ME. ^73l r^ P5G6 UC-NRLF B 3 Em SDl i Bi>!.;t:: m he RailT^ay Froblezn. ADDRESS OF IR. FRANKLIN B. COW EN, ON t Position which the City of Philadelphia should occupy to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to its Transportation Lines, and to the Railway Problem of the day. SLIVERED UPON THE INVITATION OF CITIZENS OF PHILADELPHIA, AT THE THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE 16, 1881. PUBLISHED BY THE INVITATION COMMITTEE. ORTED BY D. F. MURPHY, Official Reporter of the U. S. Senate. Jackson Bros., Printers, Library St., Philadelphia. H£',A7r ^ CORRESPONDENCE. Philadelphia, May 31, 1S81. FRANKLIN B. GOWEN, Esq., President of the Philadelphia and Reading BaUraad Co. Dear Sir : — The undersigned, your fellow-citizens of this great Common- wealth, many of us share and bondholders in the widespread interests intrusted to your care, view with apprehension any pos- sible dwarfing of the usefulness and progress of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, The present situation of its affairs is to be regretted. Everything points to its rapid restoration, if it were not for the persisrently continued litigation. Those of the subscribers who were present at your late meeting, were glad of the opportunity to show you our confidence in ihe sincerity of your solicitude for the welfare of the Road, We now respectfully ask that you may further enlighten us as to the sit- uation, in its bearings on the industries and commerce of our City and State, as you, with your experience and knowledge of it, see it. The future of the Railroading Interests of this countrv is a tremendous problem. No doubt, in its broaaest sense, also, you have deeply pondered it, and in its solution your powerful aid cannot but be enlisted; as also in the local movements of reform now progressing so encouragingly to earnest men. If you can, at an early date, respond to our desire, in a public address, we will at once arrange the time and place for you. AVe are, truly yours. JOHN H. BRINGHURST, RICHARD HECKSCHER & CO., JOHN MILNES, GEORGE F. WIGGAN. DONALDSON & THOMAS, W. H. DRAYTON, POWERS & WEIGHTMAN, RICHARD VAUX, DANIEL R. BENNETT, JOHN T. MORRIS, WILLIAM C. LUDWIG, CHARLES M. TAYLOR'S SONS, CHARLES D. NORTON & CO., WILLIAM W. HARKNESS, J. B. MOORHEAD, HENRY CAREY BAIRD & CO. E. C. KNIGHT. J. B. ALTEMUS, ROBERT SHOEMAKER, WILLIAM H. LUCAS. DARLINGTON, RUNK & CO., ALEX. WHILLDIN & SONS, GEORGE GRIFFITHS, JOSEPH L. CAVEN, JOHN F. ORNE, JAMES C. ALLEN, JOHN WANAMAKFR, JOHN & JAMES DOBSON, ivil75787 C. A. SPARKS, L. H. TAYLOR & CO., WILLIAM H. HAINES, A. H. TACK, EDW. P. KERSHOW, JAMES FULLER, CHARLES SCHAFFER, M.D., A. WELCH, ZOPHAR C. HOWELL, SAMUEL H. GILBERT, W. P. JENKS, CHARLES W. WHARTON, J. JACOB MOHR, HOOPES & TOWNSEND, STRAWBRIDGE & CLOTHIER, JOHN K. WALKER, E. C. JAYNE, THOMAS W. EVANS, CHARLES SPENCER, JAMES DARRACH, M.D., WILLIAM H. SHELMERDINE, R. S. PEABODY, JOHN GARRETT, GALLOWAY C. MORRIS, SAMUEL MASON, NORTON JOHNSON, G. E. ALKINS, KNEEDLER, PATTERSON & CO., J. T. WAY & CO., JOHN M. MARIS, BURNHAM,PARRY,WILLIAMS& W. H. STEVENSON, WM. GRAHAM, WM. B. N. COZENS, JOSEPH L. OSLER, NATHAN T. CLAPP, LEWIS M. HAUPT, WALTER E. REX. JOSEPH PARRISH, EDWARD HOPPER, J. B. BAKER, JOHN McLaughlin, JOEL J. BAILY, E. C. EBY, WILLIAM BROCKIE, PHILIP FITZ PATRICK. CHARLES GIBBONS, JR., JOHN T. BAILEY & CO., E T. CLARK, EVAN RANDOLPH, HENRY WHELEN, EDWARD T. PARKER, L. T. SALAIGNAC, RICHARD LEVICK'S SON & CO., WM. B. BEMENT & SON, JOHN LUCAS, WM. HENRY LEX, MARSH.^LL BROS. & CO., D. R. PATTERSON, CARROLL S. TYSON. THOMAS S. ELLIS, FURMAN SHEPPARD, B. ROWLAND, WILLIAM M. KAUFMAN, P. C. HOLLIS, S. M. HEATON & CO., GEORGE HOWELL, ROBERT E. PATTISON, C. COLKET, DAVID REEVES, Prp.s't Phoenix Iron Co., H. N. BURROUGHS, EDGAR N. BLACK, S. W. JACOBS' SON, BATES & AUCHINCLOSS WILLIAM ARROTT, R. D. WOOD & CO., BARCLAY & BARCLAY, CONYERS BUTTON, R. P. McCULLAGH, EMLEN N. CARPENTER GEORGE A. WARDER. JAMES S. YOUNG, S. CHEW, CHARLES W. OTTO, JOPIN ALBURGER, HOOD BONBRIGHT & CO., FRYMIER & EDWARDS, EDWIN CLINTON & CO. BENJAMIN THACKARA, CHARLES M. DUPUY, DAVID A. PREED, COO. & PI BORIE, W. W. HARDING, De HAVEN & TOWNSEND, JOHN W. MOFFLY, JNO. B. ELLISON & SONS, YOUNG, SMYTH, FIELD & CO., WM. E. LOCKWOOD, EDWARD A. SIBLEY, JOHN S. JENKS, W. A. SMETHURST, SILAS ALDRICH. W. B. MENDENHALL, JOHN HUNTER, JAMES SPEAR, JAMES MOORE, WM. SELLERS & CO., H. L. GAW, JR., WARNER & MERRITT, HEATON & DENCKLA HDW. CO. H. GEIGER, WM. EDGE, SAMUEL H. ROTHERMEL, JAMKS M. WILLCOX, SAMUEL G. KING, M. S. BULKLEY, JOSEPH S. PATTERSON, J. B. VAN DUSEN, JOHN BAIRD. JOHN TURNER, WM. H. JENKS, CHARLES E. SMITH. ■The following Besidenfs of Worristown, Lancaster, PoUstown, Heading, and Pottsville : — JAMES HOOVEN & SONS, C. B. BERTOLETTE, J. M. HELLER, THOMAS H. WENTZ, HENRY A. DERR. RICHARD S. NEWBOLD & SON, C. P. WEAVER, Treas Pa. Tack Wks. F. D. FARNUM & CO., H. C. HARNER, JACOB BAUSMAN. JAMES B. FREY, J. L. LYLE, J. M. LONG, HENRY A. SHULTZ, JOHN T. MacGONIGLE, WALTER M. FRANKLIN, CHARLES F. RENGIER, Jk , WM. T. JEFFERIES, JOS. HERZOG, E. EBERMAN, THOS. BAUMGARDNER, JOHN KELLER, GEORGE L. BOYLE, J). W. PATTERSON, J. P. WICKERSHAM, H. C. DEMUTH, HENRY BAUMGARDNER. A. S. BARD, CHARLES M. HOWELL, GEORGE STEINMAN, GEORGE M. FRANKLIN, BENJ. F. SHENK, J. B. LONG, MARK H. RICHARDS, ISAAC FEGELY, Pres't Warwick Iron Co., JOHN W. CASELBERRY, A. STOUB, GEORGE R. FRILL HENRY S. ECKERT, DANIEL SHAABER, GEORGE W. GRANT, HORACE ROLAND, WILLIAM P. CUSTER, SOL. WEIDA, C. WHEELER, A. STRANG, A. L. BOYER, J. L. STICHTER, JACOB BUSHONG, JACOB SNELL, J. V. CRAIG, J. MOHN, S. M. YORGEY, GEORGE LONG, GEORGE W. BRUCKMAN, W. H. ROBINSON, THOMAS D. STICHTER, LERCH HDW. CO., LIMITED, C. K. WHITNER, HOFF & BROTHER, JOHN B. BROOKE, M.D., E. L. SCHMUCKER, M.D., A. K. KLINE. WM. McILVAIN, F. G. BOAS, JOHN SAYLOR, ISAIAH GOODFELLOW, R B. FICHTHORN, WM. KERPER, L. HEBER SMITH, E. S. FOX, & CO., STERLING WEIDNER & CO., MELLERTF'NDRY&MACH.CO..]iin. J. FINK & CO., PENN HARDWARE CO., GEORGE J. ECKERT, W. H. WILHELM, H. H. MUHLENBERG, L. J. HARROLD, FRANK O'REILLY, A. K. STAUFFER, J. H. CRAIG, W. B. GRIESEMER. HENRY JOHNSTON. W. DONALDSON, C. M. ATKINS, P. W. SHEAFER. CHARLES BABER. — The following members of the Legislature at Harrhhurg :- LEWIS EMERY, Jr., Tioga, Potter ami McKean Cos., JAMES GAY GORDON, Philadel- phia Co., JAMES SILL, Erie Co., EVAN HOLBEN, Lehigh Co., J. W. LEE, Warren and Venango (Dos M. L. LOCKWOOD, Clarion Co.. P. C. NEWBAKER, Montour Co., W. L. HARBISON. McKean Co., GEORGE E. MAPES, A'enango Co., C. W. TYLER, Crawford Co., JOHN H. LANDIS, Lancaster Co., J. B NILES. Tioga Co , CHARLES TUBBS, Tioga Co., M. F. COOLBAUGH, Monroe Co., J. W. SCANLAN, Northumberland Co., A. F. McNULTY. Lackawanna Co., LEMUEL AMERMAN. Lackawanna Co.. J. H. MARSH, Bradford Co , W. B. BENEDICT. Warren Co., , ELLIS MORRISON, Lawrence Co., H. D. LOWING, Crawford Co., S. H. WILSON, Crawford Co., ISAAC B. BROWN, Erie Co.. S. H. HAMM, Clarion Co., A. SIEGER, Lehigh Co., W. P. BRAHAM, Butler Co., E. L. DAVIS, Forest Co., W. R. BIERLY. Lycoming Co., CHARLES S. WOLFE, Union Co. Philadelphia, June S, 1881. Gentlemen : — I have to acknowledge the receipt of your valued communication of the 31st ult., and to thank you most sincerely for the expression of your confidence in myself, and for your kind wishes for the prosperity of the great interests with which I have been so long connected. It will give me pleasure to respond to your request, by deliver- ing, at such time and place as may be appointed and selected for the purpose, an address upon " The position which the City of Philadelphia should occupy to the great Commonwealth of which she is part, to its Transportation Lines, and to the Railway Problem of the day." Believe me, Gentlemen, with great respect, Your obedient servant. FRANKLIN B. GOWEN. Mr. E. C. Knight called the meeting to order, and said: Ladies and Gentlemen : — It affords me great pleas- ure to nominate Major-General Eobert Patterson to pre- side at the meeting this evening. The nomination was unanimously agreed to. ]\Ir. Knight. — I need not introduce General Patterson ; he is known to you all. General Patterson (who was greeted with applause) said : Ladies and Gentlemen : — I am about to do an act which certainly is not necessary, and I have always had a great objection to wasting my ammunition {laughter'] ; but custom has rendered it, I believe, necessary that the gen- tleman who is to address the meeting should be introduced by the Chairman. I have now the great pleasure, not of introducing to you, for that is unnecessary, but of present- ing to you a man who is known in every city and State in the Union. \_Great applause^ You know now who I mean. You know the man w^hose courage redeemed the Schuylkill region from a set of robbers, and pirates, and murderers \_applause\ ; the only man in this State who had the nerve, the ability, and the perseverance to do it. I present to you, ladies and gentlemen, Franklin B. GowTu. Mr. Franklin B. Gowen (who was greeted with great applause) said : Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: — I am to speak to-night upon the position which this great City of Philadelphia should occupy to the Commonwealth of whicli she is a part, to the transportation lines of that Common- wealth, and to what I have called the great railroad prob- lem of the day ; and, without further introduction, I shall take up these three subjects in the order in which I have presented them to you. First, with reference to the position which the City of Philadelphia should occupv to the Commonwealth. She 2 ^ V C5) 6 .should be the coininereial and intellectual metropolis of the Commonwealth. The City of Philadelphia should he the factor of the products of the Commonwealth of Penn- sylvania. Within this great State of Pennsylvania there is such wealth that, if it could have been collected and distributed from Philadelphia, it would have made the City of Philadelphia to-day what it was a hundred years ago, the first city of the United States of America. \^Applause.^ The State of Pennsylvania is a great empire. It has an area equal to that of England and Wales together. It has coal fields within its borders of very nearly twice the extent of all that England and Wales put together con- tain. It has iron wealth and iron resources double, aye, treble those of all England and Wales together. It has forests which are to-day almost as productive as they were, fifty years ago. It has broad areas of farm land, the richest that ever God's sun shone upon. Over and be- yond all this, it has a great population of God-fearing, law-abiding citizens, a population collected in the New World, and embracing all the great races of the Old World. The Saxon and the. Celt, the Teuton and the Gaul, have here united to mingle their blood and to produce one common stock that may be looked upon with pride as the best specimen of the best type of that distinctive American race which is to- become the glory of the Western Hemi- sphere. l^AppIa iise.