Southern Pacific Company

“ True, the Central Pacific was incorporated by, and for a portion of the time under consideration its stock was owned by. Messrs. Stanford, Hopkins, Huntington, and Crocker. Perhaps as early as 1870 the same group gained control of anc continued to dominate the policy of the Southern Pacific. The roads were always separate and distinct corporations; they were so recognized in the acts of Congress making land grants to them, authorizing their construction and operation from one state or territory to another, and otherwise conferring rights on them which only Congress could confer. ”

“ Things have got to such a state, that if a man wants to be a constable he thinks he has first got to come down to Fourth and Townsend streets to get permission. Hereafter people who come to Fourth and Townsend streets must have railroad business to transact. The Southern Pacific Company is out of politics, and will attend to its business like any other private company or individual should do. ”

“ Among minor equities should be mentioned also an alleged loss to the Southern Pacific by reason of the government’s slowness in issuing patents to land. Another claim was based on a loss in respect to sinking fund investments of the company ”

“ Preferential subscription rights were given to Union Pacific and Oregon Short Line Railroad Company stockholders, on condition that these last-named individuals divest themselves of their ownership of Union Pacific and Oregon Short Line shares before actually receiving their Southern Pacific certificates. See Daggett, “Later Developments in the Union Pacific Merger Case,” sup. cit. ”

“ The Southern Pacific owns and controls the southerly route, and receives 100 per cent. of the compensation for freight transported by its road and water lines. Over the Central Pacific route it receives but a fraction of the freight, because the Union Pacific with its Eastern connections take up the carrying from Ogden to the East. ”

“ All in all, the Central Pacific does not seem to have attempted to withhold its lands from the market, and there is no evidence that the settlement of the coast was retarded by the inability of prospective settlers to get land. The price which the Central Pacific could exact was held in check by the retention by the government of alternate sections, while the large sums which the company spent for advertising redounded to the advantage of the government as well as to that of the railroad. ”

“ The few works which treat of the later period confine themselves chiefly to particular episodes in Southern Pacific history, often with the deliberate attempt to discredit the railroad company. The truth is that most writers upon the Southern Pacific have relied upon the reports of the United States Pacific Railway Commission or on Bancroft’s “History of California,” and very few have done original work from source material. ”

“ A large amount of the testimony in this voluminous record was given by railroad men of wide experience, business men and shippers, who, with practical unanimity, expressed the view that, prior to the stock purchase in question, Union Pacific and Southern Pacific systems were in competition, sharp, welldefined, and vigorous, for interstate trade. To compete is to strive for something which another is actively seeking and wishes to gain. ”