Los Angeles herald., 1908-10-29
SQUEEZE SMALL
OIL OPERATORS
ESTUDlLL0 PERMITS G0UGlNG
OF CONSTITUENTS
"DUckS" WHEN DEMuRRAGE BILL
COMES UP
Southern Pacific Influence on LegisIa-
tor Makes Orange County Fight
More Intensely Active at
Campaigns Close
Especial to The Herald. !

SANTA ANA, Oct. 2S.-George A.
Edgar, Native Son, former mayor of
the city and resident of Santa Ana for
the last twenty years, makes strong
argument against the election of Mi
guel Estudillo for the state senate, on
the ground that Estudillo's Legislative
record plainly shows him to be under
the domination of the southern Pacific
and therefore against the interests OF
the people.
Especially is Mr. Edgar aroused over
Estudillos action in refraining from
voting on the reciprocal demurrage
bill when it came up for action in the
assembly last session, and III season
and out of season Mr.. Edgar urges l..
Gill as the best man for the place in
the interests of everybody concerned.
Had there been q reciprocal demur-
rage bill in force in 1902 said Mr..
Edgar in an interview today, thou
sands of dollars would have been saved
for Santa Ana men.
"A lot of us were interested in the
oil business at Bakersfield. and we
learned what it means to have the rail-
needed them.
Means independence
"A great many people do not under
stand what this reciprocal demurrage
bill amounted to. L consider that ii was
the most important bill introduced into
the legislature in recent years. 1t
meant more to independent oil men and
to fruit and vegetable men than any
thing that could have been brought be-
fore the legislature.
The railroad can charge n man de-
murrage if he fails to unload his cars.
But if you want a car and cannot get
. fc or 1Cil
you. This reciprocal demurrage bill
would have given the people IA fair
shake with the railroad on that matter.
las it is now the railroad can use
its lack of responsibility to force indie
pendent oil companies into line, freeze
them out of business if they want to
do it.
Sample Oppression
Here is the way it worked on Santa
Ana people:
In 1901 a number of Santa Ana men
got hold of some fine property in the
Bakersfield old fields. There was be-
tween 100000 and 100000 of Santa Ana
money invested there. Within nine
monthssafter we started we were get
ting . per cent per month on our
money.
Every month those checks came into
Santa Ana to some fifty or more resi-
dents of this county. That kept up for
seventeen months, and every month a
per cent dividend. We had contracted
with the Union iron works, Mare Is
land navy yard and a lot of such
places, and we had contracts to send
oil as far away as Bisbee, AriZ, and
were under bonds to deliver the goods.
No Cars After That
"Suddenlv we could not get any cars.
The railroad would not furnish them to
us. Those with whom we had contract
ed began to telegraph, Send us our oil
or we will have to shut down. We
tried every way possible to get the
cars, but there were none for us.
I'VE were squarely up against 1t.
We were responsible for the loss to the
men we had contracted with to deliver
oil, and tell you those were blue days
for us. The dividends were cut short
off and we had visions of losing our
homes.
There was Just one thing left for us
to do. We had to deed our property
in the oil fields over TO the Associated
Oil company, over so per cent of the
stock of which is owned by the South
ern Pacific, and we had to take stock
in that company for pay.
"And that company hadn't the slight
est difficulty in getting cars to deliver
our contracts. The cars came right
along.
Texas Has Examples
Texas has a reciprocal demurrage
law, and it works well. Estudillo was
in the legislature when q reciprocal de-
murrage bill was put in.
1.-THE Southern Pacific did not want
the bill to go through. 1t was a bill
that would have helped the people. but
it would have hurt the railroad. Estu-
dillo did not dare vote against that bill
because he would have killed himself
with the orange growers, and he want
ed to run for our state senator. So
he ducked. He got out of the way, and
when the roll was called Estudillo was
not on hand to cast his vote for the
people.
1T is almost certain that a reciprocal
demurrage bill will come up again at
the next legislature. 1t is of great i'm
portance. If Estudillo is elected I guess
he will do some more ducking."