The herald., 1897-05-14
THE MONOPOLY AT PASADENA

figure"
What is it worth?" was asked.
'They hold Il at $115, 900; there are $25,
| 600 worth of oonds out, and the rest cash
The Pasadena and Los Angeles compan,
have s55, 900 on deposit in the bank nov
to close the bargain"
A COOKED-UP PETITION
1t seemed like pretty close business
this, and it seemed superf1uous to ash
any further questions, but Mr.
! Washburn was asked as to how
he and the other members of tho
council conld reconcile it with thell
duty to their constituents to pass meas.
ure that had been petitioned against by
over 80 per cent of the voting population
| The query served much the same pur~
pose as a red rag to bellicose bull.
"A petition against it," exclaimed Mr.
Washburn, in a crescendo OF disgust,
"Why, there were pages of signatures
| written by the same hand. Men, women
and children signed it, and people out
side the city limits as well as some in
side. When the, Southern Pacific want
ed to come in here there was 80 per cent
of the population against it. and now you
to get rid of it. 1t was the same when
the Santa Fe wanted to straighten their
tracks when the papers took the matter
up and spoke against the idea. The
council just went ahead, and now the
people laud them for the action they
took:
1t will be seen that Mr.. Washburn is
inclined to paternalism and believes that
the city council must regard the wishes
of the community as the wishes of SO
many unruly children, TO be overridden
FOR their own good. 1t will be noted,
however. that while denying the bona
fides of the petition against the granting
Of a monopoly to the Pasadena and Los
Angeles road, he, by inference conceded
it in comparing the present outburst of
public feeling to that which he claims
took place on previous occasions.
At the same time any challenge of the
petition which contained 1882 names is
baseless and without solid foundation.
1t is true that all classes of the commu
nifty are represented on that petition
which was presented to the council on
March 18th. The situation at that time
was not SO acute as at present, and the
plan now proposed to carry into effect
was not then so definitely outlined. 1t
is perfectly safe to say that those petit
TONERS who have changed their minds
do not amount to one per cent of the
total number. Mr.. S. P. Boynton. sec
retary of the board of trade. is from
the very nature of his official position
we'll qualified to give an opinion re-
garding the wishes of the Pasadena bust
ness men with regard to the granting
of an extreme privilege to the Pasa-
dena and Les Angeles road.
1.-The petition is all right" he re-
marked. land il you just run over the
names I will call off their businesses"
This was done, and it appeared clear
that neither women nor children signed
the roll, and if any forgeries were COM
mitted they ought to nave been easily
detected, for the petition with names ap-
pended was printed at the time when
the petition was filed in the local pa
pers.
COMPETITION BARRED OUT
"The plan adopted by the council is,
in my opinion, wrong in principle" con-
tinued Mr.. Boynton. Il have nothing
whatever against the Pasadena and Los
Angeles road. but we know that corpo-
rations are not giving away anything
for nothing. On the other hand.
they have the happy faculty
Of getting a good deal fer
nothing. The company owns fran
chises covering pretty we'll the whole
of the city, and not until this agitation
began was any extension of their line
begun. If they are assured Of all othel
companies being excluded they say they
will cover all the uncompleted fran
chises, and then how will the city stand?
The present stockholders will be able
to sell out at profit of % to so per cent
on their investment, leaving the city
traversed by the lines of one company,
and affording no opportunity for com
peting line should one be ever so much
desired. The competitive element bein =
barred out cannot but prove detrimental,
and any further reduction of rates, even
when the population will have doubled,
will be an impossibility. by admittir :
the Terminal road an important reduc
ton in time is made to the city, very
probably there would be again reduc-
ton in fares. and as it intends to con-
and rapid means of communication
would be opened up. There might, per
haps, not be great profit for either com
pany at first, but 1 venture to say in
three years there would be big profit foi
both companies for Pasadena is not GO
ing to stand still when these features OF
development open up new and fruitful
opportunities AS for the lighting prop
osition, better arrangement can b.
made later than the one proposed. With
water power electricity can be general
ed at nominal cost; and meantime tht
citys gas bill would be more than mad
up in other ways. and any loss fully re
couped when cheap lighting was fur
nished not only to the city but to everS
private Individual who cared to use Il :
THE STAR CHAMBER PLAN
All this was interesting, as shown.
the opinion held by the mercantile com
munity, whose mouthpiece in soue
measure Mr.. Boynton is, but perhaps tn
most suggestive remarks were thos.
made, and also those not made by Ci.N
Attorney Arthur. Mr.. Arthur is rot only
genial gentleman, but having in tn
past had some newspaper experience, HI
knows just what to say on any subjec
upon which he is being interviewed, ar'
also what not to say. Yesterday Mr.
Arthur while kindly as ever, reduced
his mind to the negative condition an
was non-committal on almost every
point. 1t has been generally understoG,
that during the prolonged negotiat ION