^ I can say, truly, that the City of Philadelphia has neglected its State ; that while the wealth, the ability, and the enterprise of this City have been directed beyond the State to secure the commerce of the West, the city of New York has come in through the side door, and taken away from us the great and growing commerce of Pennsylvania. It is not alone the commerce of the West that has built up New York as against the City of Philadelphia, but while we have been struggling to secure the evanescent glory of western commerce, New York City has been built up by the products of the State of Pennsylvania, which her own City has neglected. It was not so fifty years ago. The wise men who lived in this City in those early days |)rojected a system of railway communication intended' to |)lace the City of Philadelphia in connection with almost every develojx'd portion of the Commoii- weahh. The great Pennsylvania Railroad was projected to the AVest to connect Pittsburgh with Philadelphia ; the Reading Railroad was projected to connect the Schuylkill coal fields with the City of Philadelphia ; the Sunbury and Erie Railway was surveyed in early times for the })urpose of connecting the great Lakes and the commerce of those Lakes w^ith the City of Philadelphia, so that the !-^tate of Pennsylvania should have its port upon the Atlantic and its port upon the Lakes. The North Penn- sylvania Railroad w^as 23rojected for the purpose of reach- ing northward through the mineral lands of the Lehigh A^alley up to the coal fields of the Lehigh and the Wyo- ming regions. In the progress of time these four great avenues of com- munication have become consolidated and crystallized into two, and we have now terminating in the City of Philadel- pliia but tw^o railway systems. One of these is the Phila- delphia and Reading, and the other is the Pennsylvania Railroad. All the others have become incorporated and merged into these two, and to-day, wdiatever w^e may look forward to for developing and increasing the prosperity of the City of Philadelj)hia , as resulting from its inter- course with the outer world, we must look forward to as coming over the lines of communication that are owned by but two companies. The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad owns a system covering 816 miles of railway, all w^ithin the State of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Railroad owns 1,953 miles of railway located within the borders of the State. The freight tonnage of the Reading Railroad is 14,000,000 of tons ; that of the Pennsylvania Railroad, in Pennsyl- vania, is 15,360,000 tons. The number of passengers carried by the Reading Railroad Company, in the State of Pennsylvania, was last year 9,703,473 ; the number carried by the Pennsylvania Railroad, in the State, was 7,757,940. The total debt and capital of the Reading Railroad is $127,000,000, every portion of which is in- vested in the State of Pennsylvania. The entire debt and capital of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company is, or was ])rior to its recent increase, $154,000,000, and out of that 8 amount they have paid for some $86,000,000 of securities of railway lines existino; beyond the limits of the State. Xow I hold that the future prosperity of the City of Phil- adelphia will he protected, improved, and increased more by the development of the State itself than by the devel- opment of any industry beyond the State. If a Chinese wall had been built around the borders of the State of Pennsylvania, so that there could have been no exit from or entrance to it for commerce except over the ocean, and over the lakes, and over those great rivers which God has given us to bear the commerce of the world ; and if all th(^ products of Pennsylvania could have been turned intought this land — the heart of Pennsylvania — have built railroads leading over its mountains, uj) hill and down dale ; not folio win o- the natural courses of the vallevs to the City of Philadelphia, but they have surmounted the barriers of the mountains, and constructed their lines in order to take the wealth of Pennsylvania to add to the growing commerce of the City of New York. AVliat is the result ? Why, gentlemen, last year there were shipped of Pennsvlvania anthracite from the City of Xew York, 7,674,000 tons, and from the City of Philadelphia there were shipped only 2,400,000 tons. Here, then, is the wealth of this State taken from you while you sleep, by the energy and the capital and the enterprise of Xew York. AVhile the great Pennsylvania Railroad Company, that claims to be the guardian of your interests, has been 14 shutting her eyes to any wealth, except that which hiy beyond the borders of the State, the wisdom, the ability, the forethought, and energy of New York have enabled it to overcome all natural obstacles, and to capture the greatest portion of that vast mineral wealth which God located almost upon the borders of your City. From coal let me turn to the oil trade : — There is no State except Pennsylvania that produces oil in any great quantity. There is some little in New York, and there is some little in West Virginia, and there may be local deposits in other States ; but the great oil product of this country comes from the State of Pennsylvania. It is a peculiar product. Stored up in the almost inacces- sible bowels of the earth is this great illuminating power, which is being used all over the civilized world. The whole world demands this oil, and is a ready customer looking for its exportation. Tlie wealth of this deposit of oil, if utilized for the benefit of the City of Philadelphia, would have been worth alone twice as much as all the western grain that is brought to the City for shipment to Europe. