Los Angeles herald., 1910-07-27

calmly and cheerfully over ALL never
minding in the least. .,.,.
For instance: There was an article
In the constitution of the state or Cali
fornia that expressly forbade certain
kind of lease between railroad COM
panies. So the monopoly made some
thing like a dozen leases of that va
rietv' There was n section of the
nenal code that forbade an inter-
change of railroad stock between COM
panies, So the monopoly proceeded TO
interchange stock between railroad
companies. There was an article IN
the state constitution providing tnaI
the state railroad commissioners
should have the power to fix passen-
ger and freight rates. And when on
one famous occasion these commis-
sioners undertook to exercise this pow
er. the monopoly brushed the commls-
sloners out of the way and continued
TO make it's own rates in its old fashlon
on its old basis. And what was that
basis? All the traffic would pear.
Some of these incidents should Do
told in detail; 49,
constitution of California contains this
provision:
"And whenever railroad corpora
ton shall for the purpose of competing
with any other conAnon carrier lower
its rates for transportation OF passeh-
gers or freight from one point 10 an
other, such railroad rate shal not pe
again raised or increased from such
standard without the consent of the
governmental authority in which shan
be vested the power to regulate 1ares
and freights"
MERCHANTS START a RAILROAD
For MANY years the oppressed and
defrauded merchants of San Francisco
held to the belief that the one sure
remedy for their troubles was IN COM
petition. If they could only get an
other railroad, competition would COM
pel the Southern Central Paclhc ou-
garchy to reduce its rates ana practlce
decency. Many times their hopes Oh
competition had been raised from
many sources, but always to be disap-
ninted The new line was seized, con-
trolled or absorbed by the oligarchy
from the east. At last the merchants
formed their own company ana pullC
their own line from San Francisco bay
down the rich San Joaquin valley, zoo
miles and more.
Al once the new line made rates
much lower than the Southern Pacific's
tariff and the Southern Pacific was
Obliged to meet the reductions. Beau
tiful proof of the virtue of competition
as a cure-all! But the Atchison, To-
peka & Santa F'e-which had acquired
the old Atlantic & Pacific Ga lahd
grant railroad across Colorado ana
New Mexico), extended its line west
ward and secured an entrance to call
fornia-offered the grandest promise OF
perfect competition. If the santa Fe
could be b ught to San Francisco
there would be a competing outlet 10
the Atlantic SO the merchants sold
their San Joaquin valley line to the
santa Fe and amidst great rejoicing
the Santa Fe entered San Francisco
early in 1900
immediately Santa Fe and the
southern Pacific restored the rates IN
the San Joaquin valley generally TO
the basis that had prevailed before
the merchants road was built, and the
people of San Francisco discovered TOO
late that the addition of a new line
to their facilities made no difference
in their situation, for the simple reason
that the Southern Pacific owned $1H--
600 900 of stock in the Santa Fe ana
the two roads had a close trafhc ana
trackage arrangement Two roads with
but a single thought; two tariffs that
gouged as one.
(To be continued)