The San Francisco call., 1898-08-03

company should pay the Cax- 4ne language is plain and unmistakable on this point with reference to news papers in particular, and Wells, Fargo & Co. have no reasonable ground upon which to maintain the stand I am informed they have now taken. The law says they must pay the tax. - Collector Of Internal ReVenue Lunch in an ig.tcrvieao yesterday.
 The fact has at last developed that all the protests. of the general public, the merchants and the press against the attitude of Wells, Fargo & O., in connection with the war tax, have been of no avail In this matter the com .pany has acted like a school boy who has lost a bet and proposes to avoid payment at any cost; and the squirm- ing of the great corporation to escape the payment of it's share of the tax which Uncle Sam has imposed for the maintenance of the war with a foreign foe. is almost beyond comprehension.
 It is doubly incomprehensible because up to the time that the impost was de clared Wells, Fargo & Co. enjoyed the esteem of the people of the entire Pa cific Coast from whom the company has derived the wealth and power 1t no-v possesses. It has up to these times been supposed to be the. one corpora ton on this side of the continent that could be accused of possessing a soul, but to-day such an accusation would be entirely baseless The methods that are being pursued by the company to avoid bearing it's share of the burdens: of war does not entitle it to the credit of having seven an emaciated patriotism, for it's loyalty is only to the golden flag Ghe color of Spain) which waves over the dividend column on the fat-profits led ger.
 To protect that pet dividend they have not only shown their disleyalty, but have deliberately def1ed the Federal laws in the hope that the war will be ended before they are brought to the judgment seat and. compelled to dis gorge. They declare that they will not pay the tax because their lawyers tell them to fight 1t and take their chances in,the courts. So far as profits are con- cerned this is good advice, for they are making hay out of the helpless public in a manner. worthy of a Shylock.
 The law says that such a common carrier must issue a bill of lading pr receipt, stamped and canceled, and de liver the same to the shipper. If any citizen thinks this once popular cor operation is abiding bY the plain law, let him go to the OfficG of the company and ship a package. lie will find that before lie receives his receipt he will be required to furnish 1-cent stamp or stand and surrender a copper cent As a merchant put it yesterday: It reminds one of the man who was so mean and grasping that he would steal the cOppeFS from a dead mans eyes and let his glassy optics stare into space for want of the humble penny" What makes the case So exasperating sto"the patrons of the company is the fact that it has grown. Opulent through the generous support of the people of this coast There is no doubt of this, fact, as the history of the company. shows. Wells, Fargo & Go. were in, .cQrpOrated with a capital stock of $500, 900, all of which was finally paid. in. .phe earnings were so great that it was decided to dilute the shares, and with out any further subscriptions the capi- tai stock was increased to-. $6,000, 900. For many years the profits of the com pany paid an interest of s. per cent. Still the gains grew, and at last the stock was again subjected to Irrigation: and 1t now stands at $8000;000; and pays son that vast sum 6 per cent while the public is glad to loan hundreds of millions to the Government at 3 per cent.
 = Six per centum on eight millions on an investment of $500,0O0 and the poor old peverty-stricken corporation can- not bring itself to the point where it : will surrender a greasy copper out of the minimum charge to the people of 25 cents on small packages.
 The man who has been caught steal ing sheep could not possibly have more excuses for his fault than does this aggregation of greed. They call at tention to the fact that they employ 800 men in this city, to. whoin they pay $350Q per month; that they have 190 horses they feed with fodder bought :son this coast; that they are putting up a s6O0,0OO building in San Francisco; also that they own a bank that pays S1400 per annum to the Government as a war tax. and that by these presents they should be permitted to make the citizen who pays war taxes in every other direction bear the burden which the law says falls to the express con- pany.
 The corporation Is a remarkable ex- ample of absence of mind and presence of astounding assurance. They point with pride to the magnitude of their business, their ability to. employ men : by the hundreds and erect a half-mil- . Hon-d dollar building without interfering
 
 overlook the indurated fact that over 75 per cent of their gains come from the people of this coast, the pockets of whom they are now picking at the rate of l cent a. pick
 The word ingratitude does not cover the case but it comes under the head of unsurpassed niggardliness, when 1t is realized that the bulk of the stock of the company is held in New York, and that the earnings that are squeezed out of the people of this coast are sent East to be spent. Tn other words in the mat- ter of a large proportion of it's net earn :ings it acts as a bloodsucker to the Pa cific slope, and it now asserts that it does not propose to give. up one drop of the rich crop of blood it has first mortgage on. la this connection it may be said that it was the good iron dol iars of the people of this coast that en- abled Wells, Fargo & Co: to run out or buy"out all competitors who attempted to trespass upon their preserves. and as result they are masters Of the situation and are in a position to charge enough to pay per cent on $I ,o00 00C