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company, with its system of roads, was the nearest to the oil regions. It had the best opportunities of securing the oil trade. None other could have successfully competed with it. It had advan- tages of grades, and advantages of location, and the great advantage of citizenship of the same State, and there was everything to give it, in the struggle for supremacy, the power to control all of its competitors. Well, gentlemen, last year there were shipped from the City of New York to foreign countries, of Pennsylvania petroleum, 7,151,274 barrels, and from tlie City of Phila- delphia there were shipped 1,620,601 barrels. There were refined in the City of New York, of crude petroleum, last year 8,293,960 barrels. In the City of Cleveland, away out in Ohio, there were refined of Pennsylvania petroleum 2,139,840 barrels, and here, in the commercial metropolis of the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, here within our very borders, within tlie State where this oil is found, here in Philadelphia, to whose port this 15 wealth of oil should have been directed, there were reiined Vmt 1,783,7(30 barrels only. Why was this? Echo an- swers, why; but the priests who minister in the temple of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company could, if they wanted to, solve the question presented by the array of figures to which I have called your attention. Gentlemen, as many of you know, the Reading Railroad Company was*^ instrumental, two or three years ago, in securing the construction of a pipe line from the oil region to its railroad ; but even before that pipe line was completed, we attempted to force the product of Pennsylvania oil into the heart of Philadelphia. There were refineries erected here that were idle; there were refineries that could get no oil to refine; there were refineries owned by men of capital and men of enterprise, located here in yoiir midst, whose owners might have gone down upon their knees, in vain, to beg the powder that controlled the great highway of the commerce of Phila- delphia and of Pennsylvania to transport their crude oil to Philadelphia. They applied to us, and we determined to break the barrier, if we could, at all hazards. Without asking the Pennsylvania Railroad, who had seized a mile of road on the west of the Schuylkill river, over which we had to pass to reach the refineries, we commenced to ship oil to the City of Philadelphia, in the hope that we could open a trade w^th the oil refiners within her borders. \^A2)2)lause.~\ Gentlemen, mark the result. I read from a copy of an ofiicial document emanating from the ofiice of the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company : Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Office of General Freight Agent. Philadelphia, April 11, 18 / / J. Lowrie Bell, Esq. [Mr. Bell was then General Freight Agent of the Reading Railroad]. We under- stand that several car loads of oil have passed over our line, between Belmont and Gibson's Point, and that others are to follow. This being entirely a new business, and 16 strictly comi^etitive with our line, we hereby notify you that a charge of twenty (20) dollars per car Will be"^ made on each car for passing over the track of the Pennsylvania Kailroad, for the present. Mr. Pugh has been instructed to collect this amount. (Signed) S. B. KINGSTOX, General Freight Agent. Twenty dollars a car for passing eighty barrels of oil over one mile ; twenty-five cents per barrel for passing over one mile, when the utmost the law allowed them to charge was about half a ^cent per barrel. The extreme limit for one mile would be little over half a cent, and they charged twenty-five cents a barrel ; and when they had been carrying oil into the City of New York at from fifteen to twenty cents a barrel, for 500 miles of transpor- tation. They charged us, or attempted to charge us, twenty-five cents a barrel for j^assing over one mile in the City of Philadelphia, that it w^as necessary to pass over in order to reach the refineries whose owners were endeavoring to secure this business of refining oil for Philadelphia. \_Applause.'] AVe stopped. What "could we do ? We could have gone to law with them, and in five or six years we might have got a judgment against them, and then, if the Supreme Court would liave let the judg- ment alone, we might have got fifteen or twenty dollars damages for the detention to the particular consignment mentioned in Mr. Kingston's notice. {Laughter and ap- plause.'] In all such fights as that, I had long ago made up my mind that discretion was the better part of valor, and I hoj^ed that at some time or other the arena for this struggle would be transferred to the public, and I could come before the public, and, by its aid, secure the rights which I had been vainly striving to get from the constituted authorities of the Commonwealth. \_Ap- 2)lause.] So we waited until the pipe line was completed ; but in 1879 we attempted to send some of the first products of the pipe line over this mile, this sacred mile of railroad, wliich is subjected to the awful supremacy of the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company. We again encroached upon 17 her hallowed precincts. AVe traiif^ported oil, the prodiu-t < if the pipe line that came to lis at Williamsport and was again consigned to a Philadelphia refiner, and from the office of the General Agent of the Pennsylvania Railroa. Dear Sir: — By direction of our Third Vice-President. I am instructed to make a rate of S12.50 per car on your tank cars loaded with oil from West Philadelphia to Greenwich. This rate to take effect commencing to-mor- rows June 12th. Please acknowledge receipt. (Signed) O. E. McCLELLAX. General Agent. Well, gentlemen, we were blocked again. The owners of the reiineries that were erected on the lower Schuylkill in vour City discovered that it was impossible to get any oil whatever, and they learned by sad exjierience, which some of them were wise enough to profit from, that the main object of building