USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > San Francisco, a history of the Pacific coast metropolis, Volume I > Part 58
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Central Pacific Buys out a Rival
It was this discovery more than any other cause which induced the projectors of the California Pacific to sell out to the Central Pacific and abandon the railroad field in California. The California Pacific enterprise, which was organized in 1867, had been prosecuted with great vigor. It had made a strong fight to secure an entrance into Sacramento, and had succeeded in effecting its purpose notwith- standing the obstacles placed in its way by the men in control of overland road projects. It had successfully constructed a road from Vallejo to Marysville, with a branch to Sacramento, had bought a road built from Calistoga to Napa, and was making preparations to build feeders in various directions and contemplated ex- tending its line northward into Oregon.
In 1870 few San Franciscans imagined that this concern, headed by Milton S. Latham, would be compelled to succumb to its rival. Newspaper comment of the period indicates confidence in the strength of the California Pacific, and that there was a disposition to regard the survey of the line across the tules as a "bluff" made to bring Latham to terms. But he was under no illusions concerning the nature of the contest which would have to be waged to maintain the position of the Cali- fornia Pacific, and when the Terminal Company was formed by men connected with the Central Pacific, which had for its declared object the building of an air line from Sacramento to Oakland, he concluded to surrender and made a bargain for himself and friends by which, in exchange for a block of Central Pacific six per cent bonds, they turned over their majority holdings to the men in control of the western end of the transcontinental railroad.
Postponement of Air Line Project
This arrangement was made in the summer of 1871, and nothing more was heard of the projected air line for some time afterward. The menace had accom- plished its purpose; a rival had been driven from the field and the improvement of communication with the Sacramento valley and the North could be deferred, while projects of extension in other directions were to be carried out. Just what these plans were the public was only permitted to guess, information of any kind being sparingly furnished. It was clear, however, that the energies of the railroad would be directed towards securing all the land which could be obtained through
Latham Forced Out
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UP
ORPHAN ASYLUM AND ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH IN 1865 The Palace Hotel, Market Street, is built on the site they occupied
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the liberality of the government. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company was incorporated with that object in 1865 and at the beginning of the decade was push- ing its line southward to head off the Atlantic and Pacific. On the formation of the company it was proposed to run the line through Santa Clara, Monterey and San Luis Obispo to Los Angeles and San Diego, but in 1871 several routes were spoken of in the papers and in circulars in which real estate operators were extol- ling the advantages of the property which they desired to sell.
The route through the San Benito pass to Gilroy was referred to as conforming to plans filed with the secretary of the interior as a basis for a land grant, but there was no show of vigor in that direction, and it was assumed that the tardiness with which the work was prosecuted indicated that the company had encountered great difficulties. Later it developed that the object was to utilize the San Francisco and San Jose railroad, incorporated in 1863, and which was acquired with its exten- sion to Gilroy, for the purpose of securing from the government alternate sections of public land on the pretense that it was constructed with a view of forming part of the overland line designed to connect the Southwest with San Francisco. By this subterfuge the quartette obtained the public lands within the area of the eighty miles, and secured a large quantity of valuable redwood timber lands in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties from which they succeeded in ousting settlers. The action of the quartette was so flagrant in this case it came in for a great deal of criticism. But notwithstanding the fact that the road had originally been built to San Jose as a private enterprise, and that the extension to Gilroy from that city was accom- plished by the aid of a subsidy of $300,000 from the City of San Francisco, no serious effort was made in Washington to prevent the grabbing of the land.
One of the evil results of the grabbing policy of the railroad quartette was the creation of an intense suspicion which practically degenerated into hostility to all enterprise and improvement. The fear that "the Railroad" would ultimately gain possession of everything it planned to obtain interfered to prevent rational dis- cussion of suggested projects. In 1869 it was proposed to unite Goat island with the eastern shore of the bay by constructing a solid causeway. The island contains about 300 acres of land which could be utilized for terminal purposes, and the Cen- tral Pacific sought to obtain possession of it with the view of creating facilities which would facilitate the speedy transfer of passengers to the City which was separated from the island by a comparatively narrow channel. In addition to the land which would be made available by grading the island, the railroad through its subsidiary corporation, the Terminal Company, which had received a grant of the shoal land extending northward from Goat island, could have added largely to this area by reclamation.
