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to carry it out, and in order to have some supervisory influence over
them, let a Board of Transportation Commissioners be elected by the
people, with power to make prima facie rates; with power to make a
schedule of freights and fares, and the Courts can decide if it is reason-
able and just. Then if the Transportation Commissioners make out a
tariff which is thought to be unreasonable by the people, they can go into
Court and have it modified before a jury of the people. If these Trans-
portation Commissioners make the freights exceedingly low, so that no
common carrier can carry, give the corporations the same right. And,
gentlemen, if we have not got the moral courage to do right toward the
railroad company, we will never get right done towards the people. We
have got to have the moral courage to do right to them before we can
have any hope of ever having justice done towards the people. I am
not one of those who are so far carried away as to think that we will get
the people protected and let the railroad bankrupt if they must.
not think that to be statesmanlike. Let us do right, and in doing right
let us come back to the principle that has been found safe to go by in
every business in the world.

I do

MR. ESTEE. Mr. Chairman: I send up an amendment which receives the approval of a majority of the Committee on Corporations. THE SECRETARY read:

"Insert after the word 'no,' in the first line, the word 'unjust.'"

SPEECH OF MR. TERRY.

MR. TERRY. Mr. Chairman: I am in favor of section nineteen as

it came from the committee, and I think that the interpolation of the word "unjust" would tend to raise questions upon every complaint of discrimination. The question of what was just or unjust discrimination would be constantly rising, and we would do better to stand upon the section as originally reported, and to allow no larger charge for a short distance than for a longer distance. There can be no justice in discrimination like that. If the railroad company, or any other transportation company, can afford to carry a ton of freight a certain distance for five dollars, they can carry it any less number of miles for the same price. MR. ESTEE. The amendment does not affect that part of the section. This is as to the question of facilities for transportation.

Now, they say that you can not tell what is reasonable. That is a question that has been solved thousands and thousands of times. It is just as MR. TERRY. Then, I assert that any discrimination against one easy to figure up what a company can carry a carload of freight from place and in favor of another, or against one man and in favor of here to San Francisco for as it is to figure up how much it is worth to another, or against one corporation and in favor of another, is unjust haul a load of that clay from the river bed over here to the Park. It is upon the face of it, and not to be justified under any possible continonly that you look at it with a microscope, and the railroad wants you geney, and, therefore, that the word has no place there. Any discrimto look at it with a microscopic view. Now, that is the rule. But you another. Any discrimination between places-giving one place an ination between persons is unjust-giving one man an advantage over cannot be microscopic when you come to the affairs of man. You must make allowances; you must estimate; or, as some people have called it, advantage over another-is unjust upon the face of it. Therefore, the you must guess. And it is but a guess at the best. Now, when you to give every man the same facilities, and at the same price as other word ought not to be inserted, and they should be absolutely required come to figure freights and fares, you have got to consider the life of a individuals. car, how long a car will last, how long an engine will last, respecting the cost of each, the cost of keeping them repaired, etc. Gentlemen, you have to do the same thing in the case of hauling the clay to the Park. You must consider the cost of the horse and of the wagon, the amount you can haul, how long the horse and the wagon will last, the necessary repairs, how much the man who drives the team is worth, etc. That same rule has been in existence since the common law. But we cannot be so microscopic in anything except railroads, and I do not think it is reasonable that we should say that every trifle should be figured. It is not just.

Another thing they may say--that what would be a reasonable compensation must be estimated or weighed according to the prevailing mode of transportation before railroads came into existence. I deny it. That view of the case would contend that the human family had made no progress in the way of invention. These people, the owners of the Central Pacific Railroad, claim all this property as private property. So it is, but it is in the public use. They claim all the improvements that give them the advantage over the stage traffic, although they do not claim them as a matter of legal right. Go to the passenger train that arrives in Sacramento this morning-look at the cow-catcher on the engine and you will find an inscription thereon that John Jones or some other man has taken out a patent upon it; go to the first wheel and you will see a similar inscription; go from there through the train, to the last timber on the last car, and you will see the stamp of invention everywhere. Do you wish to tell me that the railroad companies are entitled to the whole profits of the invention of the human family? Do they expect us to regulate freights and fares, on the assumption that these railroad companies are the inventors of every invention that places them above the stage coach? I say no. It is not theirs. The inventor is poor enough. These men who have given their inventions to the civilized world are poor enough. But mind you, the railroad stockholders are not the inventors. They are not entitled to the credit; but what they are entitled to is this a just and reasonable compensation as considered with the expenses, as it is now considered with the advancement of improvements, and not considered from the standpoint of fifty years ago.

Now, a great deal was said here upon this question by various gentlemen, who enlightened the committee with some ideas that were new and some that were not, about the rights of these corporations, and I believe that before the debates got through, it was pretty well understood by the Convention that "corporations," as used in the argument, meant the Central Pacific Railroad Company. As was said by Mr. Edgerton, it seemed to acquire a personality in the course of the debate. It was said by the distinguished gentleman from San Francisco, Mr. Wilson, and I confess to surprise at the statement from that source, that because of the fact that the United States was a creditor of this railroad company, and had a mortgage upon it, and because of the fact that other men had become creditors of this railroad and had mortgages upon its property, therefore the State had no right to interfere with the prospective profits of that company, and render it less able to settle with its creditors.

MR. WILSON, of First District. I used that for the purpose of showing that the Legislature, in view of that, might want to alter its policy. If we place it out of the power of the people to control, we might get into a position not contemplated.

MR. TERRY. That is a chance that the creditor takes who loans upon property, the title of which is subject to fluctuation of value. The creditor can stand in no better position than the debtor, and in no case can a man perfect his title by giving a mortgage or lien upon it. MR. WILSON. I have no doubt of the power to regulate these things, and have not said anything of the kind.