a refinery in the City of Philadel- phia was to sell it to the Standard Oil C ompany and take a salarv for keeping it idle, so that the oil could be refined in Cleveland and in the City of New York, without any interference by citizens of Philadelphia ; and when these gentlemen had sold their refineries and accepted a salary from the Standard Oil Company, of course, they did not want any oil from us. Then we were in the position of a great transporting company that had spent a vast amount of money to bring a great product to its Philadel- phia terminus, and had found that the refining establish- ments, who had been begging us to give it to them, became the cohorts of the Standard Oil Company, which I believe at that time was an alias under which some of the officers of the Pennsylvania Eailroad Company transacted busi- ness. lAppIause.'] We had nothing to do but to secure the construction of an independent refinery, and sueli a refinery was built at Chester, and whatever product of oil there is now credited to the City of Philadelphia is very 18 greatly due to that large refining establishment which has l)een built in defiance of the laws of the Pennsylvania Kailroad C/Ompany, and against the fiat of the Standard Oil Company. So much for the products of Pennsylvania going to New York and to other cities. What, then, has been the policy of the Pennsylvania Railroad? It has been to develop western enterprises. While New York has been t-apturing the cream of Pennsylvania products, the Penn- sylvania Railroad has been going after the barren husks of western commerce to bring to the City of Philadelphia for transshipment to Europe. And Avhat does it amount to? What have they given us? Let us examine the statistics. What have they given to the City of Philadelphia in ex- change for the products of our own State, which she might have had the control of, and from which she might have derived such large profits? I am reminded here, and have forgotten to mention it at the proper place, that a few months ago, when I had to look into the future without knowing very well, until I heard from the Courts, whether I was President of the Read- ing Railroad Company or not; when I had to look about, not for a new profession, but to recommence the practice of the old, some of my friends in New York said to me, " Gowen, wdiy don't you come over to New York and prac- tice law ?" I replied, " I don't know^ much about New York law, but I know a great deal about Pennsylvania law, and I love Pennsylvania ; I know its people ; 1 know a great deal about its business, and I think I had better stay at home." "Well," they said, " that is the very reason we want you over here ; don't you know that there is more Pennsylvania business to-day transacted in the City of New York, three times over, than in the whole City of i*hiladelphia? and that is the reason we want a man who knows something about it, to locate amongst us." And I was compelled, with some degree of shame and humiliation, to admit that there was a great degree of truth in the boast ; that Philadelphia had, indeed, lost the business of its own State, and that it had gone to a neighboring city. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company has been hunting western business, and what has it secured? Its own reports 19 show that of its own capital it has some .S36,0()0,000 in west- ern lines. A report, made by the company four years ago. stated that the capital of all the lines west of Pennsylvania, which it owned and controlled, amonnted to >^200,()00,U00. I do not know what it is now. We may safely assume that, taking the whole vast system of the Pennsylvania Eailroad Company all over the United States, it has more capital invested west of Pennsylvania than it has invested in the State of Pennsylvania itself. AVhat does it get from their investment ? Last year its entire western business was 13 i per cent, of its total re- ceipts, the remaining 862 per cent, being local Pennsyl- vania traffic. Although the amount of capital invested in the West is as great as that invested in Pennsylvania, it produced for the benefit of the Pennsylvania line but 13* per cent, of the gross business and gross receij^ts of that great corporation. That is a very small quantity. But let us see, out of that small quantity, what it gave to the City of Philadelphia. Many of you who are unacquainted witli the figures will probably be astonished to know that the grain business last year from the City of Xew York was 143,856,040 bushels ; from the City of Baltimore it was 54,722,872 ; from the Citv of Philadelphia it was 30,061,000—30,000,000 out of 228,000,000 ! But, gentlemen, out of the 30,061,000 bushels shipped from the City of Philadelphia, the Reading Railroad Com- pany itself shipped 13,597,000 bushels, and the Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company only 16,464,000 bushels. In other w^ords, the Reading Railroad, without one dollar of capital invested in the West, without one penny involved or at stake, and without saddling its Pennsylvania busi- ness with any burden to enable it to move western traffic, almost in the infimcy of its trade, and within two or three years after it made its first connection with western lines, has shipped from the City of Philadelphia 45 per cent, of all its foreign commerce in grain. \_Great applause.