The herald., 1896-08-01
A GREAT GRAND JURY

| The grand jury in San Francisco has
| just taken steps to dishonorably dis
| charge from office seven supervisors,
charged with malfeasance in office. The
charge is that these men willfully and
corruptly grossly under-assessed sew
eral of the great corporations in San
! Francisco. The most glaring case cited
| is in the assessment of the Spring Val
| ley Water company. In fixing the water
| rates for this company this same board
| of supervisors took the sworn statement
| of values of this company as the basis
| on which to found rates just both to the
people and the corporation. The value
sworn to BY the water company was
$21. SOC. 600 The board of supervisors
fixed the just value on which this COM
pany was to pay taxes at $3,S2O,OOO.
over twenty-one millions to collect tolls
from the people on and less than four
millions on which to contribute their
share for the common defense of prop
erty and life. That was rank record
for the supervisors. AS usual in any
disreputable mess in this state, our po-
litical highbinders of the S. P. were in
llet street branch selling on basis of
ST.. 600, 600 Seventeen laillions In the
stock board assessed at four millions by
the supervisors. These assessments
were reduced by the supervisors from
assessments so low already as to cause
an action for custer and another for
perjury against the assessor who made
them. Bad as is the criminal corrup-
ton Of the corporations thus evading
their plain debts and duty to the public,
this is far exceeded by their blind folly
in undermining our organized govern
ment for the preservation of property
and life. 1t is upon the integrity and
force of government alone that the cor
poration depends for existence.
In this country the government in its
turn depends for its existence on the
confidence of the people in its substan-
tial fairness and championing of right
When the people lose faith in the fair
ness of the government trouble is sure.
No one interest is doing anything to
compare to the giant corporations or our
country in destroying the commence OF
the people IN their government. This
means, if not arrested, the destruction
of security If the corporations were
the only ones to answer for their abuses,
corruptions and tyrannies, no one would
care much If the heads and agents,
political spies, traitors, train dispatch
ers and all the gang from president to
the Alameda street political mac were
hung, drowned shot, beheaded or
burned, as in the French revolution &C
counting, the common citizen could look
on with equamnity and express con-
ventional regret when he attended the
funerals. But it cannot be So 1t was not
so in the French revolution. Many inno-
cent suffered with the guilty in that ter
rible reckoning for an age of oppression
and wrong. 1t is for the great middle
class of small property holders and
home builders to say whether our reck-
oning with privileged abuse and corrupt
wrong shall be by law and through con-
stituted government, or by a bloody
revolution with the inevitable rape and
murder and fire of such horrible ac-
countings. The grand jury has taken
in San Francisco the first step to secure
relief by law for the people from the
corporate idol of brass and gold above
with feet of clay. We wish it success for
the sake of the Welfare of the United
States and our free government.