It Is All the Fault of the Railroad
By Editor
"It is all the fault of the Railroad."—We have quoted that, but we do not know that any one used just those words. But you would think that that is about the way many felt to hear them talk; namely, that at the bottom of all the trouble that menaced people's prosperity was the Railway with a capital R,—a great big hobgoblin hoodoo meeting you at every street corner, destroying your crops, and making night hideous with its nocturnal ramblings. In California it is the Southern Pacific that is responsible for all the ills that flesh is heir to. Talking with a gentleman in Kansas, we were told emphatically that there was nothing equal in its grasping, grinding, blood-sucking tendencies to the Santa Fe. Of course we could not dispute him; for we lived neither in Kansas nor Northern Texas, for which he spoke. In Northern New York it used to be the Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg Railway; and the people used to long for the New York Central; but a little while after that company leased for ninety-nine years the R. W. and O., they were wishing for the R. W. and O. back again. We have lived in California twenty-one years. We are glad the Southern Pacific is here. It has done great things for the development of the State. It gives good service. We are holding no pass; we are paying for our rides. We pay many large freight bills. It makes mistakes; it is a "soulless corporation," like a hundred others; but we think that it has done great things for this State. We know shippers complain, but when in Chicago we can buy oranges cheaper and better than where they are grown. Raisins can be bought in New York for what the dealers charge here. Prunes can be purchased in Boston and Chicago at about the same price. We believe the company is actuated by as high ideals and principles as the average business firm, and has a right to a fair profit on its investment.