^ But what has the Pennsylvania Railroad done for the other cities ? Last year it shipped to New York 8,908,565 bushels of grain ; it shipped to the City of Baltimore, by its Xorthern Central Railway, 24,625,292 bushels of grain, making a total of 33,533,857 bushels of grain wdiich 20 the Pennsylvania Railroad shipped to Baltimore and Xew York together, w^hereas to the City of Philadelphia it only shipped 1(3,464,000 bushels, or less than one-half of what it gave to rival cities. And I say to you that your eyes have been closed to what has been going on. It is the most chimerical notion in the world that all this enterprise and all this money that have been devoted and expended with the approval and aj^probation of the citizens of Philadelphia for the j^urpose of securing western grain, have been of es- pecial benefit to Philadelphia, when the fact is that the City of Philadelphia only secures half of what is given to the other two cities. A larsje manufacturino; establish- ment located in this City, like the great locomotive works of Burnham, Parry, Williams & Co., or any kindred in- dustry, is worth more to the prosperity of the City of Philadelphia than all the foreign grain business of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company put together. \^^^p- plause.'\ But, gentlemen, at what rates of transp(jrtation has this western grain been carried ? "You have but to turn to the newspapers to learn this. I cannot possibly say the Phila- delphia papers, because the mental capacity of some of the editors of Philadelphia papers is such that they do not like to be disturbed with conflicting opinions, and so they only furnish one side of any question. \_Laughter and applause.^ A^ery much like the Judge, who, in hearing a case of some importance, after the first counsel had gotten through, said : " I do not want any more, because if I hear the other side, my mind will get bothered and I will not know how to decide, but now it is all on one side, and I can decide the cause without any difliculty whatever.'' \_GTeat laughter. ~\ So you do not always get the facts from some of the Philadelphia papers ; but if you read some of the other papers you will find that often and often this great Penn- sylvania Railroad has been carrying western freiglit through your City at one-half the actual cost of transpor- tation. Now who pays the piper? This is a problem that does not require any great ability to solve, althougli there are two answers to it, but it must be either one or the other. If they carry thirteen j^er cent, of their entire 21 traffic, whieli embraces the total of their western lousiness, through the borders of Pennsylvania, at one-half the sum that it costs to transport it, somebody must j^ay the differ- ence, and it must be either the shareholders of the com- pany, who got less dividends than they would have gotten if none of the business had been done at all, or it is paid for, as I strongly suspect and believe, by the local indus- tries of Pennsylvania, which are charged more than would otherwise be necessary, in order that the surplus profits derived from the overcharge shall make up the loss result- ing from the low rates at which the western business has been transported. I have always been at a loss to account for the fact, that Avhen the great States of the West were thriving at the exj^ense of eastern industry, and living, as it were, upon eastern capital ; when corporation after corporation, in the wild struggle for western freights, were building railroads and projecting lines through their territory ; when the capital of Europe was being transferred to this country for the purpose of developing the great West ; when its products were being carried at one-half of the cost of trans- portation to eastern cities, for transshipment to Europe — that such a thing as the Granger agitation should have arisen in the West, directed against the railroad com- panies. I could well have understood how a granger element could have arisen in Pennsylvania ; I could have understood how the industries of Pennsylvania might have resented this unnecessary and unjust taxation imposed upon them, for the purpose of enabling the Pennsylvania Kailroad Company to transact its western business at a loss ; but I could not understand how the western people, who reaped the benefit and secured the reward, could find it in their hearts to complain of the railroad companies that were doing them such great service. But this is not all. After the Pennsylvania Eailroad had gotten all these western lines ; after it had secured all this business, it found that it was necessary to take it, not to the City of Philadelphia, but to the City of New York. That was perfectly right ; I do not object to that. They had a right to do it, but how did they do it ? and at what 3 22 cost to themselves or to the industries of Pennsylvania ? They leased the Camden and Amboy, or the United Kail- roads of New Jersey, for the purpose of securing an outlet to the City of New York, and from their own reports I gather that, from the date of taking that lease until the date of their last annual report, thev have lost upon that lease the large sum of $5,986,113.42. That is none of my business, except to this extent: that if I come before the public to enlighten it, I have the right of propounding a conundrum which I shall ask you, gen- tlemen, and some of you, ladies, who are pretty good at guessing riddles, to solve before you go away, and it is this : If it was necessary for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, in the course of these few years, to lose $5,986,113.42 out of their treasury for the purpose of get- ting to New York, would it not have been far better for them if they had stayed away and continued making ten )er cent, dividends upon the business of Pennsylvania? Applause.