Year: 1871

RELATIONS or STOCKHOLDERS TO CORPORATIONS


The undue political influence and financial
control that many corporations have assum.
ed Is not the only evil presented by them In
their internal administration, between uaiorities
and mnoriues, directors and stockholders, cases
OF the groSSest injustice are constantly arising
1t is not uncommon to fad one class of stock.
holders enriching themselves from company
which impoverlShes another. So common is
this, especially with mining companies, that il
has become proyerbial aud grown into distinct
and diSgracetul code of morals, one of whose
tenets is, that to own majority of stock or
controlling interest is equivalent to owning il
all.


No stockholders should ever be allowed to
hold any interest in a corporation which is dis
tinct from, and may become autagouistic to the
lnterst OF the company as u whole the attempt
to do so on the part Of any officer of the comma
ny, should be regarded as a breach of trust, and
so punished and the organization of corpora
tons within corporations is refinement Of sub
tlcty aud fraud which should be positively pre-
vented 10y law.


FREE SCHOOLS AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION.


The American system of free schools is one of
the most bene6ceut outgrowths of our history
In some other countries education is as general
and as tree, but in none is the principle so we'll
recognized that Independent manhood is an OBJ
ject Of greater solicitude than powerful State /;
that man should be.educated for his own sake and
not as part of governmental machinery that
he is higher than the State and that society
and law are valuable only as they enable him to
become more man. The right of every child
to an elementary education is as sacred as his
right to air and light; to deprive him of It is to
deprive him Of the sixth sense of civilization,
and in the future will remand him to parah
caste. Public sentiment in this State in favor Of
Z" compulsory education is general aud not par
tisan, 1t does not propose to interfere with the
right of parent to select school for his Guild
rem or to educate them ut home, but enforce the
right of the child as member of society which
he himself is powerless to do. The statutes of
Michigan, Texas and other States that have leg
islated on this subject may be studied with ad-
vantage in framing our own.


THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION INDEPENDENT OF COLOR.


No Republican State can afford to violate the
fundamental law Of Justice by making arbitrary
distinctions among its citizens, or to dishonor
any one for an accident Of birth who may be
called upon to peril his life for his country.
Whoever is clothed with the dignity of American
citizenship should be able to stand erect in the
consciousness that he is the equal before the
law with every other citizen-that the Republic
which claims his allegiance knows neither high
nor low nor rich nor poor, but recognizes all
citizens as peers Of the realm" All badges Of
distinction that are relics of the sayc-holdiug
era Of our national history should pass away
with the system they commemorate Until the
State graduates penalties it cannot justly gradu-
ate opportunities. The doors of our schools
should be open to ALL with no prejudice Of caste
without, and no sectarian teaching within which
will prevent any child from freely entering.


REVISION or THE LAWS.


One of the most important subjects which the
Legislature will be called upon to consider at
the present session is the report of the Board of
Revision Commission. Any one who has often
had occasion to examine the statutes Of this
State will recognize the necessity for their gen
eral revision. The report of the Board embraces
more than this and proposes u " code of laws,
political, civil and criminal, for the entire gov
crnment of the people Of the State. The object
has not been to change the laws, but to
crystalize them in expression, and do away with
redundancies and with the incongruity Of a writ
ten constitution and vast body Of unwrittcn law;
to generalize the statutes and principles Of COM
mon law into science. Without assuming an
ability to pass upon the merits of the report as
whole, may express the opinion, from par
tial examination, that the plan is comprehensive,
the arrangement systematic, and the style clear
and terse.


LEGISLATORS SHOULD BE ELECTED BY DISTRICTS.


The Legislature will also be called upon to re
apportion the State for legislative and Congress
sional representation. Under the present sys-
tenn the city and county of San Francisco will
elect by general ballot nearly one-tourth Of the
members Of the Senate and Assembly, 1t will
be more in accordance with the theory Of our
government and better secure the rights Of nil
noritcs that the State should be divided into
senatorial and representative districts, so that
each member Of the Legislature shall be elected
by and responsible to q single constituency.


TOO MANY ELECTIONS.


Holding separate elections for judicial and
political Offices is productive Of additional ex-
pense sponding benefit. Theamend-
ment to the Constitution now pending to remedy
this meets the general appreciation Of the peo-
pie, and will no doubt receive the favorable con-
sideroton Of the Legislature.


UNIroRM BALLOT AND PURITY OF ELECTIONS.


No precautions should be neglected to secure
the Independence Of electors and the purity OF
elections. The advantage claimed for the bal
lot as a method Of voting is tbe free expression
of individual will that results from absolute Sc
crcsy.


LlrIGANT AND STATE PAPER ACTS.


The enactment popularity known MS the "Lit-
giant Organ Act" is OF more than questionable
policy. 1t removes n certain class OF public
service from the healthy test Of general compe-
ton, and to that extent creates monopoly"
1t gives the newspaper selected an additional in
centive to active and prejudiccd partisanship,
and is a premium to the serylity and discrim-
ination against the freedom Of the press If it
should be deemed desirable to retain the State
Litigant Paper for purpose of giving notice to
absent defendants, the selection of such organ
should be determined by competitive bidding.


CHINESE MMIGRArloN.


The introduction to this State Of large NUM-
bers of Asiatics has excited the jealousy OF one
class Of citizens, and the anxiety OF all Ihat
the immediate effects Of this immigration will be
10 cbeopen labor, is apparent and in the influx
of this race the faborng classes find cause for
alarm. while the political student and class not
dependent upon manual labor for immediate sup
port, regard with apprehension the Introduction
of A people into our midst so different from our
own as to preclude the possibility of asaimila-
tion. These ;ears and apprehensions find full
expression in the platforms Of both political par
ties That the introduction of this race cheap


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