Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-01
THE HERALD AND
THE GOVERNOR

Southern Pacific company in granting
rebates and special rates to favored
shippers, accused this paper of having
been opposed to him, and seemed to be
disposed to complain of the treatment
which he had met with in our columns
Certainly this paper never published
anything half so bad about the CHIEF
executive as the truth which it. pub
lished concerning him as a candidate
in the form of photograph taken OF
him and other members of dinner
party which convened on the evening
of the day of his nomination by the
Republican convention at Santa Cruz.
In this picture the governor was
shown with his hand resting in a posi-
tion of familiarity, not to say affection
upon the shoulder of a then distin-
guished member of his party, and we
believe OF the convention which nom-
mated him. This gentleman, one Abe
Ruef. has since this picture was taken
become. upon his own confession, more
certainly known to fame as the chief
of the San Francisco grafters, although
probably not more widely known in
that capacity.
There were probably few people in tho
state of California familiar with the
facts of Mr.. Ruef's career in the polit-
ical life of San Francisco who were
not at the time the picture was taken
as entirely certain of his position as
Chief CRATER of the San Francisco
Doodle Ring government as they have
since been, although the certainty at
that time lacked confirmation of Mr..
Ruef's own word, which he afterward
gave in the form of confession to a
criminal indictment made in open court
in his own city.
On each side of the governor as he
appeared in the picture, as heraldic
supporters, so to speak, were two of
the chief machine politicians of the
Southern Pacific company. And so we
say that The Herald has never pub
lished anything so bad concerning the
governor of the state of California as
this picture, whose truth he has never
attempted to deny, and of course can
not deny.
At the same time The Herald is will
ing to admit that the inferences plainly
and inevitably suggested by this pic
ture may have been wrong, and the gov
ernor may, by his actions as the chief
executive of this state, prove that he
is not an appropriate associate of the
man on whom his hand so lovingly
rested in the picture and not the sort of
man that the proximity to his Southern
Pacific political supporters would indi-
cate him to be.
We are perfectly willing to give the
governor of the state the benefit of the
doubt, and nothing would afford so
much pleasure to this paper as to be
able to chronicle in it's columns any
action on the part of the governor
showing independence of the sort of
influences which indubitably surround
him in the picture.
That the governor will shortly have
an opportunity of showing the truth or
falsity of the deductions naturally aris-
ing from this picture appears to be the
promise of approaching events. The
outrageous violation of the criminal
laws of the state by the Southern
Pacific company in granting rebates
and special rates, to which its officials
are said to have confessed in the course
of their examination before Interstate
Commerce Commissioner Lane, has been
put up to the state board of railroad
commissioners, whose duty, primarily
among all the officers of the state, it is
to take cognizance Of these offenses. :
Nearly two months have elapsed and
the statute of limitations has probably
run against nearly one-sixth of tha
offenses for which the Southern Pacific
could be punished, and the board has
SO far made no sign of any intention to
do its duty.
The matter has later been called to
the attention of the attorney general,
who, by virtue of his position in the
legal machinery of the state, has a kind
of supervisorial control over the Off
cials of the state into whose hands are
intrusted the enforcement of its Grim
inal laws, and so far the attorney gen
eral has made no sign of any intention
or effort to see that the laws of his
state are enforced and the habitual
breaking of it's laws punished.
Section of article of the constitu-
ton of the state of California, in defin-
ing the powers and duties of the gov
ernor of the state. provides: Section
HE shall see that the laws are faith
fully executed"
The matter of the enforcement of the
criminal laws of the state, so brazenly
and frequently violated by the South
ern Pacific company, if the Associated
Press dispatches concerning the testi-
mony of the officials of that company
before Commissioner Lane are to be
believed, is on its way to Governor Gil
lett, and in time it will be presented TO
him.
1t is the purpose of this paper to see
that the officials into whose hands are
committed the protection and enforce
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