MR. TERRY. I misunderstood it then.

MR. WILSON. It was in reference to the first amendment offered by the gentleman from Los Angeles, that if the rates of freight and fare were put down, they never could be raised, I said it might put the railroad in such a condition that it could not meet its obligations, and that the Legislature could not allow them to raise the rates in order to meet the exigencies of the case.

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MR. TERRY. Well, if the railroad company, by putting down their rates, choose to commit hari-kari, for myself, I have no objections to it. I think that the amendment of the gentleman from Los Angeles is emiNow, sir, this plan, which I understand will be introduced, though nently proper, and ought to be adopted; that they themselves are the not by myself, will prevent the Commissioners doing wrong toward the best judges of what they can afford to carry freight for, and if for any companies, and will prevent them doing wrong toward the people. And purpose they announce their willingness to carry for a certain rate, they I think it will place this question of transportation and the difficulties should be held to their contract, and not be allowed to raise it. that may arise in the business, as nearly as possible on a level with diffi- Some allusions have been made to the magnificent donations of money, culties arising between corporations and others, or between individuals property, and credit which have been made by the Federal Government, themselves. It will bring them just as near to the same course of pro- by the State of California, and by several counties in the State. The cedure. It will take them out of being special classes just as nearly as gentleman from Marin asserted that these were free gifts, without any it is possible to do. Now, sir, when you bring corporations down to the conditions; that after the property passed it became the property of the level of other men, I hold that you have achieved a great end. A cor- railroad, and that they were under no legal obligations to the donor. poration knows the way into the back room of a Railroad Commis- True, sir, the recipient of a gift is under no legal obligations to the donor, sioner's office; but when you bring them before a jury of the people of but the obligation of common gratitude is held to be an obligation by this State, it is the last tribunal before which they wish to be tried for most natural persons. There was an implied understanding at the time their discriminations or extortions. I think this plan the best because when these donations were made to this corporation that the property it makes all equal before the law. They will not then be coming to the which was given to them, and the money which they were endowed Legislature to redress their wrongs. One of the main causes of a great with, was not to be used as a weapon against the donors; not to be used deal of this railroad trouble has been the fact that the railroad com- for the oppression of the people by whom the money was given. It is panies have been so placed that the individual could not get at them. true that it gave them an opportunity to increase the resources of the They have been hedged about with all this Commission machinery so State, and it was supposed that they would use it so as to furnish that the individual could not proceed. But just the moment you place employment for thousands of laboring men in building the roads, makthem on the common law rule, give the corporation its rights and the ing cuts and tunnels, and laying down the rails. It was expected that people their rights, and they know that the Courts are open to punish thus a benefit would accrue to all. It was not expected that with these these railroad companies, then the clouds of war will drift from the sur-magnificent donations, the honest workingmen of the country would be face. As soon as the corporations find out that if they charge exorbitant thrown aside, and that hordes of Mongolians would be imported into the rates-if they charge above the rates fixed by the Commissioners, or country to take the place of these working men. The parties that made even if they charge the rates fixed by the Commissioners, if they are the magnificent donations did it for their benefit, and not for the benefit unreasonable they will be liable to complaint in the Courts, and have to of the corporation. How has it been? Go upon any of the lines, and pay the penalty-they will bring their rates down to reasonable ones. you will scarcely see one citizen out of five hundred men employed. I think with the benefit of the experience of the States beyond the That, then, was a part of the implied condition of the gift that has not Rocky Mountains before us, we should adopt a system based upon that been kept by this corporation. experience.

Again, something was spoken of the envy with which men looked

And we are told that this is private property; that we must not interfere with it; that the Central Pacific Railroad Company are the best judges of the price at which they can run. Well, so they are the best judges, and so they would be, if they were guided by the commonest principles of fair dealing. But their judgment is altogether exercised upon the side of self. It was shown by the statistics, read here the other day, that out of the gross earnings the profits were more than ten per cent. greater in California than any other railroad in the United while it amounted in this State, according to the report of the Commissioners, to fifty-six per cent. Now, these men have made enough out of this magnificent corporation to be willing hereafter to deal fairly. We know that they won't deal fairly, and it is our duty to make them do it. It is our duty to prevent discrimination between places. They start out their railroad track and survey their line near a thriving village. Two or three cases of that kind happened between here and Lathrop. They would go to the most prominent citizens of that village and say, “If you will give us so many thousand dollars we will run through here; if you don't we will run by," and in every instance where the subsidy was not granted, that course was taken, and the effect was just as they Stanislaus County; because they did not get what they wanted they established another town four miles from there. In every instance where they were refused a subsidy, in money, unless their terms were acceded to, they have established a depot near to the place, and always have frozen them out. As stated by the gentleman from Los Angeles, General Howard, they blackmailed Los Angeles County two hundred and thirty thousand dollars as a condition of doing that which the law compelled them to do.

