The herald., 1897-06-20
AN APPEAL TO M'KINLEY
GEN. RosECRANS WRITES AM
EARNEST LETTER
"Are People of California to Be
Robbed Of Their Harbor By q
Railroad CorporationP"

Gen. W. S. Rosecrans has written an
other letter to President Mckinley about
the San Pedro harbor situation, in the
course of which he makes the following
earnest appeal:
''You know that your old commander
gave five of the best years of his life
to the preservation, in their entirety, of
the liberties and institutions of our
great modern miracle of popular gov
ernment, the United States of America
On many a weary march you, as a
patriot and soldier, gave your young
years to the service of our glorious
country, and God forbid that either of
lis should live to see one iota Of it's ill.,
critics usurped by any citizen of this ma
tion, be he Senator or Cabinet officer,
who, by willful act, delay or neglect,
shall fail to carry out the laws of our
country as authorized by Congress
through it's legislative powers. Pardon
my earnes.ness. but my friendship for
you, q friendship cemented by the ties
of comradeship in field and camp; my
interest in the success of your admin.
istration, and my duty as representa-
tive citizen, duly informed in the prem
ises, compel me to write to you and to
strongly urge your personal action in
seeing that justice is done to our people
here in the matter of speedy commence
ment of work on San Pedro harbor,
which has always been shown by abs
and disinterested engineers to be worthy
of Improvement as harbor of ref
uge, commerce and defense; and as tri-
butte to their Judgment our government
has already expended, with great bene-
flcal results a the same site, over $780,
600. In my last letter to you 1 called
attention to the fact that not only would
further delay by the Secretary of War
be ill-advised but that your administra
tion itself would suffer if favorable action
were not soon taken. Already there
is great party disaffection on this har-
Dor issue, which, from being merely a
Pacific Coast question, is fast assum
ing a shape that may make it a ques-
tion of national Importance. Your
many friends on this Coast feel that the |
TIME mas COIile W HeH your ptTSulldl dS-
tion is needed in the War Department.
Having faith and pride in you, they feel
that uncalled-for delay in the Secre |
tarys office is severely injuring your
administration in the eyes of the peo
pie, and thus doing you great injustice |
Barred of specious arguments and cor
porate special pleadings by skilled |
agents, official or otherwise, the issue to |
the people of the Pacific Coast is plain, |
and can be tersely stated thus:
"Shall one railroad corporation, I'M
loved by the people of this Coast, pre-
vail in its greed against the wishes of
80 per cent of our population in the To-
cation of harbor? Is one railway cor
poration more powerful than the gov
ernment? After years of hard fighting, |
unanimous reports in favor of San Ped |
ro by army engineers, final decisive
similar report by the last board of ar
bitration, with the necessary money ap
propriated by Congress, are the peo-
pie of California to be robbed of a free
harbor by one INSCRIPTIONS railway
"Our people turn to William McKin
ley, President of the United States. to
protect their interests from delays that
are dangerous and from attacks OF
skilled manipulators, official or other
wise, who seek to set aside a law of Con-
gress and to reopen this harbor ques
ton with the ultimate object of securing
a private harbor for the benefit of a
single railway corporation.
I'm taking up the grave responsible
ties of your office, with the difficulty of
out party pledges, with coun
try racked by four years of depression
and suffering. your administration has
enough at stake, without running the
risk of political dishonor from even the
that one of your Cabinet is
delaying in carrying out specific law
of Congress, on some technical and tr
vial grounds with the perfectly natural
inference that this unjustifiable hest;
fancy is Influenced by an opposing rail,
way corporation for its own selfish ends
as against the interests of free COM |
mercial advantages for our entire peo- |
pie. Asking your earnest personal ac~
ton in behalf of law and good govern