would grasp everything it determined to
possess. 1t had thrown out one of its tentaces
to grasp what own.
They are not possessed OF any fairness in
their dealings and instead of coming straight
out and proposing to purchase at fair price
they started out TO depress by underhand
means the value OF the property they wished
to secure.
Nothing would have been easier than for
them to extend cable road to the seashore
for single Scent fare. But they thought that
by maintaining double fare they would pre-
vent the people from improving and settling
this section.
That is the true inwardness of this whole
affair.
Twenty years before that time was located
in Nevada. contracted for number of car
loads of railroad iron to be used in the Sutro
tunnel. The shippers were rolling mills in
Ohio. They were instructed to contract for
the lowest rates of freight.
When the bills for freight were presented
the charges were made at through rates to
Sacramento, and from Sacramento back to
Reno. New, at local rates, which were amost
as much as the rates charged across the CONT
nent.
called at the office of the Central Pacific
Railroad Company aud had an interview with
Mr. Stanford and Mr.. Crocker, Sr. 1 remon-
strated against the extortionate freight
charge and declared 1t to be an outrage. But
they said they could not reduce their rates as
their contracts with Eastern roads compelled
them to charge for through rates to Sacra-
mento, and that they were compelled to carry
the freight back again across the Sierra
Nevada Mountains at local rates. had no
doubt that this was subterfuge TO enable
them to extort extraordinary rates over the
Central Pacific road.
From that day ON l watched their proceed
lngs through all these years, and OF all the
villains that ever existed in the United States
l concluded that they were the worst. found
that their system was one of extortion and op-
preston. They ground our farmers down to
the last stage and Impoverished not only them
but our merchants.
This little incident about the 5-cent fare was
but eliminating point. Just as the existence
OF the United States, now the first nation of the
world, grew out OF q trifiing circumstance, the
levylng of a tax of pence pound of tea
Mnieh &c caused the people OF Boston tot to throw
grown into mighty war against the Southern
Pacific OF Kentucky.
This Government started out with the best
constitution that has ever been framed by
man. and the republic has gone ahead pros
perously as long as the citizens OF this country
exercised their franchise without the inter-
ference of money powers. But this is all
changed now. Corporations to large extent
run the elections, and with their money con-
troll them by corrupt means. The result is that
our Government has become an oligarchy,
consisting of the concentrated wealth now ex-
isting in all parts OF this country.
fThe best example of this kind IS presented
py the Southern Pacific of Kentucky. They
have not only impoverished the people OF the
Pacific Coast by these extortionate charges,
but they have grasped the reins of govern
ment by system OF bossism, bribery and cor
ruption.
These facts which have become more foreible
to my mind year by year have caused my atlsck
on the southern Pacific of Kentucky and the
head manipulator of The concern, Coils p
Huntington; and especially now that this
question of refunding is pending before
Congress and the passage of which would not
only defsaud the government of its just right,
but would ensiaye the people of our coast for
half century. ADoLPH SUTRo