upon the wealth acquired by these men; that they saw their magnifi-perity of the State. Why, who ever heard of an able-bodied man in cent houses, and they envied them the possession of them. Whether California going around and begging for a meal, or begging for the men look with pleasure or displeasure upon the accumulation of wealth, privilege of working, until these thousands of coolies were imported depends in some measure upon the manner in which that wealth is and employed by this company. What a spectacle was witnessed in accumulated. Now, when this Central Pacific Railroad Company was San Francisco the other day, when one of these magnates gave notice organized there were many stockholders. I believe only six stockhold-that a certain number of men might be employed at one dollar a day ers, who assumed the directorship, acquired wealth. I have not heard and find themselves, to do some work, and hundreds of men were sitof any others reaping any very considerable profit from it. It is said ting there all day long, more having offered than could be employed, that by forming a Contract and Finance Company, and taking a contract begging for an opportunity to earn even so small a sum. Is not that from themselves to build a road for themselves, that they put into their scene witnessed every day? Are there not hundreds of able-bodied own pockets all of the money that came from the various sources into men willing to labor, anxious to labor, who are absolutely deprived of the corporation. However that may be, I know of some stockholders the privilege of earning, by their own labor, the price of the food that we never got rich from the profits of this corporation. The County of is necessary to sustain life? Deprived of the liberty of carrying out the Placer became a stockholder to the extent of about three hundred thou- primeval curse which was placed upon man, to earn his bread by the sand dollars certainly more than twice as much money as any one of sweat of his brow. the present owners of that enterprise ever put into it of their own; and according to the wealth of these men, estimated at from eight to fifteen millions, the County of Placer ought to have had fifteen or twenty millions. I would like my friend from Placer, Judge Hale, to tell me how much that county made out of it. The County of Sacramento was also a subscriber to the stock to the extent of some three hundred thousand dollars. Certainly that was more than any one of these individuals put in; and while they have their fifteen or twenty millions, and are living in opulence, how many dollars has the County of Sacramento real-States. I believe the highest was thirty-six per cent. in the other States, ized? The County of Santa Clara subscribed two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the County of San Joaquin two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and as the owner of twenty-five hundred shares, according to the profits made by the directors, who certainly did not put in half that amount to the man, ought to have had twenty millions of dollars, and not one dime of it has ever gone into the treasury of that county. Now, is there not some reason why people should look with some displeasure upon the accumulation of these large sums in the hands of a few men who are charged with using it for their own interests, for a corruption fund in the Legislature, and perhaps, in some instances, in the Courts of justice. It is our duty here to adopt some plan by which the people of Cali-said, to kill off the little town. Here was the town of Paradise, in fornia are to be protected against this tyrannical corporation, because it has just come to be this question: either you have got to govern that corporation or the corporation will govern you. That is the question which the Convention has to determine first and the people afterwards. I examined with a good deal of care the twentieth section of this report of the Committee on Corporations, and I could not bring myself, as I thought, to support it; but I must confess that my determination to vote against that twentieth section was very much shaken by what might have been a warning or threat, one or the other, held out by the gentleman from Sacramento, Mr. Edgerton, in his eloquent address upon this subject. He intimated that the passage of that section would drive this corporation into politics, and that they would probably be able to control the election of these Commissioners and owning these Commissioners. They could discharge five or six thousand Chinamen and employ voters in their stead. Now, gentlemen, if I was certain that even that much good would result from it, if I was certain that five thousand Chinamen would be discharged and that five thousand citizens would be employed, and thus be able to earn an honest living for their families, I should be almost tempted to vote for it with all its faults. If it secured the discharge of aliens and employment of citizens who have families to support which would add to the future prosperity of the State, it would go very far to counteract the evils which might follow from this power in the hands of three men. I have too much regard for the honesty and intelligence of the people of this State to believe that the elections can be controlled by such measures. The people have seen too much of that in the past. In spite of all their influence, a square vote of the people of this State will sustain any measure which is intended to curb the grasping avarice of that corporation, and prevent further oppression upon the people of this State.

Now, it is for us to do something to prevent this discrimination. We can say to them, and it is our duty to say to them, "If you undertake to publish to the world that you are able to carry a car or ton of freight for five dollars a hundred miles, you shall not charge the same rate for fifty miles. If the price from Sacramento is two dollars, you shall not charge more to Davisville or to any intermediate point." This is doing them no harm. They say they charge less to San Francisco, because there is competition, because people can send it by another route and they lose the freight. Very good. If they are obliged to carry freight at a loss, then it is their interest to lose it. But they are not carrying at a loss. They certainly get pay for it or they would not want it. If there was a hundred tons of freight to carry, and they were going to lose money in carrying it, they would rather some other kind of conveyance would take it. So it is absolutely certain that they are not carrying freight anywhere at a price so low as to lose money. Then if they do not lose money, they can afford to carry fifty miles at the same price they do one hundred. They can afford to carry to any intermediate point upon the same road for the same that they do the whole distance. I do not propose to detain this Convention any longer in what I have to say, and end as I begun, by saying that the amendment proposed by the Chairman of the Committee on Corporations ought not to be adopted; that in the very nature of things there can be no discrimination between individuals as to railroad facilities which is not unjust upon the very face of it, and we do not want any question raised or any trials had as to whether it was unjust or not. Say, "You shall not discriminate. If John Smith comes to you with a ton of freight, treat him the same as if Peter Jones came to you with the same kind of freight, and give him the same advantages." The putting in of that amendment, the insertion of that word "unjust" here, would give rise in every case to litigation and inquiry. Just have it understood that they shall not discriminate. We decide here in this Convention a fact that is patent to every man, and we say, "You shall not discriminate at all.”

SPEECH OF MR. BARTON.

MR. BARTON. Mr. Chairman: I concur with the gentleman last on the floor, in regard to section nineteen. It reads, in my opinion, just as it should read. It is the proper interpretation, and meets the wants and demands of the people of this State to-day.

It is said that they themselves are the best judges of what they can charge; that no information can be obtained which will enable the Legislature or Convention to fix the rates at which their roads ought to be run. And it is said, in the argument against the amendment of the gentleman from Los Angeles, that some man might get a stage line, have a parcel of old stages on the line, and blackmail the railroad company, and he might say, "If you don't come down with so much money will run opposition to you," and they would be compelled, unless they could put down their freights and fares, to submit to blackmail. Well, gentlemen, I have always heard that one of the principal arguments in favor of fostering these railroad corporations was that it would secure a cheaper mode of transportation than stage coaches and mule teams. If that is not true-if the railroad company cannot afford to carry both freight and passengers at rates cheaper than stages and mule teams-then the sooner the corporations are destroyed the better for the future of California. If the freights are the same and the fares are the same when this work is being done by mule teams and stages, they are the best, for the profits of transportation are shared by the whole community. The farmers, in the first place, sell the animals, the wagon-the makers make the wagons, the farmers raise the grain and hay to feed the animals, the blacksmith shoes them, the harness-maker makes the harness, and the money is scattered over the country to every class of people in it. Whereas, the profits arising from the freights and fares of the railroad company goes, most of it, into the hands of a few enormously rich men, and the balance of it into the purses of aliens who do not expect to become citizens of our country, and come here only upon the expectation of gathering as much as they can of the fatness of the land in the shortest possible space of time, and return with it to their own country. I say that unless the element of cheapness comes in they are an absolute curse to the country.