~\ If the answer to this conundrum is in the negative, then I have simply to suggest, as I did before, that that loss of $5,986,113.42 was either borne by the stockholders of the Pennsylvania liailroad Company, or it was imposed as an additional burden upon the internal commerce and local industries of Pennsylvania. If this is so, what good does it do to the City of Philadel- phia ? Would it not have been better if the company had devoted its energies to Philadelphia and to Pennsylvania? Would it not have been better that it never should have been necessary to impose such a burden on the prosperity of Pennsylvania for the purpose of enabling a Pennsyl- vania corporation to build up the commerce of a rival city ? But I may be answered that the Reading Railroad Com- pany followed the example of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company when it leased the Bound Brook Railroad. I believe my friend, Mr. Knight, who is here to-night, would be very glad to get the road back. But, gentlemen, we took that Bound Brook Railroad for the purpose of supplying the local market of New York with the pro- duct of Pennsylvania industry ; and we took it because the Pennsylvaiua Raih-oad woidd not permit us to go over their Delaware and Raritan Canal, except at a rate wliicli 23 compelled us to pay about eighty-three or eighty-four eents a tou to get eoal from Philadelphia to New York. Instead of im})Osiiig one penny upon the commerce of Pennsylvania, that Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad has opened an avenue to the business of Pennsylvania and found a market for it in the City of New York, and to-day the lease account stands on our books showing that we have not lost one penny over and above the rental paid for the line. For the first seven months of the lease we lost |48,000 after paying rentals, and I am happy to say that up to this time that loss has been made up in increased profit, and that the lease has not only not cost the Beading Bailroad one penny in the whole past, but will be a source of great profit in the future. It has already made enough to pay all its expenses and all its rents, as against a loss to the Pennsylvania Railroad of $5,iJ()(),()0(), in round numbers, to secure a similar outlet. [_App/ause.^ But there is something more than all this. The C^ity of Philadelphia has lost the affection, it has lost the good wishes of the people of Pennsylvania ; they do not come to Philadelphia or know its citizens. If you go into cer- tain portions of Pennsylvania beyond the line of the Reading Railroad, you will find that all local business goes to the City of New York. If you travel upon any of the lines marked in yellow on yonder map which lead from the coal fields of Pennsylvania to New York, you will find that the people who live upon those lines of rail- road, and work and toil in those coal fields, those who mine coal and develop the industries of the regions are affiliated to New York and have no affiliations to Phila- delphia. They read the New York papers ; they believe in New York people ; they keep their money on deposit in New York, and go to New York to buy their goods ; whereas, if they had been attached by transportation lines to the City of Philadelphia, if the coal lands had been owned in Philadelphia, if their railroads had led to Phila- delphia, your own City would have secured the commerce of their coal and gotten the pay that results from selling their products. It would have had the distribution of the money — it would have had the sale of the goods that were 24 required to feed and clothe the vast population of the entire anthracite region. All this it has lost, and what has been gotten in exchange ? Do we get any business here in Philadelphia from Chicago ? Does the merchant of Chi- cago, or the Illinois farmer, who owns or raises the grain and sells it at Chicago, sending it via Philadelphia on a through bill of lading to Liverpool, spend anything here ? Does Philadelphia secure any of his business ? Does it sell him merchandise or ship him goods ? Why, gentle- men, when the Chicago merchant imports his goods from Liverpool, or from Marseilles, or from Bremen, they go through the City of Philadelphia consigned in bond on a through bill of lading to Chicago, and our merchants get no more benefit from such traffic than they do from the rushing of the wind as it sweeps over their City, What^ then, is the moral to be drawn from all I have said, and what is the duty of Philadelphia to-day to its State ? Gentlemen, that duty is to win back some of this business, and to secure all the great benefits that result from connecting the City of Philadelphia by railroad lines with such jwrtions of the Commonwealth of Penn- sylvania that are not yet attached to New York. It is to give up this wild, evanescent, and fleeting chimera of western commerce, and to develop the local industries and the business of your own great State. It is to bring Penn- sjdvanians around your homes and into your marts to see and to know you, to buy your goods, to keep their accounts with and draw their bills of exchange upon your banks, and to send their commerce to your port. And with this I end the first branch of my subject to-night. I began with it, as I will end with it, by say- ing that it is the duty of this great City to foster and encourage the local industries of its own great Common- wealth. \_Applause.