The record-union., 1897-05-02

| system of hand work and reduce the
! present amount of their reading mat
| ter.
In common with my friends who
met together last evening, my sympa-
| thies are with the stage coach owner,
| yet that does not keep me, nor does it
keep them, from preferring to ride in
! a railroad car. In common with my
friends who met together last night,
my sympathies are with the wood en-
| graver and with the compositor yet
that does not keep me, nor does it keep
any of those gentlemen, from thorough
| ~ enjoying the beautiful magazines
that may now be had for ten cents, nor
from approaching the saving in cost
made by these progressive changes.
The introduction of the electric
street railway system has played sad
| havoc with the old-time horse cars,
| with the use of hacks and busses, but
despite all this, I, in common with our
! friends who met last evening take
much pleasure and enjoy much com
fort in using the electric railway sys-
, TEN.
Not one of the gentlemen who at
| tended the meeting last night would,
from choice, go back to the stage coach
or the one-horse car, or the fifty-cent
magazine, or the thousand and one
other conditions of the past wiped out
| by labor-saving devices and more eco
nomic methods of production and distri-
| button.
No progressive step has ever been
taken in the history of civilization
without injury to the few. That cOndi-
ton would indeed be blessed which
would be for the best good of all. But
the Messiah has yet to come who can
bring about helpful changes which will
be for the best good OF all and to the
injury of none.
LAS the human mind is at present
constituted, and as it is likely to be
constituted for untold generations to
come, the man who can at least bring
about conditions which are in the in
terest of the greatest good to the great
est number, is certainly a benefactor to
his race.
IF Sacramento had made the growth
within the past few years which has
been made by some mushroom cities no
doubt, in addition to the erection of
the several large and imposing business
houses erected within the past few
years, the vacant stores now in its bus
mess streets would be filed. Yet with
the conditions as they are there has
simply been a displacement; the sites
now occupied by the great department
stores in Sacramento were formerly
covered with rookerieS and shanties,
which were eyesores, and which have
been replaced by the present attractive
structures.
'It is to be regretted that there are
empty stores in the city. If the de-
partment stores are in any way re-
sponsible for this condition, l, as one
Of the department store owners regret
this fact. If the fact Of such stores be-
ing vacant has deprecated the value of
certain properties, I also regret it, and
I am sure that every other department
store owner likewise regrets it. But that
this fact is an injury to the city as
whole is question, and if it is an in
jury to the city as a whole, to remedy
such an evil would mean to abandon
many cherished progressive ideas.
One thing that has seriously depre-
ciated the value of residence property
in the more thickly settled parts of
cities, is the introduction of electric
street railways This modern method
of TRANSPORTATION has made it possible
for people of limited means to buy
building blocks in the outskirts Of Cit
les at very low prices, and has thus
made it possible for them to build their
own homes and to enjoy comforts and
conveniences hitherto unobtainable in
congested centers If it is an injury,
then. to the community as a whole to
Ina of in T1r0nartipS
the electric street railway system must
be a curse and should be resoluted out
of existence.
NO one thing has done as much to
lessen the value of certain kinds of
business property as the recent erection
of modern office buildings in Sacra-
mento These newer buildings have
emptied a number of the old structures
of their tenants, and these old struc-
lures are now standing vacant and ten
antless to the injury of their owners. If
this is an evil, then resolutions should
be passed denouncing the erection of
modern structures in Sacramento as
detrimental to the interests of the own
ers of old or unimpyoved property.
The department store is in the line
of progress. Its existence, while unde-
niably hurting the few, has been
great blessing to the many whose
means are limited and whose money
should be made to reach as far as pos
sible
The buying public has the matter in
it's own hands. If the department store
is a nuisance to the public, the public
can settle the matter very quickly by
keeping away from department stores.
But the public is no more likely to re-
/ ject the comforts, conveniences and
profit afforded it by the department
| store than it is likely to reject the
| comforts, conveniences and profit af-
/ forded it by the modern systems of
/ transportation.
Our friends last evening freely in
! dulged in the charge that department
! stores are monopolies. A monopoly,
as L understand the meaning of the
/ word, is an individual or company en-
joying some exclusive privilege, or alb
/ solutely controlling the means of pro-
ductiOn. transportation or distribution.
/ Our friends at their meeting last even
J ing failed to show wherein department
stores enjoyed any exclusive privileges.
/ Neither the laws of the city, the State,
nor the Nation, have established any
conditions enjoyed by the department
| stores that are not enjoyed by all.
80 long as department stores cannot
control the labor market so long as
department stores cannot control
| the avenues of production: so
| long as department stores can get no
hexclusive privileges of territory for
the sale of their products. the charge
of their being monopolies is absurd and