The San Francisco call., 1898-03-24
BATTLE OF
 THE JOBBERS
 IS FOUGHT Victory Appears to Rest With This
 Coast. Freight Bureau Hears Both the East and the
 w est. Local Men Present Strong Arguments to Railway
 Representatives. WILL CAIN THEIR POINT. Difference in Rates Between Carload Lots and Smaller Shipments to
 Be Maintained.
WILL GAIN THEIR POINT.
Difference in Rates Between Carload Lots and Smaller Shipments to
 Be Maintained.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

DEL MONTE, March 23.-The great battle between the Pacific Coast chaH- pions of trade and the interlOpers from Chicago and St. Louis has been fought, and, if there is any truth in the adaga, Coming events cast their shadows before," it is on the local banner that the bird of victory will eventually find a permanent roost.
 As soon as the Transcontinental Freight Bureau went into session this morning MT. Johnson, representing the forces of the Simmons Hardware Com pany of St. Louis, and MT. Wait, repre- senting the Hubbard, Spencer 6 Barr~ lett Co.,, of Chicago, were admitted into the meeting, together with their trust ed ally, MT. Vanlandingham, who IS said to represent the St. Louis Freight Bureau, but who is commonly sur posed to be Hessian in disguise, whose duty is to support the forces of the Simmons Hardware Company in their endeavors to force the trade of the Pa cific Coast to bear an unjust burden. These gentlemen, speaking in turn, managed to present what they call a case, and after the freight bureau had patiently listened to them until II o'clock they were allowed to conclude and went out, their place being taken by the traffic committee of the Pacific Coast Hardware and Metal ASso e:a- tion, which, together with representa- tives of the citrus fruit men, in the persons of T. H. Buck and Senator William Johnson and Cosmo Morgan. who was there to look after the inter- ests of the grocery jobbers of Los An geles, presented the case of the people and the merchants of the Pacific Coast.
 TIoa baY% 1 1xxre,1- oro al entrusted with the actual presentation of the case, and the following gentle men, members of the traffic committee of that organization, covered the entire ground of debate and presented incon testible arguments in favor of the cause they upheld in a number of care fully prepared speeches, which they delivered under the following titles: Our United Pacific Coast Jobbing Trade" Secretary F. L. Brown; "The Scope of Our Organization" George Boole of Los Angeles; "The Old Cape Water Competition Actual and Poss- ble,' Wakefield Baker; Carload Diff ferentials," w. R. Wheeler; Group ings, Classification and Fair Inspec- tion." A. c. Rulofson.
 The reading of the preamble and the presentation of the recommendations devolved upon Assistant Secretary w. c. McCloskey.
 It was quite evident as the addresses were delivered by the men of the West that their remarks brought to the at tention of the bureau some new and very interesting information and they were listened to with the closest at tention. After the closing address had been made the meeting adjourned for the noon hour.
 As the different railroad men filed out of the big ballroom, where the nT ha1d hAI,i and congregated in the lobby of the hotel, it was quite evident from the fragments of discussion that foated through the air and by the congratu-8 lations extended by the railroad men to the different speakers, that they had made very favorable impression on many minds. It was also observed that the wise men from the East were evil dently much disturbed and looked neither as wise nor as confident as they have appeared during the last few days. They were much upset by the aspect affairs were assuming
 The Pacific Coast delegation went for drive immediately after luncheon, leaving the scene of their mornings triumph entirely unprotected. and on their return they were much sur prised when told that during their ab- Sence the brainy men from the land of the rising sun had endeavored to get another hearing before the bureau. but had been turned down; also that the chairman had, while refusing the re- quest of the ffnanciers from across the continent, sent unsolicited to the speakers of the morning who had up- held the local side of the controversy to again come before the meeting and explain in detail some of the recom- mendations they had made; but unfor- tunately, they had not returned from their drive and the opportunity was lost.
 Aside from a general and informal discussion of the matters which had been presented for their consideration by the rival speakers during the fore noon session, the afternoon session was taken up with @ number of unimpor- tant issues on the docket. It was off, cially stated by a number of the repre-