Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-02-11
EFFICIENT MEDDLING
PROSECUTION of the Southern Pa
cific railroad for rebating, while In
1 4l,a,.a

sOIC ihCu must IL eAAS RNcSAN $500 -
conscientious attorney general, Is
directly the result of the fact that the
Los Angeles Herald, in the discharge of
its public responsibility, directed pub
licly the attention of Attorney General
Webb and the railway commissioners
to the section of the state constitution
which reads:
ANY railroad corporation or trans
portation company which shall fail or
refuse to conform to such rates as
shall be established by such commits
sionere, or shall charge rates in excess
thereof, or shall fail to keep their &C
counts in accordance with the system
prescribed by the commission. shall be
fined not exceeding $4,000 for each Of
Tense, and every officer, agent or emf
ploye of any such corporation or COM
pany who shall demand or receive rates
| in excess thereof, or who shall in any
manner violate the provisions of this
section, shall be fined not exceeding
$4,000. or be imprisoned in the county
Jail not exceeding one year"
The next step taken by The Herald
in the performance of it's duty to the
public was to call the attention of
Attorney General Webb and the rail-
way commissioners to the fact that GER
tain railway officials had admitted to
Interstate Commerce. Commissioner
Franklin X. Lane that they had given
rebates.
A Herald representative went to Sac
ramento and endeavored to obtain from
Governor Gillett the assurance that his
appointee to the vacancy on the rail-
way commission caused by the forced
resignation of Andrew Wilson, self
confessed boodler, would be one who
would prosecute the guilty rebaters.
Upon the suggestion of prosecution,
the governor lost his temper, scolded
vehemently and denounced The Herald
es ''meddler." He declared that The
Herald should not force his hand.
Then followed the appointment of H.
D. Loveland to the railway commission.
Although his record and his first public
utterances seemed to assure the re-
baters of their immunity from prose-
cution it is the unexpected that-some-
times-happens. The commissioners
began to bestir themselves and to carry
out The Heralds suggestions, which,
we repeat with emphasis, were made
only in the line of public duty and con-
sisted only in calling official attention to
COM N which existed in the shape
of nr.a 80 fast constitutional pro-
vision
1he task 81 working along the just
; les suggested hy The Herald was in
-.1ssa5 10 Assistant Attorney General
Raymond EeujAni1. A representative
e. tae attorney Senerai's office was per-
tni.te9 io examine the books of the
Southern Pacific company. The result
was x.-tis "a It The Herald had indi-
Gated i 9ou be if the proper course
III. 1. In popular speech of
Y, the Southern Pacific was
-ss with the goods"
qi g been freed. the corporation
uaoe attempt to escape. Like the
ceiehra ed coon, it came down. No
were made by 1T to conceal its
illegal transactions. From this
- led a belief that the railway
company will not make a defense
against the charges, but will plead that
the constitution is not self-acting and
must be "amplifled by legislative en-
actment."
In other words. by the subtelfuge of
pleading a technicality, the accused
railway company will try to evade
the consequences Of it's CONSCIOUS,
deliberate infractions of the spirit of
the constitution. Here again we are
brought face to face with what must
be considered a crisis of conscience in
the history of this republic. Law
breakers who disregard the constitu-
ton, state or national. are pleading
that constitutions are not effective in
struments because their provisions are
not accompanied by special legislative
enactments.
The prosecution of the Southern Pa
cific will help to put an end to this
folly all over the United States, and in
relation to many matters beside rail-
road Irregularities and rebates.
So recklessly persistent has the Of
Tending corporation been in it's disre-
gard of the rules which govern the life
and conduct of this state, and are bind
ing upon all persons and all corpora
lions that transact business within its
borders, that If all the charges are
proved, and they may be proved, the
Southern Pacific corporation, for its
deliberate, willful violations of the law
ir the FOUR THOUSAND SPECIFIC
INSTANCES which form the basis of
four thousand charges, may be mulcted
in maximum penalty of $S0,O00000.
1t is evident that the Los Angeles
Herald has MEDDLED to some pur-
pose.
1t is a highly efficient "MEDDLER."
We thank Governor Gillett for the
word.
We felicitate him upon the tardy de-
termination of the state whose chief
executive he is, TO do it's duty, and
NEEDLE" also!
Better late than never.