Year: 1873

Nll upon thlS people. | had rather resist
and wait for better times and cooler judg-
ment for Vindicstien. In the face Of the
present storm | dare say this and shall
act on it.


One other consideration in this conneo-
ton. The other States, and not Califor-
mia, are the ones to complain, ii anybody,
Of a construction that makes the annual
interest national rather than a State
charge. We have here but one-eightieth
OF the population, and two and three -fitths
per cent. of the property, of the United
States, and therefore pay but that proper
ton OF the yearly interest, getting back
much more than the amount we pay in
state and county taxes on railroad prop
erty while other States get no such pro-
ceeds from taxation and we have all the
local benefits Of the road. Reverse the
rule, and we pay it all. know that this
frank statement, the necessity for which
l regret, may excite attention in other
States, and increase the disposition to
force this payment upon us. Yet all the
States get the benefit of reduced cost of
the transportation Cl mails and Govern
ment troops and supplies-this reduction
exceeding by two million Of dollars an
nualiy the whole amount Of yearly inter-
est; WITH security against costly Indian
wars and the benefit of tranquility in
the center of the continent. The average
annual amount paid by the Government
before the construction of the railroad
for transportation Of mails, troops and
supplies was 100000 The whole in
terest charge is less than $4,000 600. The
cost of one expedition against the Nor
mons before the road was built was greater
than five years interest on all the Pacific
Railroad bonds. In case of foreign war
the benefit to the nation Of the Pacific
Railroad in facilitating the defense and
preservation OF its Pacific possessions will
be incalcuable. In this view it is equit-
able that the entire nation, and not this
State alone, should bear this load, until
the development Of the interior, the ere
alton of new States along the line of the
road, and the increase of business conse-
quent thereon, enable the Pacific roads to
carry out the original intention of Con-
gress and discharge their obligations =" at
maturity"


! UNWIsDOM.


In the same spirit as that which seeks
to add "a, 600, 600 to the annual expense of
running the Pacific Railroad, are the eff
forts made to stimulate the highest taxa
ton of railroad property; to injure the
credit of the company by parading its
debts and insisting on its insolvency,
while inconsstently arraigning it for ex-
acting too great profits from its business /;
denying necessary facilities for transact
ing business, and making enmity to it, a
political test. 1t may be denied that this
is malicious, but if railroading should be
cheapened it is, at least, unwise. If it is
desirable that more roads be built it is
ia 10 o. roil =,
two hundred and four square miles of
territory. New York has mile Of rail
! road to less than twelve miles Pennsyl-
vania to less than ten Ohio to less than
twelve Massachusetts to less than six
even Missouri has mile of railroad to
! thirty-two square miles-over six times as
much as California in proportion to its
area. Capital to build roads must in the
future, as in the past, come from abroad.
1t will not come if capital so invested is
made the sport of popular passion. The
counties owe it to themselves to reason
ably tax all property within their borders
property required for railroad purposes
should be paid for at reasonable rates,
and a fair protection to all industrial in
terests is the duty of legislators. But il
$4,000 is charged to the railroad company
for the use of wharf in San Francisco
that cannot be made to yield an income
Of 500 in any other way, merely to make
it expensive for the company to do busi-
ness, passengers and freight landed on
that wharf must pay the impost. If the
utterance of such opinions as these is un-
popular, 1t is because an artificial excite
ment, and the suppression of truths, have
tended to mislead the public Judgment.


POOR AGAINST RICH.


There is nothing new in attempts to de-
cry the rich and excite the enmity of the
1 poor against them. Assaults against cap
ltal have often been the resource of poll
ticians to advance personal aims. A raid
against associated capital is raid against
industry and enterprise. By associated
capital the great business interests Of the
world are conducted, and employment is
given to busy millions. This, Daniel
/ Webster understood, and he shows thro'
/ the mists of the past, towering sublimey
above the demagogues who would array
one class of society against another, as he
utters the sentiments | shall quote, on the
floor Of the Senate:


"Sir, / see in those vehicles which carry
to the people sentiments from high places,
plain declarations that the present CON
( troversy is but a strife between one part of
the community and auother. / hear it
boasted as the unfailing security, the solid
4 ground never to be shaken, in which recent
measures rest, that the poor nat1traily
hate the rich. | know that under the
cover of the roofs of the Capitol, within
the last twenty -four hours, among men
sent here to devise means for the public
safety and the public good, it has been
vaunted forth, as a matter Of boast and
triumph, that one cause existed powerful
enough to support everything and to de-
fend everything, and that was the natural
hatred Of the poor agdim the rich.


"Sir, l pronounce the author of such
sentiments to be guilty Of attempting n
detestable fraud on the community a
double fraud /; a fraud which is to cheat
men out of their property and out of the
earnings of their labor, by first cheating
them out of their understanding"


Webster proceeded with magnificent
seorn to denounce the knavery of such
/ pretended friends Of the people, and tc
express his incredllity that the people
could be " deluded, cajoled and driven
about in herds" by = tricks so stale, SC
threadbare, so often practiced, so much
worn out on serfs and slaves" lie ex-
! claims:


| 80 The natural hatred of the poor against
the rich y The danger of moneyed
aristocracy y A power as great as that
resisted by the revolution = A call to q
new declaration OF independence = Sir
admonish the people against the object
of outcries like these. / admonish every
Industrious laborer in the country to be or
his guard against such delusion. / tel
him the attempt is to play off his passion;
against his interests, and to prevail OF
him, in the name of liberty, to destroy
the fruits of liberty in the name of hi:
own independence, to destroy that indie
pendence: and make him beggar and q
slave. Has he a dollar? He is advised