Los Angeles herald., 1908-10-14
S. P. SEEKING
TO INTIMIDATE
Wilmington
"INFLUENCE" ON WEBB MAY
KILL BOND SALE
FATE OF ISSUE LIES WITH THE
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Joseph n. Call Warns Los Angeles
and Sister Cities of the South
to Be on Their
Guard

in the open in it's attempt to save
- the tidelands of the baiiil1ne ~
companyA of which the Southern "a
cific owns a controlling interest. FROM
now on It will be q fight between tne
advocates of municipal harpor allu an
the railroad, which desires 10 coil'i Con- l,i VI
san Pedro. with a necessary lineup on
enc side or the other Of all the harbor
towns. ,.. o,,ho+
An interesting phace of this compat
80 that the city of wilmington ls
caught on the battlefield and IN GAN
ger of losing it's 100000 harpor I'M
provement bond issue. Ihe southern
Pacific has asked Wllmlhgtoh "
nass a resolution Geploring the tloe-
lands suits about to be instituted by
the Los Angeles harbor commission
and settinp forth in The phraseoloSy
carefully prepared for the Guys reso-
luton by Southern Pacific counsel the
reasons why the tidelands suits should
not be brought.
If Wilmington's bonds are not ap-
proved by Attorney General Webb,
according to the state law, no matter
how good an investment they may
actually be, the states bid VIII not
stand, although accepted by the city.
If the Southern Pacific's influence
with the attorney general prevalls Ior
an adverse decision against the Will
harbor improvement will be lmpos-
sible. This has not been put up to
Wilmington in as plain, rude language
as II is here stated, but the taste leIt
I'm the trustees official mouths by the
corporation attorneys Is not i.leasant
one. Whether Wilmington Is brave
enough to hold out and save its mu-
nicipal honor at the risk OF It's ponds
will be decided this week.
Before Wilmington's trustees could
catch their breaths on this proposition
there came from the other side a noIno
which shows that the public harbor
advocates a1e ready for war. Joseph
III. Call. president of the Municlpal
Waterways association, yesterday
made a scathing denunciation of the
scheme to pull wool over the peach
Call Sounds Warning
.'The citizens of Los Angeles, of VIII
ninpton of San Pedro and Long Beach
must wake up" declared Mr. Cah, ano'
confront a new peril when threatens
the entire control of the harbors OF
San Pedro, Wilmington ana Long
Beach.
"The plan set on foot by the powers
that be for delegates OF the beacn
towns 10 meet together and TO con-
slider what steps shall be taken to an
ticipate the designs of the city OF
Los Angeles, a half million people IN
land. uDon the harbor of SaE Pedro,
while ostensibly to make the people OF
the beach towns believe that they own
the harbor of San Pedro and must
take steps to prevent its being used
hv the city of Los Angeles, in reality
has as it's object the formation OF d
scheme to create so-called harpor
commission and to place thls couiiils
sion in control of the harborS ana Oh
the shores up to the line of high tlde
of san Pedro and Wilmington bays.
which will include up to the llne OIL
high tide in the harbor OF Long beach'
ut is proposed to establish such mar
bor commission for San PEDRO pay upon
the lines of the San Francisco, Eureha
and San Diego harbor commissions
.To understand what this means take
a glance at the laws relating to the
powers and Jurisdiction OF the san
Francisco harbor commission. lnaI
commission is given exclusive Jnrlsalc-
tion over the harbor of San trahclsco
co-eXtensive with the city from the
line of high water mark out 10 anu
over the navigable water, and conters
upon the commission the exclusive
mower to construct sea walls, DOCKS,
piers, depots and the like.
"The law then provides that If indi-
viduals own any franchises upon the
water front such franchises shall not
Amission shall from time to time lease
portions of the water front to rail-
roads corporations and individuals Tor
twenty-five years, and authorize the
commission to set apart Tor tne use Oh
certain railroads and ship lines Ger
tain portions of the wafer 'front.' ~, uepo,s' ,'o,'
warehouses and the like upon such rem
tails as the commission may determine.
What 1t Means
"If such a harbor commission is es-
tablished for San Pedro harbor' eX
tondinr as far as the tide ebbs and
flows il will mean that Long Beach
and her Improvement company must
Immediately stop construction of their
canals and waterways; that the ocean
entrance to the Long Beach harbor
cannot be dug by the company or by
the city of Long Beach. 1t means that
the city of Wilmington cannot use the
proceeds of it's bond sales or any money
for the construction of channels or of
docks in Wilmington; means tnat the
city of San Pedro cannot construct
wharf or dock for public use; 1t means
that the city of Los Angeles cannot
construct municipal dock or canal or
make any Improvement upon it's pres
ent water front, or upon any that 1t
may acquire: it means that all suits to
annul tide land patents Will be in the
control of this harbor commission,
which may recognize any title 10 ttue
lands as it may see fit and, hnally,' 1t
means that such harbor commission
may lease to the Southern Pacific any
portion of the water front which that
company does not now control or which
may be hereafter recovered for public
use. -
1.-The consummation of this plot will
permanently establish tho city of Los
Angeles as an inland town, where 1t
will always be obliged to pay local
rates based upon the rates from San
francisco and San Diego, and the half
million people surrounding this city will
be placed in the same category of local
towns as Pomona, Ontario and Las
Vegas.
Shows Discrimination
"Already the combination of trans
portation lines has lately put into eff
feet new tariff governing freight
ICoitinued on Page Two.l