What effect have they had? It is said that they increase the pros

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the Convention, I confess myself at present time in rather an awkward position. For several days I have had a desire to be heard upon the subject pending the report of the Committee on Corporations-but having a degree of temerity, and a lack of courage, perhaps, to force myself upon this honorable body, I find myself with my manuscript totally routed and emasculated by the eloquent speeches and arguments offered by the very learned gentlemen who have addressed this Convention upon the subject; and when our old friend, General Howard, like an old Spartan, rose here and made his voice resound upon the side of the people, as against the oppression and encroachments of this soulless corporation, I felt as though the whole subject had been exhausted. I felt as though there was not a single word left for me to say; and I do say now, to the fullest extent, and with all sincerity and honesty of purpose, that Mr. Howard, the gentle

man from Los Angeles, has more than answered every argument and sophistry that has been introduced upon the floor of this house upon the part of the corporations. I do not say by their paid attorneys; but, gentlemen of the Convention, it grieves me very much when I find myself associated with what is considered the very brightest and best talent of the people of this State-the chosen, and selected as such-to find upon one side of this Convention men who are willing to come forth and fight the battles of the people, as against the oppressions and tyranny of the the corporations; and upon the other side, another class of individuals who have been elected and are entitled to seats upon this floor, who come here with the determination-arguing from their reasoning, or their standpoint of reasoning-with a full determination that the people shall be thwarted in their efforts to revise the fundamental law of this State. And, Mr. Chairman, being a farmer from the northern part of the State-from one of the cow counties of the north-I want it distinctly understood, that neither the imperial frowns nor the scorns of the hirelings of the corporations in this State, can deter me from my proper rights upon the floor of this Convention. I, too, am here for a purpose, and if I might be indiscreet enough to use indiscreet language or terms, if I should in haste use any language that would be indiscreet enough to call things by a proper name, I will hold myself personally responsible for every word I utter in behalf of the people upon this question, and against that soulless corporation that has crushed down labor to-day to the menial serfdom of the Mongolian slave. Mr. Chairman, I came here with the determination of working for the interests of the people (the corporations will take care of themselves); and in making just laws for the people, we cannot refrain from making proper laws for every one; and when I have beheld the ridicule and the scenes that have been perpetrated on this floor, I have been reminded that if the people were to hear all about the burlesque and the unreasonable conduct of this body, they would exclaim, with all their vigor and power, "This Convention does fall short of our expectations." And I am fearful that that will be the verdict. We find ourselves occupying a position here, as delegates in this Convention, to revise the Constitution of this State; and it bears a relation similar to that of a jury, as we discuss and pass upon each of the propositions which are proposed to the new Constitution. Therefore, sir, great care should be taken that we may arrive at just and equitable conclusions, and render such a verdict as will be just, alike to those who are interested in railroads and other corporations, and to the people at large. A spirit of fairness should, and I hope will, characterize our actions and our conclusions. That the best interests of the State shall be promoted, of all other conclusions, will no doubt be admitted on all sides. Yet, sir, there is a strong feeling in the minds of the people of this entire State, that the corporations control this Convention; and when we look around this chamber and find the array of legal talent which is pitted against adopting the report of the Committee on Corporations other than Municipal, we are not surprised that such a feeling exists in the minds of the people at large. We find, sir, the ablest lawyers in the Statemany of them-battling here against that report. On the other side we find the farmer, the merchant, the mechanic, and, in a word, sir, the producing classes. Does not this state of things itself bring conviction to the unbiased mind? It would be idle, indeed, for the farmers and merchants and mechanics upon the floor of this house to cross blades, if you please, in debate with such distinguished advocates as Mr. Wilson, Mr. Edgerton, Mr. McFarland, and others. But, Mr. Chairman, we desire that our views shall be heard; and, sir, while we admit the ability, the skill, and the ingenuity of these gentlemen, we must still admit that the provisions of this report ask for nothing but what is fair and just, nothing but what the people of this State demand, when we find that the Central Pacific Railroad Company earn such profits with the magnificent donations of the Government and the people, and seem determined to dictate in all questions of State policy, from the election of a United States Senator down to the selection of a Warden of the State Prison.

Mr. Chairman, there seems to be a conflict between this monstrous corporation and the people, and it might just as well be determined at once, now and for all, which shall control. It is fair to presume that the Commission will be just to these corporations; and if they are, what is there in the provision proposed by the committee's report which these railroad people complain of. The people are just and fair, and the representatives of the people have, or should have, no other motive than to reflect their will. Have the railroad companies become so obnoxious to the people that they are afraid that justice will not be done them? Or are they afraid that justice will be done? It seems to me, sir, that the provisions of the committee report, when amended as proposed, will meet the demand which the people of this State have made of us; and, sir, nothing short of this will fill the measure of that demand.