At an earlier period the project of uniting the island with the mainland had been mooted and the desirability of carrying out such a plan was recognized. But when it took on the form of a concrete proposal that congress should grant the use of the island to the overland railroad for terminal purposes it was bitterly antagonized. The discussion was more notable for its extreme hostility to the managers of the railroad than sober consideration of the merits or demerits of the scheme. The fear of monopoly was very real at the time, and arguments against any movement which suggested a strengthening of the hold of the Central Pacific appealed very strongly to the people who could not have been persuaded that any way could be devised by which Goat island might be utilized for the benefit of the whole community. If the
A Successful Land Grab
Trying to Secure Goat Island
Fears of Goat Island Rivalry
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railroad had any connection with it San Franciscans assumed that it would be used to their disadvantage, and incredible as it may seem at this stage of the development of the City, it was actually feared that if the island was ceded for terminal purposes it would result in the creation of a rival port which would prove injurious to San Francisco and perhaps eclipse its importance.
Engineers Block Goat Island Grab
Grabbing Everything in Sight
A contracted view of this sort necessarily would have operated to prevent the con- sideration of any plan that had for its object the creation of terminal facilities which could be shared by all lines seeking to reach the City from the eastern side of the bay, even if the idea of union and regulation had been sufficiently developed at the time to suggest something of the sort. But there was no confidence in the regula- tive power of the people of the state at that time. That was a later development, and its growth was largely due to the antagonism which Stanford and his associates had created. When the Goat island project was uppermost every possible argument against its use was presented, but it is doubtful whether the scheme of the railroad to secure possession could have been blocked had not the United States engineers expressed the opinion that the closing or obstruction of the channel between the east- ern shore of the bay would have the effect of diminishing its tidal area, and thus imperil the future of the harbor by shoaling the bar at its entrance. When this view became generally disseminated the project ceased to have any support and was abandoned.
The cause of the apprehension of San Franciscans may be discovered in the tendency of the constructors of the Central Pacific to absolutely control all the rail- roads of California and everything directly or indirectly connected with them. There was no announcement of such a policy but the people were constantly being con- fronted with evidence of such an intention. The methods adopted to obtain control of the California Pacific were followed in many other cases. The owners of a de- sired property were menaced with opposition and they usually succumbed without making a serious effort to defend themselves. Latham undoubtedly was ambitious to build up a system, but he speedily realized that he would be unable to win in a contest with the men who were the recipients of the lavish bounty of the nation and state. On his retirement from the senate in 1863 he had promoted the construction of the North Pacific Coast road, but the venture had not proved successful. It was a narrow gauge affair, and it was thought at the time when it was first projected that the economies of that mode of building would make cheap roads very formidable rivals to those of the standard gauge, or rather of the gauge which was afterward standardized. The experience, however, proved disastrous, but Latham's later enter- prise would have been a success had he not been driven out of it by the Central Pacific quartette.
In 1870-71 the railroad facilities of the state may be described briefly as fol- lows: (1) The Central Pacific, which commencing at Oakland, ran southerly to what was known as Vallejo's Mill, whence it ran eastwardly through Livermore pass, traversing the Sunol, Amador, Livermore, San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys to the Sierra, passing through Stockton and Sacramento on the route across the conti- nent. Later when the California Pacific was organized through passengers were carried by way of Vallejo and the road by way of Livermore pass was devoted to local traffic and freight uses. (2) A branch running southerly from Vallejo's Mill to San Jose connecting with the line of the Southern Pacific which was built as far as Gilroy. (3) The California and Oregon, under construction by the Central
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California Railroads 1870-71
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Pacific which had reached Tehema in 1871, and the company was preparing to make the connection between Sacramento and Oakland by the short route via Benecia already described, a plan which it later carried through. (4) The California Pacific from Vallejo to Sacramento with a branch to Marysville and steamer connection between Vallejo and San Francisco. (5) The Coast Route of the Southern Pacific with Los Angeles as its objective which, however, had reached no further south than Gilroy in 1871. (6) The San Joaquin branch of the Southern Pacific which inter- sected the main line at a point eight miles west of Stockton running southerly for a distance of twenty miles and penetrating a fertile region of the San Joaquin valley. (7) The North San Francisco and Humboldt operated from a point on the bay to Santa Rosa; an ambitious project designed to provide a system for all the coast counties north of the bay.
With one exception all these roads were in the possession of or under the con- trol of the men who had built the Central Pacific, and they were making prepara- tions which were recognized as having for their object the exclusion from the state of any rival railroad. As a consequence the men who a few years earlier were regarded with admiration, and whose enterprise was extolled on every hand, were generally execrated before the close of the Sixties. In 1870 Haight vetoed two senate bills empowering counties to aid in the construction of railways, but a few days afterward he succumbed to the argument that the people had the right to decide, and on April 4, 1870, he appended his signature to a measure which would have permitted San Francisco or any other county to subsidize railroads to the extent of five per cent. of the value of their taxable property. A year later the same governor fiercely assailed the policy of making land grants, and denounced Con- gress for making a gift of 50,000,000 acres to "a corporation composed of a few capitalists ;" and before he went out of office he recommended the repeal of the five per cent. subsidy act, and denounced the excessively high rates which the railroads of California were permitted to charge for carrying passengers and hauling freight, and recommended a reduction even though it was true, as the railroads contended, that the maximum was never charged.
