The San Francisco call., 1898-05-29
THE COMPETING ROAD.

at Bakersfield signazed the accomplishments of
 an industrial victory for California of great magnitude and far-reachng importance. It was an event which justly engaged the attention of the whole State. Among the speakers whose voices were elo quent in its commemoratton were orators not only from San Francisco and the San Joaquin, but from as far south as Los Angeles.
 The circumstances under which the road was un- dertaken and the by which the enterprise was successfully launched and pushed to completion can never be too often recalled. The subject contains lesson of supreme importance to the people ot Cator nia and the moral is full of encouragement to all who seek the commercial and industrial advancement of the State and the complete emancipation of its peo pie from the excessive burdens of transportation opolies.
 When MT. Claus Spreckels and his colleagues be- gan to give action and movement to the construction of competing road the whole United States suffering from the effects of financial panic of ex treme intensity The normal energies and industrial activities of the people locked in the paralysis of hard times Few capitalists willing to engage in any form of business involving large outlay of money and in the great financial centers of the nation almost anything in the form of new railroad building was regarded either as something worth consider aton or else as something which could be considered only gambling speculation or wildcat scheme.
 Such was the condition of the financial world at the time that although the promoters of the road were of the highest credit, they could obtain money from abroad They knew at the outset that whatever they did would have to be done with home capital. This fact it will be remembered led Mir. Huntington
 great negotator of railroad loans, to scof at the enterprise and say of it, Tt IS toy road; they raising money for it by popular subscription"
 The openly expressed contempt of the great mag nate of the Southern Pacific for the new enterprise may have had its effect in New York and London, but it had none in San Francisco. The money re- uuired to begin the work of construction was ob- taned without difficulty the large subscrip- ton of MT. Spreckels made known. The enter prise moved at once, and from that time has gone steadily forward until the whole reach of the val ley from Stockton to Bakersfield has been relieved from the domination of the Southern Pacific monop- oly and secured in the advantages of competitive transportation system.
 It is safe to say Mr. Huntington no longer regards the Valley Road as a toy, will he ever again speak contemptuousy of San Francisco inanciering He has learned the lesson of what be accom- plshed in the way of great enterprises when led by the right leaders and supported with the full force of local energy and capital The people also have learned that lesson.
 The Valley Road stands as an enduring witness to the efficacy of self help Moreover, IS living wit ness whose growth is not yet complete. The road is even now moving westward to San Francisco, and already the people of Los Angeles are making plans to obtain its extension to that city What has been accomplished is but a part of what is to be accom- plished. Undertakings of this kind go further than was at first intended, and 1t may yet be that what was designed as a road down the San Joaquin may prove to be portion of through route across the continent.