him casually. He said the other evening, that the Southern Pacific Railroad was running at a loss of five thousand dollars a day, or one million five hundred thousand dollars a year. I believe that is about his statement. Why, sir, this is the man who, as a servant of the people, said that these gigantic railroad kings set themselves up over us as our masters. Now, sir, if they are losing five thousand dollars per day, or one million five hundred thousand dollars per annum, I must say that I am compelled to give them less credit than I have always given them, to invest their money in an enterprise that never will pay any better than that. I will guarantee, gentlemen of the Convention, that the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad combined, will do nothing of the kind, to build a road where it will not pay them a percentage on their capital. In one breath, Mr. Edgerton says the railroad would discharge their Chinamen and employ white men, and thereby elect their Commissioners, and the next breath he says the result would be to utterly drive out and destroy the railroads of this State. Speaking of the lawyers and their efforts, he eulogizes that profession. So far as I am concerned, I think the lawyer is a necessary evil, to say the least of it. I have no unkind words to offer against the lawyers as such. It is possible that it is necessary that we should have that intelligent class with us. I have no objection to it; but when I find myself frowned down, or an attempt made to frown me down, because I am a farmer, forsooth, with their imperial frowns, then I claim it as my right to antagonize against that enormity, the profession of the law. And while upon that subject, allow me to say that the people of this great Nation do distrust the profession of the law. In our national Congress, out of about five hundred members, three hundred and ninety-seven of them are lawyers, twelve farmers, and the remainder are composed of bank Presidents, railroad directors, and so on, and so on. Now, this disparagement of representation upon the part of the lawyers, does not speak well for the Nation; and, take the history of this State and its legislative career, and it does not speak well, in my opinion, for the lawyers. What our friend, Mr. Howard, has said of the lawyers, covered nearly all the grounds, but what was left untouched, the gentleman from San Francisco, Dr. O'Donnell, finished up last night. Therefore, I may leave the lawyer to occupy precisely whatever position he desires to occupy in this life without any molestation upon my part whatever, because I accord to him, as I accord to every individual, the right to think and act for themselves, in accordance with his own will and conscience.

And, Mr. Chairman, while I am upon this subject, I desire to say that since I have been upon the floor of this Convention there has been a determination to cast their imperial frowns upon me and my friends to that extent that it is not pleasing in my sight nor to my feelings. Whilst I have endeavored to extend to the gentlemen every courtesy that was in my power, I have been branded with the sneering remark that I was a Kearneyite; that I was a communist; that I was an agrarian. I brand it as a falsehood. I am, sir, if I know myself, a representative of the people of this State, and of no individual. I bend the knee to no individual. I speak my sentiments clearly and boldly upon every subject, whether intelligently or otherwise, I will refer to the public to determine. But when a man rises upon the floor, and with his imperial frown attempts to drive me from my position in this body, by telling me, because I dare to be a Workingman, and cast my lot and my voice upon that side, I tell the gentlemen upon the floor of this Convention that it is an odium I am proud to wear, because of the fact that I find a majority of this Convention, gentlemen, upon the side of the people, and, God knows, they were not all elected upon my ticket. Thank God for it! I say all praise to those gentlemen who have dared to have the manly courage to come out here and assert their independence in behalf of the great fight and struggle they are called upon to perform here, and identify themselves with my side of the Convention, if you please, in defense of the people and the people's rights.

Why, sir, Mr. Edgerton, the gentleman from Sacramento, almost scandalized the Chairman of the Committee on Corporations, and the entire committee. And while I am upon this subject, allow me to call attention to the contrast in his position here to-day, and that which he occupied four years ago last Winter, when I was entitled to a seat upon the floor of this very chamber, from this county, then my own home. When we found that monstrous corporation in here with its representatives, and the great fight was being made for the United States Senator, I then found myself here upon the side of the people as I do to-day, and along with me was the honorable gentleman from Sacramento, Mr. Edgerton. The very manly fight that was made by that gentleman and his friends in behalf of the people, and against the corporation-for I had the honor of stumping the county with him and being with him during the campaign-a more honorable fight than he made was never made Of the corrupting influence of this railroad I desire to speak a few in the State of California. Yea, even the noble Haight never made a words. They have robbed cities of their water fronts; they have ruled nobler fight than Mr. Edgerton. Then what has come over the spirit of through highest styles of power and tyranny in the counties of this this man's dream? We find him here to-day villifying, and scandalizing, State, and by their gross system of colonization they have removed and breaking down the report of the Committee on Corporations, and he county seats, against the will and the wish of the people; they have does not offer to this honorable body one sentiment in argument that subsidized the press of the State, and of the Nation; they carry the would lead to anything like an intelligent conclusion upon this subject, political destiny of almost every man in this State around in their pock-whereby this body might adopt some other report or some other means ets; they have driven out of our State almost all of the intelligent that would meet the people's demands in this State. labor, male and female, by giving Chinese slaves the preference. Both they and their henchmen, and their organs, have slandered the intelligence of this State and Nation by the statement, namely: that had it not been for the Chinese, the great Central Pacific Railroad could never have been built. I brand that as an insult to the intelligence of the American people, and especially to the people of the State of California. I brand such a statement as a falsehood, and characterize it as a gross insult.

