Omaha daily bee., 1896-02-21
HUNTINGTON HEADS THE Loppy.
The CHIEF of the Southern Pacific
Working Congress for "neIIcf."

tions under the personal direction OF c. p
Huntington:
Mr.. Huntington is in washlngton for tn,
purpose of convincing as many congressmer
as possible that his way is the only true
way aud that any departure from the rule.
laid down by himself will result disastrously
: to the United States and to civilized mankind
generally. 1t should not therefore be difi
cult for any one to comprehend Mr.. Hunting
tons anxious interest in all congressional
proceedings that relate to Pacific railroads
Should the wheel revolve in what Mr.. Hunt
tngton would regard as the wrong direction
the reSut would be the dethronement of him
! VINO IL now the railroad monarch of the far
west with kingdom that comprises almost
one-half of the area OF the United States.
III. on the other hand. Mr.. Huntington has
hio way. then will he continue to rule COM
merce as he undoubtedly has ruled ito his
own liking and with financial results pleasing
to him as they are unfair to those whose
servants and convenience1 the railroads
should be. With Mr.. Huntington in control.
the possibilities of that monopolists none
tary greatness are practically limitless. but
with the Pacific railroads in other and less
selfish hands, Mr. Huntington would be likely
to retire from business.
So 1t Isl not at all astonishing that every
pulabe wire is being pulled to the extreme
Of tension that every listening ear in the
| arguments favorable to the refundins bill,
that all the sources of ntisinformation are
active in the interest of those to whom a
| renewal of the old conditions would be as a
draught from the springs which Ponce de
| Leon sought 80 perslstently.
Ever since the completion of the Union and
Central Pacific railroads those corporations
have controlled the commercial affairs of the
| Pacific states. and in many instances have
| succeeded in placing those most directly in
tpfn n+DI t,n all AT
of great political power. Possessing undis
! puted control, the companies adjusted
| ratel as to render 1t practically impossible
! for any one at all obnoxious to do business
within their territory, and the result has
| been steady growth of anti-railroad senti-
| ment, which has at last crystallized into a
vigorous attack upon the measure with which
! Mr.. Huntington Is nseparably mixed up. No
| topic is at present so interesting upon the
/! Pacific coast as 10 this subject Of refundng
What some good people think of the Hunt
ington proposition was voiced a couple of
weeks since by Mayor Sutro of San Fran
Sisco, who, in public address, said: "The
| ruinous rates of transportation that the
Southern Pacific company has enforced in
| California have made the farmers poor.
What should be given, in fact, what right
| fully belongs to the agrculturst and tiller of
the soil, has gone into the pockets of these
railroad sharps and made them rich beyond
conception. Huntington is a hghwayman.
was properly meted out he would now be
wearing a striped suit and dragging chain
| and ball"
| That sounds like strong language, but
| there would seem to be great many en-
| tirely reputable people the Pacific coast
who applaud Mayor Sutro's utterances and
who are able to give good reasons for the
applause.
But the true sentiment of the people of
California and the adjoining states seems
fN hnN. DrH ttr,n RnIy ttc tn tIn
congressional ear. Having so much at
stake, it would be extraordinary If Mr..
Huntington did not exert himself-no
matter what the cost-to keep facts under
cover as much as possible. Therefore, it
has come to pass that literary bureau has
been established. with agents at each end
of the wires that stretch from San Francisco
to Washington. 1t is the duty of the bureau
to extol the virtues OF the funding bill and to
decry every proposition that does not bear
the slightest signet Of Coils p. Hunting
ton, and there does not seem to be anything
in the bureaus instructions likely to cumber
its movements. nv. .r. g.. r..
Facts. if favorable, are most to be de- |
sired but when they cannot be had-and |
that is the average condition of affairs |
then fiction is good enough. All manner Of |
Misrepresentation is entirely in order, and |
there cannot possibly be any place on the |
bureaus staff for him who hesitates either |
to construct an interview out of whole cloth |
or to warp and distort the expressed opinions |
of one whose words are likely to be infuen-
tial. Therefore. the Pacific railroads agita-
tion offers the lobbyist harvest such the !
lobbyist has not gazed upon for several |
years.
Quite lengthy period has elapsed since
there was anything SO Juicy. so fat, on the |
congressional table as this choice bird, whose
interior Is stuffed to repletion with in
finitesimal percentage of the vast sums that |
have been extracted from the public treasury
and private purses by the methods of which |
complaint is now so strenuously being made.
Huntington has his literary bureau working
at full head in Washington, and columns of
his matter are printed daily. This is old |
game of Huntingtons. Twenty years ago he
wrote from New York to his dear friend, |
Cotton: "If you could get some wel-written
articles published lin the San Francisco
papers I would get the articles re-
published in the newspapers OH this side to
great an extent as / could. which is very
effective and cheap way Of Advertising"
But the game is now played with more
of regard for economy. The old method in
volved the hiring of newspapers both in San
Francisco and in the east; the new way is
direct dealing with the east.
Interviews can be manufactured in Wash
ington just as easily az they can at the
Golden Gate, SO there is no longer necessity |
for lavish use Of telegraph lines.
The 'cheapness'' of the advertising is
Therefore more marked than ever. The lit
erary bureau has Of late been hard at work
|
funding bill is an altogether benefcent prop
0sition, which has the enthusiastic support
of the best elements of California and such
an impression might perhaps have been made
upon the plastic congressional mind had it
not appeared that many OF the alleged inter |
views were not interviews at all.
Prominent Californans who were quoted |
as being one with Mr.. Huntington In this |
II after have denied with vehemence, to say
the least of it, the language which was
credited to them by the Huntington literary
bureau.
Mr.. Huntington is laboring harder than
ever before. at this particular time, to ad- |
just the relations of the railroads with the !
government. He feels that he stands
much better chance, with the republican |
house Of representatives and with the re-
publ!cans dominating the senate than he ! |
would If the democrats were in control in ! {
both or either Of these bodies. Il
When the house Of representatives was |
coEtroiled by the democrats Mr.. Hunting | I
ton could make but very little headway {
with his schemes The republicans, how
ever. are more sympathetic, and Mr.. Hunt I
ingtons relations with them are more inti-
mate; and he hopes that now that they con- a