This was a great change from the attitude of earlier years when Stanford, the governor, was applauded for throwing out suggestions which were subsequently acted upon by congress and the legislature. In his inaugural message in 1862 he asked "May we not therefore even at this time ask the national govern- ment to donate lands and loan its credit in aid of this portion of that communica- tion which is of the very first importance, not alone to the states and territories west of the Rocky Mountains, but to the whole nation and is the great work of the age?" This utterance was hailed with satisfaction by every Californian, because they all believed that the overland railroad was to be constructed for the benefit of the people and to promote the development of the state; but when after a few years of experience they found that the interests of California were being disregarded, and that the men who had been so liberally dealt with by the government had become oppressors rather than benefactors there was a general revolt which culminated in an attempt to bind the corporation hard and fast, but which failed of success because the nation was not yet ripe for the regulative process, and California was not strong enough to accomplish the innovation while the rest of the country refused its moral support.
Central Pacific Arouses Opposition
A Decided Change of Opinion
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The ferment in labor circles contributed largely to the growing hostility to the railroad which was already being stigmatized as "the monopoly." Merchants and business men generally were disgruntled because they saw the disposition of the railroad to reach out after everything which promised profit. They viewed with disapprobation the practice of letting contracts to themselves inaugurated by the railroad managers, and freely denounced as "hoggishness" the care taken by the quartette to exclude everyone but the big four from the benefits so liberally show- ered upon them by the government and people. But by far the greatest provocation to dissatisfaction was the failure of the brisk times which were expected to follow the opening of the railroad to promptly materialize.
This failure was emphasized by contrast with the flush times of the speculative period preceding the opening of the railroad. The briskness due to the activity in mining stocks had subsided before the driving of the last spike, and a reaction of the kind which usually follows excessive speculation had set in, a condition which was not helped by the panic of 1869 in the New York gold market, the evil effects of which communicated themselves to the entire country. Concurrent with this com- mercial relapse there was developed considerable labor discontent. The comple- tion of the railroad in 1869 had released or thrown out of work a large number of men, and these unemployed had their ranks reinforced by immigrants from the East, who were impelled to seek their fortunes in what was coming to be known as the promised land. At the same time Chinese were pouring into the country at the rate of a couple of thousand a month.
It is not surprising in view of these conditions that early in 1870 there were numerous meetings of the unemployed, and that they resulted in something like con- cert of action. In July of this year it was decided by some of those interested in forwarding the interests of the workingmen that political activity would forward their aims, but there was no approach to unanimity on this point. The Knights of St. Crispin favored nominating a ticket, but the Mechanics' States Council and Eight Hour League were opposed to such a course. The difference between the advocates of these opposing views was so acute that when it became apparent that political nominations would be made the Eight Hour League members withdrew. The proponents of political activity stood firm. They were largely influenced by outside pressure and perfected an organization which affiliated with the National Labor Union, and as the California branch of that body they maintaied their exist- ence down to 1878.
The formation of this body at this early date refutes the mistaken assumption that the so called Sand Lot troubles had their origin in 1877-78. An inquiry into the causes of dissatisfaction which culminated in the demand for a constitutional convention to form a new organic law discloses that every trouble later complained of by the workingmen and the people of the state generally was voiced in the pro- tests formulated at a large meeting held in San Francisco in December, 1871, and in the platform of the State Labor Convention held in the succeeding January, which substantially resembled that adopted by the workingmen's party in 1877-78. These two political documents deserve a place in history, because they embodied demands which were voiced in San Francisco forty years before the rest of the Union recog- nized them as reforms, only, however, after having fiercely denounced them for a quarter of a century as vagaries of the San Francisco Sand Lot.
Sand Lot Demands Anticipated
Increasing Dissatis- faction
The Supply of Labor Excessive
Activity in Labor Circles
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It is good to look the facts squarely in the face and study their import. Proper consideration given to the lessons they convey may assist in determining whether the voice of the people is always worth listening to, and we may perhaps learn from such a study whether the ability to detect evils, and to force the adoption of legis- lative reforms, accomplishes the purpose of those who advocate them. But above all things it is worth while to get at the truth so that we may be under no illusions regarding the origins of the so called California workingmen's movement toward the close of the Seventies, which was in reality a struggle participated in by many who were not of the laboring class, and which had for its main object the removal of what was regarded as the chief impediment to the growth of the state.