I am sorry Mr. Edgerton is not here, because I do not desire to say harsh things about a gentleman in his absence, but I shall only refer to

Why, sir, at that momentous time, four years ago last Winter, when the people were aroused from one end of the State to the other upon the subject of corporations, what do we find then? We find the honorable gentleman from Marin, Mr. Shafter, championed by one side of the house, and Mr. James Farley, of Amador, from the other side, and the people sandwiched in between these two great parties, attempted to be crushed out of existence, making a manly fight, as we are to-day making. What was the result? The manly courage of the people's representatives went on from day to day, and from week to week, and the Republican and Democratic parties pooled their issues, if you please,

pooled their political issues, and were willing to cast aside all of their
bickerings and wars of years, throw Mr. Shafter overboard, and cast their
entire vote, as they propose to do in this Convention, for the corpora-
tions and against the people; and though in our infancy, in our weakness
as an element standing up and daring to battle for the people, we came
forth from our sandwiched position, claimed the dignity of men, and
made a gallant fight, which resulted in the overthrow of the mandates
of the corporations, and elected the people's choice of this State, Newton
Booth, to the United States Senate. Then it was, sir, that a Democrat,
like myself, who has been for thirty years in this State, rose above party
and voted for Newton Booth. Then it was that a Democrat like me
could cast aside every other consideration and support the measures and
the demands of the people.
Mr. Chairman, it does vex my heart, it pains me, to see the bright
intellect that the people have sent here pitted against the insignificant
and lowly representatives of the people of this State. Coming here as
we do, without any knowledge in parliamentary law, without any expe-
rience in legislative matters, to see these misled minds pitted against us,
I tell you, gentlemen of the Convention, it does grieve my soul and my
heart. For why? Because I claim, sir-because I brand them-I
send it home to their hearts-their motives are sinister, and not in keep-
ing with the demands of the people and of the times.

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the committee, that I never did consent to it, and do not now. To insert
the word, "unjust," there, destroys, or qualifies, the whole section. In
the speech of the gentleman from Sacramento, no allusion was made to
the misfortunes to which the people of Illinois run by inserting that word
into the Constitution, or where they had finally to legislate down to the
proposition that the discrimination must be considered prima facie unjust.
The moment you proceed in this direction, the question is raised, what
is unjust discrimination? and you go wrong altogether; you open wide
the door for construing the section away. I say that there is no discrim-
ination that is not an unjust discrimination-prima facie an unjust dis-
crimination. And that is all that is necessary to be said. It is inferred
that any discrimination is an unjust discrimination, and I have not one
particle of doubt that if those Conventions that have employed the word
had the work to do over again, that every single one of them would
leave the word out of the section. This Convention, seeing the dilemma
into which these Conventions run, should not insert the word and open
the door for construing it away.

MR. GRACE. Mr. Chairman: I move that the committee rise.
MR. TULLY. I would ask if an amendment is in order?
THE CHAIRMAN. The gentleman can send up his amendment, and
it depends upon what it is.

THE SECRETARY read:

"Amend section nineteen so as to read: The Legislature shall, after the adoption of this Constitution, establish and provide a system for the enforcement of an equitable tariff of rates to be charged for the transcompanies of this State, and all appropriate legislation to prevent undue and unwarrantable discrimination in such charges or in the facilities for the transportation of the same class of freight or passengers by such companies between persons and places, and shall compel the observance of the same by fines and forfeitures upon such railroad and transportation companies, and by imprisonment of the officers or employés thereof, at its discretion.""

And, sir, this corporation, this Central Pacific Railroad corporation, has filled our land with tramps, and when one of them comes along-a white man-he may be a man of education; he may have been educated in the highest schools of the East; yet he has journeyed with his educa-portation of freight and passengers by the railroad and transportation tion to this shore, and when he knocks and asks for admission and employment, because he carries his blankets upon his back he is told, "Begone! you are a tramp; we prefer to employ Chinamen." I am sorry to say that this spirit has permeated not only the corporations, but it has permeated the body politic all through the State. We find it, if you please, in its ramifications deep down among the Grangers, where I belong. I scorn them and brand them as false to their professions; that they are not Grangers, and are not entitled to the appellation.

Mr. Chairman, I shall not weary the committee but a short time further. The ground has been so thoroughly covered and so much has been said, that I believe that the intelligent members of this Convention-and I claim they are all such, and God forbid that I should utter anything otherwise-are ready to vote, and I hope that they will, as nearly as possible, adhere to the report of the committee. Now, in regard to the appointment of the Commission, which section twenty refers to. I am not willing, for one, to submit this matter to the Legislature, and I will not support any proposition that has a tendency to throw this question into the hands of the Legislature in any shape, form, or nature. It has been asserted by Mr. Shafter, that there are only three distinct branches of government in this State. Admit it, sir. I am perfectly willing to admit that there are but three, but when the time comes that a soulless corporation will even go so low and so contemptible as to control the two great (so called) political parties and their party machinery, so that three distinct branches of government will not run this State, I am in favor of making four, yea five, if it is necessary, in order to mete out the views and the demands of this people.

THE AMENDMENTS.

MR. LARKIN. Mr. Chairman: I would ask what amendments are pending to section nineteen? I think that after being discussed for the last three or four days this house should dispose of it, so that we can discuss section twenty. In section twenty there is a question involved in relation to the Commission, and if there are no other amendments, I will

move

MR. CAPLES. I have one.

MR. LARKIN. My objection to the amendment of the gentleman from San Francisco, Mr. Estee, is that it nullifies the section. We should provide positively that no discrimination in charges or facilities for transportation shall be made. That is clear and positive, and I believe that the Convention is ready to vote down that amendment and carry that section as it stands. Therefore, as soon as the Doctor has offered his amendment, I shall move the previous question.

MR. CAPLES. Mr. Chairman: I desire to offer an amendment to the amendment.

THE SECRETARY read:

"Strike out, in the first line, the word 'discrimination,' and insert the word 'robbery.""

MR. CAPLES. Mr. Chairman: I do not desire to discuss this question at all, and I confess that the two terms are equivalent-discrimination and robbery--but I have a decided preference for the latter. Therefore I offer the amendment.

MR. BARBOUR. Mr. Chairman: If I understand it, the report, so-called, by the Chairman of the Committee on Corporations, to insert the word "unjust," purports to be a report of the committee. MR. ESTEE. I did not say it was a report of the committee. I said I had submitted it to a majority of the committee. I do not think it makes any difference one way or the other. I offered it at the suggestion of members on this floor who were friendly to the proposition, and with a view to uniting the friends of the measure.

