The herald., 1898-03-29
! RIPL[Y'S VIEWS
NO CHARGES AGAINST MANAGER
NEvlN
FIESTA SUBSCRIPTION
REASONS FOR NOT MAKING IT
{ GIVEN IN FULL
NO POOL ON CITRUS FRUITS
'the President Of the Santa Fe Gives a
Frank Statement Of His opin-
ions on the Situation

II President Ripley of the Santa Fe rail-
way arrived here last night and took quar-
ters at the Van Nuys. Considering the
| fact that he had Just como from San Diego.
where he had encountered the chief Grief
iters in their complaints against the road,
;he was In very good humor and discussed
The situation with apparent frankness and
certainly with directness. Mr.. Ripley 10 a
large man, physically and mentally, pos
sessing all the independence and business
like self-reliance and vigor Of demeanor,
(which might be considered brusquerie, II 1t
were not accepted as a trait of the western
Business man.
"Yes, have just returned from San DIE
go and found very little of the Ill feeling
| that had been represented as existing
there" said he. There are few chronic
kickers, who had some very indefinite
things to say about what they thought
faults In our policy but most of the mer-
chants l talked with advanced no COM
plants and seemed to have very little to
ask in the way of change. The fruit men
did present their case with some points
that are worthy of consideration. The or
knge men wanted reduction in rates, but
that do not think will do them any good
As a matter Of fact, the only competition
She California orange has Is with itself;
the consumer pays the freight. A reduc-
ton In rates, think, would not result In
any benefit to the growers, but would
simply be the means Of allowing the peo-
pie who eat the fruit to pay less for 1t.
A LEMON WAREHOUSE
1.-The lemon growers. however, are in a
different situation. Their fruit comes into
the eastern market at q time when the
people do not require lemonS--when the
weather is cold. do not claim to know
much about the business, but I suggested
to them the plan of sending the lemons
east when 1t was the time to pick them.
and then having them put them into a
warehouse for curing purposes, so that
they could be marketed when prices were
satisfactory. think the road would be
willing to haul the fruit east and wait for
the payment Of the freight until the lem
ons were sold. We would lose the interest
on considerable sum Of money for some
months by this. but 1t would be mutually
profitable and Is apparently practicable.
ABOUT MR.. NEvIN
Eyes, talked with Mr.. Rabcock while /
was in San Diego, but he did not advance
any definite charge against Mr.. Nevin. our
general manager, except to say that he
was unpopular. That is altogether 900
indefinite an assertion. All through my
stay there and since / have been in Cali
fornia this time have failed to receive
anything Hike a specific charge against Mr.
Nevin. The newspapersrpat least, some of
them-have4 been very Ihitter against him,
and have been cruelty s0in some instances.
cannot say what he Has done or what he
has failed to do. in the absence Of details,
but I can say that nothing definite has
been presented that can consider, or moth
ing which, to my mind. impairs his eff
cheney or his fair treatment of Southern
California.
I'm fact, most of his actions have been
at my instance. In regard to Mr.. Bah
cocks assertions, can say that In San
Diego conversed with number of people
who differed from his estimate of Mr..
Nevin, whose administration Is perfectly
satisfactory to me. so far as know, in the
face of the absence of anything tangible
to cause me to think otherwise.
THE FIESTA SUBSCRIPTION
II have heard something ever since the
matter came up about his action in refus-
ing to- subscribe to La Fiesta fund. 1 sup
pose Mr.. Nevin was generous enough 10
not state the fact that It was at my wish
that the refusal was made to subscribe
but such was the case. The subject was re-
ferred to me and instructed him that we
could not give anything this year. have
nothing to apologize for In this nor TO re-
tract. but will tell you my reasons for
arriving at that conclusion. At the very
time that the Fiesta subscription came up
we were confronted with six or eight or
more similar affairs. We were asked to
help the Transmiss.ssippi exposition at
Omaha, the convention hall at Kansas
City, the auditorium at Topeka, the Noun
tain and Plain festival at Dallas, the state
fair at Dallas and some others of the same
nature. 1t was impossible for US to help
them all, and we could not subscribe to one
and leave the others out without causing
much bad feeling. and came to the con-
ciusion that the only thing to do was to re-
fuse all of them.
THE REASON WHY
"There is moro to this, besides. When
you get up Fiesta you ask all the people
who are to be benefited to subscribe-the
hotel keepers, the merchants and all those
who are to make money by the affair--and
you come to the railways and ask them for
money and at the same time want them to
reduce rates for It. No one else cuts down
;their charges; If there is anything done
trates for rooms and board and other BUSH
ness that expects rush Of trade are per-
haps advanced, at any rate they are not
lowered; but the railroad rates must be
put down. What is the result? People
who intend to travel wait for that time.
and we are rushed with business fora few
days and after that there is cessation for
longer period.
"still, am not prepared, to say that
would not have departed from what has
been the roads custom here, to subscribe