All through the Sixties artisans and laborers, and many who were not in the ranks of the toilers, were uneasy over the influx of Chinese. The Eight Hour League was particularly strenuous in its opposition to this immigration, which oftener than otherwise was of the aided sort. There was much talk about the importation of coolies, and the impression might easily have been derived from this particular agitation that the principal grievance of those who complained against existing con- ditions was the rivalry of Chinese; but the newspaper comment of the period indi- cates clearly that the questions uppermost in the United States at the beginning of the second decade of the twentieth cenury bear a marked resemblance to those agi- tating California in 1870, and that chief among them was resentment against inequit- able taxation. This state of mind was not engendered so much by the burden of taxation as by perception of the fact that its unequal distribution tended to the per- petuation of large land holdings. Venal assessors lent themselves with facility to the view that a piece of property which had been improved by the exertions of the owner was a fitter subject for taxation than large tracts of unimproved land, many of which were under the suspicion that they had been fraudulently obtained.
Thus it came about that the struggling settler was called upon to shoulder more than his share of the taxation load. It was recognized that while this condition per- sisted the owners of immense grants would not break up their estates. The conse- quences of their failure to do so were clearly foreseen by all classes ; by the merchant as well as the mechanic. There was a firmly established belief that California could only become a great and prosperous state by cutting up the big ranches and settling on them small farmers. There were occasional lapses from this conviction which betrayed themselves in inconsistencies such as the glorification of big wheat fields; but, on the whole, even though the spectacular farming of the cereal period appealed to imaginative writers, there was a clear perception that the small farmer was essen- tial to the development of the state, and that good policy demanded that the revenue machinery should not be so manipulated that California would be made impossible to that class.
And it was this perception and conviction which, more than any other cause, tended to the complete unification of Californians on the subject of Chinese immi- gration. It was impossible to escape the conclusion that the large land owners, if they were afforded the opportunity, would avail themselves of the cheap labor from the Orient to maintain their possessions intact. The interest in diversified farming was increasing rapidly, and before the close of the Sixties horticulture and viticulture were much in the minds of the people. The visions of future prosperity which contemplation of the expansion of these industries gave rise to were usually accom- panied by suggestions that they could never be realized except by the utilization of
The Voice of the People
Taxation Questions
Large Landholderg Favored
Land Owners and Chinese
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cheap labor, and doubtless the most of those who held to this opinion were sincere in the belief that the conditions were so exceptional in California that its develop- ment would be postponed indefinitely unless some mode of profitably working the large grants and other tracts of land held by individuals could be found.
Henry George's Fear of Land Monopoly
We have some evidence of the force of this opinion in Henry George's "Prog- ress and Poverty" which was the fruit of years of observation of the trend of affairs in California. George was profoundly convinced that the grants would not be broken up except by a system of taxation which would throw the entire burden of support of the state on the land. His single tax theory was developed under the influence of the belief that by that method alone could the tendency to monopolize the land be checked. He doubted the efficacy of any other plan to accomplish that object and was not at all in sympathy with the methods proposed by others to compel the cut- ting up of the ranches, although he was in substantial agreement with those who claimed that land monopoly was seriously injuring the state. His extreme free trade views prevented any point of contact between himself and the labor organiza- tions, because they were all opposed to Chinese immigration, while the desire for consistency compelled him to assert that if his panacea were adopted all the world would be happy, and it would make no difference whether the state was filled with Orientals or occupied by whites.
Power to Equalize Taxes
Very few shared his views respecting the means of remedying the trouble, but there was complete accord on the point that something needed to be done, and the mode of doing it proposed by Governor Haight in a message to the legislature of 1869-70 seemed to meet with a modified acceptance, although it took several years of agitation before the state was ready to make the change. He recommended that the State Board of Equalization be given effective power to equalize assessments, and expressed himself as deciding in favor of a constitutional amendment making asses- sors hold by appointment instead of election. He declared that "the state land system was so framed as to promote the acquisition of the domain by capitalists and corporations, either as donations or at nominal prices." In 1870 there was not so much confidence in the ability of the electorate to select good officials as at present, and suggestions of the extension of the appointive power were not taken amiss.
Perhaps the prevalent belief of the period that the assessors elected by the people were, as a rule, disposed to favor the big property owner at the expense of the small holder, had much to do with the temporary acquiescence in the not unwar- ranted assumption that assessors selected with especial reference to their possession of the necessary qualifications for the work, and with some regard for their personal integrity would perform their duties more faithfully. But the suggestion to ap- point while not unfavorably received was never acted upon. As will be shown later the agitation which culminated in the adoption of the Constitution of 1879 proceeded on the assumption that a change in the organic law which would command a uniform system of assessing lands of like quality and similarly situated would accomplish its purpose, if the powers of the State Board of Equalization were so extended as to enable it to compel obedience to the provision.
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