REMARKS OF MR. BARBOUR.

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REMARKS OF MR. MCCONNELL.

MR. MCCONNELL. Mr. Chairman: I desire to occupy the time of the committee but a few moments, and I will first read a few lines from the speech of the gentleman from Marin, Mr. Shafter. He says: "Way back in eighteen hundred and sixty, this railroad excitement commenced. There was not a man in the State who would not turn his pockets wrong side out to help build a railroad. The people were willing to give them all they asked, and all they did was to take all the people gave them. You forced it upon them, and they scarcely had to ask for it. You gave it to them without any restriction whatever. Congress gave them fifty millions of dollars without scarcely inquiring what they were going to do with it. They did not even inquire where their probable terminus would be. It was mentioned as being at or near the Bay of San Francisco, and they stretched that as being at Sacramento. It was given to them without a solitary condition. All this was done by our delegation in Congress. The State itself gave them millions of dollars, and the people subscribed for millions of their stock. I voted against it in the Legislature, and would do it again. Another bill was passed granting them ten thousand dollars a mile for every mile the Pacific Railroad had built, or should build in this State. These subsidies amounted to about twenty million dollars. The people got cooled down a little, and sent me, with others, here to have that Act repealed. We did so; and what did the people do? They sent the man who introduced the bill and got it passed to the United States Senate. Talk about the people wanting this thing and that thing, here is an instance of it. I was sent here to repeal the bill, and I did so, and after I had done so I could not probably have got a vote because I was a monopolist, and the other gentleman was an antimonopolist. The people are generally hasty and do not examine deliberately."

In view of the vast past experience of the gentleman-nineteen years as a legislator, and a great many years as a railroad builder-I expected we should hear from him something that would offer a solution to the whole question. I remember the time very well when the people of San Francisco opposed the building of the Central Pacific Railroad, and called it the "Dutch Flat swindle." It was at a time in its history when it was struggling for existence, without means, and in need of friends, and it was perfectly safe to oppose it. It was at this time that the gentleman, as he says, was sent up to Sacramento for the purpose of making a new bargain, in which he partially succeeded, by which the people are now, and have been ever since, paying the Central Pacific Railroad one hundred and eight thousand dollars a year. The people, as he tells us, failed to recognize his great services, and sent another gentlemen to the United States Senate, who had assisted the railroad. In course of time the struggling company accomplished the mighty undertaking, and its terminus was established at San Francisco. A few short years pass, and the people send the gentleman again to Sacramento to revise the fundamental law of the land. Behold! What a change has come over the spirit of his dreams! The struggling infant is now a giant, successfully contending with the people of the entire commonwealth; making Governors, Representatives, and Senators; controls the entire transportation of freight and passengers upon this coast, and threatens to enslave a free people. Where does the gentleman from Marin stand now? He has already answered. His speeches upon this floor too plainly tell on which side he is enlisted. This fight never will eternal principles of right and justice. The company will have a barren victory that ignores these principles. I desire information upon the following questions:

MR. BARBOUR. Mr. Chairman: I seriously object to this manner of introducing amendments. Every morning the Chairman of the Com-be settled, and it ought not to be settled, until it is settled upon the mittee on Corporations comes in with an amendment, and says it is by the action of a majority of the committee. Running up to a member whilst perhaps he is talking to a man, he asks him, Have you any objection to this proposition?" The member has no opportunity to examine it. Then he hands it in here as the act of a majority of the committee. I object to that mode of procedure, and I rise now, not for the purpose of discussing this amendment, but to say, as one member of

The distance from Winnemucca to Sacramento City is three hundred and twenty-four miles, and the return to Winnemucca, six hundred and forty-eight miles, and is over the high Sierra Nevadas, where the grades are high, the curves sharp, and often deep snow; and Mr. Edgerton

Crouch,
Dowling,

Johnson,
Joyce,

Martin, of Alameda,

Shafter,

Shurtleff,

Smith, of Santa Clara,

Stedman,

Steele,

Martin, of Santa Cruz, Stuart,

McComas,

McConnell,

Miller,

Moreland,

Morse,

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Noel,
Ohleyer,

Overton,

Pulliam,

Schomp,

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says the cost of hauling is increased five times for every twenty feet of
grade. Now, having two carloads of freight at Winnemucca ready for
shipment, and desiring to send it to market-say to Boston, Massachu- Dudley, of San Joaquin, Keyes,
setts-is it necessary that it should be taken to Sacramento and then Dudley, of Solano, Lindow,
returned to Winnemucca before it starts on its destination? If the rail- Dunlap,
road should take your freight against your wishes to Sacramento and Estee,
return it over the same road to Winnemucca, and charged you for that Estey,
service one and one half cents per pound, or three hundred dollars per Farrell,
carload of twenty thousand pounds, would you not think it unjust and Fawcett,
wrong? This is the management in eighteen hundred and seventy- Filcher,
eight. I find, in looking over bills of lading in eighteen hundred and Garvey,
seventy-three, that a different policy prevailed. Freight did not come Gregg,
over to Sacramento, but went directly east, and the charge was only one Hall,
cent per pound, or two hundred dollars per carload, although it was Harrison,
three hundred and twenty-four miles nearer Boston than Sacramento. Harvey,
In addition to these charges through rates are added. Do you think Heiskell,
such management in transporting produce to market a wise and just Herold,
policy toward the producer? Should a person be punished because he
is nearer market than his neighbor? Do you think that part of a thing Andrews,
is worth more than the whole of it? I cannot think of anything where Barbour,
such a rule would hold good, except it be upon the long speeches in this Barry,
Convention. [Laughter.] I desire to know of the gentleman from Brown,
Marin if his agent on his little farm in Marin should take his butter
Caples,
and cheese, the produce of his dairy of five thousand cows, and trans- Condon,
port it to Ukiah-one hundred miles in an opposite direction and back Cowden,
again-before it took its departure to San Francisco, the market he
Davis,
wished it sent to, and charged him one and one half cents per pound for Dean,
that kind of service, if he would retain him in his employ and think he
Doyle,
was a good and wise servant? If he answers all these questions to the Eagon,
satisfaction of the Convention, I shall be disposed to assist him to the
Evey,
United States Senate the next time he is a candidate for that high and Finney,
honorable position; for certainly no other man will be his equal in this Freeman,
State. And I would ask him further-he having been a lawyer for Freud,
forty years, and a man of large experience and extensive practice, and Glascock,
familiar with legislation in California-if he can tell us what has become Gorman,'
of the Contract and Finance Company? If so, was it a financial suc- Herrington,
cess? Also, what has become of the Western Development Company, Hilborn,
and was that equally successful? And further, what is the name of the Hitchcock,
new company that has recently been formed, and are its objects the
same as its deceased brethren.

