Imperial Valley press., 1915-04-06

Spreckels is being severely criticised
for not proceeding more rapidly with
the construction of the San Diego e.
Arizona railroad. This has led l.. j.
Wilde to write Mr.. Spreckels in re-
gard to the matter. In the course
of his reply Mr.. Spreckels says:
Nothing but great desire on my
part to see San Diego come into her
own in my lifetime led me into the
construction of the San Diego & Ari-
zona Railway. The whole idea orig
mated with the Southern Pacific Com
pany. ] merely acted as their agent
in the first 2 or 3 years. Through
the death of Mr.. Hartman their poll
cies changed, and since the Southern
Pacific ceased to put any money into
the San Diego & Arizona railway
everything that has gone into it has
been raised by my brother Adolph and
myself.
I'm order that any capital be OBJ
tanned at all, it was necessary to Sc
cure the permission of the Railroad
Commission for the issue of bonds and
stocks. After long inquiry into the
matter, the Railroad Commission lin
tied the capitalization of the San Die
go & Arizona railway to $15,O00,0OO,
of which $10,0O0,00O was to be in
bonds, to be sold at 85 cents on the
dollar, and S5,O0O,OO0 in stock, to be
sold at 100 cents on the dollar. At
the time this decision was arrived at
there had already been issued in stock
$2,OOO,O00, leaving $3,O0O,OOO to be
raised by an issue of stock.
sin my negotiations with European
capital, they advised me that if the
subscription to the stock could be
taken care of, they felt almost GER
tain they could take care of the bond
issue. | had already expended large
sums Of money pressing the railroad
forward at this time, and was looking
around for the purpose of seeing what
securities | had which | could convert
into cash in order to take care of the
stock.
"Some years ago | had entered into
contract with the city of San Diego
whereby | sold them a portion of the
Southern California Mountain Water
Company's system for $1,000, 900, with
an option TO purchase the balance of
the system for $1,500,O0O, within a
period of 10 years, the city to pay AZ
per cent taxes and operating expenses
ON the property represented by the
$l,5OO,OO0. The division of the prop
erty was arbitrarily made to suit the
needs of the city, as the CITY did moi
have enough money to buy the whole
system. When the agreement was en-
tered into, it was the expectation that
on or before the 10 years had elapsed
the city would acquire the whole prop
erty. AS a matter of fact, the city
received more for the $2, 800 900 than
1t should have received, but the di-
vision made of the property was the
only satisfactory way to handle it. In
other words, if the city had paid So
100000 for the first portion and ST.
ooo,oo0 Tor the second portion, that
probably would have been a more cor
rect value of the properties which we
llao separated to meet the city's
financial needs.
addressed a letter to the CITY
council on March II, 1914, in which
asked the city to exercise its option
at that time and by means of an
election vote to purchase the balance
of the water system for 1880. 600.
needed this money for carrying on
the work of the San Diego g. Arizona
railway, and at the same time to meet
the views of English capital In my
letter to the council | used the fol-
lowing words:
III the people of our city will as
sist me in raising these funds. with
'iieSe luiius ana other funds now avail
able, | will do my utmost to complete
the building of this road bv ,Julv
1916
AL that time | had been advised
by my representatives in England
That the deal was practically conclud-
ed and that l could safely RELY upon
the money necessary to the completion
oil the San Diego & Arizona railway
being furnished by English capital.
"On April 8, 1914, very strange
situation arose in Mexico. Some U.
D. marines were arrested by officers
OF President Huertas government On
April Il Admiral Fletcher landed a
hody OF marines and took possession
oil the city of Vera Cruz, which was
followed by the landing of an armv
iol occupation under General Funston
my English representatives advised
me this situation would delay the COM
pletlon of the contract for FURNISHING
money to build the San Diego g. Ar;-