MR. GRACE. I think we have a rule that we should take a recess from twelve o'clock to two. I am as much in favor of getting along with the business of this Convention as any gentleman on this floor, but I cannot see any use in sitting long after the usual hour and then having the balance of the time in the evening. We can take the recess at the usual hour. I therefore move that the committee rise, report progress, and ask leave to sit again.

Carried, on a division, by a vote of 73 ayes to 35 noes.

IN CONVENTION.

THE PRESIDENT. Gentlemen: The Committee of the Whole have instructed me to report that they have had under consideration the report of the Committee on Corporations other than Municipal, have made progress, and ask leave to sit again.

The Convention then took the usual recess until two o'clock P. M.
AFTERNOON SESSION.

Lewis,

Mansfield,
McCallum,

McCoy,
McFarland,
McNutt,
Moffat,
O'Donnell,
Porter,
Reed,

Wilson, of 1st District,

Winans,

Mr. President-61.

Reynolds,
Rhodes,
Ringgold,

Smith, of 4th District,
Smith, of San Francisco,

Stevenson,

Swenson,
Terry,

Tinnin,

Tully,
Turner,
Vacquerel,
Webster,
West,
White,

Wickes,

Wilson, of Tehama,
Wyatt-58.

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MR. PRESIDENT: Your committee appointed on the seventeenth instant, to make arrangements for the obsequies of Honorable J. M. Strong, late a member of this Convention, beg leave to report that in the discharge of their duties incurred expenses to the amount of two hundred and ninety dollars and fifty cents, for which vouchers are herewith presented.

The committee recommend the adoption of the following resolutions:

Resolved, That the Controller be and he is hereby authorized to draw his warrant in favor of the Sergeant-at-Arms for the amount of two hundred and ninety dollars and fifty cents, to pay the expenses of the obsequies of the late Honorable J, M. Strong, a member of this Convention, and that the State Treasurer be and he is hereby authorized to pay said warrant out of the funds appropriated to this

The Convention reassembled at two o'clock P. M., President Hoge in Convention. the chair.

Roll called and quorum present.

RECONSIDERATION MOVED.

MR. TINNIN. Mr. President: On yesterday the Convention passed a resolution to adjourn until Monday, at two o'clock. A gentleman gave notice of a motion to reconsider. That motion was laid on the table. I now move to take it from the table.

MR. BARNES. I move that the whole matter be indefinitely postponed.

MR. MCCALLUM. That motion cannot be entertained until it is taken from the table. It is not now before the Convention. Until it is taken from the table it is not before the Convention.

THE PRESIDENT. The gentleman from San Francisco, Mr. Barnes, moves to indefinitely postpone the motion.

MR. HILBORN. I hope this motion will prevail.

MR. BARNES. I moved to indefinitely postpone the motion of the gentleman from Trinity, Mr. Tinnin.

THE PRESIDENT. The question is on that motion. [Cries of "division," "division."]

MR. VAN DYKE. What will be the effect of that motion? THE PRESIDENT. To indefinitely postpone the motion of the tleman from Trinity. MR. SMITH, of Kern. Will the Chair state the effect of that motion? THE PRESIDENT. It will have no effect except to indefinitely pone the motion made by the gentleman from Trinity.

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Resolved, That the per diem for the remainder of the session of this Convention, which the late Honorable J. M. Strong would have been entitled to as a member of this Convention, be paid to the family of deceased.

S. A. HOLMES, Chairman.

THE PRESIDENT. The question is on the passage of the resolution.
Adopted unanimously.

THE RAILROAD COMMISSION.

MR. ESTEE. Mr. President: I move that the Convention now resolve itself into Committee of the Whole, the President in the chair, to further consider the report of the Committee on Corporations other than Municipal. Carried.

IN COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE.

THE CHAIRMAN. Section nineteen is before the committee.

SPEECH OF MR. STEDMAN.

MR. STEDMAN. Mr. Chairman: I feel somewhat diffident, after listening to the very able arguments of the distinguished gentlemen who have preceded me on both sides of this great question, in offering a few remarks after this subject has been so thoroughly discussed; yet, sir, gen-recognizing as I do, the fact that the subject-matter involved in the seetions now under consideration is of vast interest to the people of this State, and believing as I do, that no subject will be brought to the attenpost-tion of this Convention of greater importance than this question of corporations, the solution of which will require the most careful consideration, and, also knowing that the public mind is excited upon this question of railroad corporations especially, I cannot, in the performance of the duties incumbent on me as a representative of the people, do less than raise my voice in favor of these sections. The people expect us to act squarely on this question, and not dodge it. They expect us to place restrictions on these corporations, for the reason that there is, as has been

The roll was called, and the motion to indefinitely postpone prevailed demonstrated by the able gentlemen who have addressed the Convention by the following vote:

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