~\ How can this be done ? I shall endeavor to show how it can be done when I speak upon the second brancli of my subject, upon which I now^ enter, namely : The true position which the City of Philadelphia should occupy to the transportation lines of the State. I call your attention again to the maj), and ask you to look at the red lines of the Reading Railroad which so 25 tlioronghly develop that portion of Eastern Pennsylvania which lies between the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers. I will then ask yon to look at those three blank spaces in the Commonwealth, which are as yet practically without development by railroads, and I tell you that the aim and object of the Eeading Kailroad Company — an aim and object which it had jiist secured the ability to bring to a successful termination — was, after having attached to the City of Philadelphia forever this great wealth of mineral lands, to develop these remaining portions of the State of Pennsylvania. We had one line ]n-ojected northwest from AVilliamsport to reach Port Allegheny and to connect with lines leading to the lake ports. It was located through a region rich in bituminous coal. It would afford direct access to the great Bradford oil region of McKean County. The money to build the line was subscribe(\ the preliniinary contract to furnish it was signed, and it w^as ready to be paid at the date of my arrival in London last December; but when I got there and found. ;:s I and my friends suj^posed, that there was some doubt as to vrhether the future policy of the Eeading Railroad Company might not be changed under a management which might find it to its interest to regard the Pennsylvania Railroad with great favor, those who had subscribed this money said to me, " Until the result of this litigation is determined, we will not pay our money to build any railroad Avhich may hereafter be obliged to depend upon the Pennsylvania Railroad Company to secure an eastern outlet for its traffic." So for the present, at least, the project w^as arrested. Then there was ])rojected west through the centre of the State a line (indicated by the dotted line on the map), and those who projected it were willing to build it. At all events, they had agreed to build some seventy miles of it to connect with our system. That would have opened a very rich field of bituminous coal ; it would have l^een of great service to us and to the City of Philadelphia ; but for the same cause it is temporarily suspended in order that it might first l)e discovered who really controlled the Reading Railroad, before capital was expended that might be at the mercy of that great corporation that is supposed 26 to be pulling the wires that move the puppets who appear before the public for the delectation of the citizens of Philadelphia. [Appla iise^ Again, if you will look at Harrisburg, you will see the line from Harrisburg to Philadelphia, which is composed of our Lebanon Valley branch and the main line from Reading — one of the best lines in the country, with excel- lent grades and good alignment, but with no business from any point beyond Harrisburg, A party of gentlemen in the AVest were ready to con- tinue that line, so as to lead out through the southern tier of counties that are to-day practically without a railroad ; they had agreed to subscribe $10,000,000 for share capital to build that line, and, Avhen I went abroad, I was author- ized, if I could get it at fiye per cent. — as I could have done — to borrow $10,000,000 on first mortgage, which could readily have been obtained after a cash subscription of $10,000,000 of share capital, so that there would have been secured a fund of $20,000,000 to build a railroad that would have been of more value to the Reading Rail- road and to the City of Philadelphia than any equal num- ber of miles of railroad that had ever been constructed in this Commonwealth. But this project had also to be sus- pended for the reason that capitalists preferred to wait the result of the litigation before spending their money, lest, when it was spent, they should find that, though building a line to connect with that of the Reading Railroad Com- pany, the latter might hereafter be simply another name for one of the departments of the great Pennsylvania Railroad Company. So all these great enterprises have been nipped in the bud ; they are lying in abeyance waiting the progress of events. Whether they shall go on or not will depend very much upon the citizens of Pennsylvania, and especially ujDon the citizens of Philadelphia. But in n ddition to all this proposed development of the State, if you will look alf the blue lines upon the map — I mean the blue lines of railway, for the water-courses themselves are shaded in blue — all these blue lines of railroads in the west arc^ to-day con- nected with the system of the Philadelphia and Reading- Railroad, except that to the south, the Baltimore and Ohio 27 1 vailroad , with which we were very nearly being in connection when the Pennsylvania Railroad Company came in with tlieir money and bonght np the intermediate line for the pnrpose of preventing the nnion. and now, unfortunately, we shall have to wait until the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- road Company constructs its new railroad to Philadeljihia. Now all these systems are in connection with that of the Reading. For three or four years it has been under- stood among a great many financial people in the City of Philadelphia that the Reading Railroad Company could not live but from day to day ; indeed, the symptoms of impending dissolution were so certain and so grave that I believe a great many of the leading doctors of finance were in the habit of giving daily opinions that the patient could not survive the night, and would go out w^ith the tide in the morning. So long as the Company was in artxcuJo mortis, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company did not care about putting forth any great efforts to get hold of it, but waited, as a wise general whose besieging army is living upon the fat of the land waits, until the process of the starvation of the besieged garrison is completed. What they sup- posed to be an actual dissolution occurred on the 21st of last May, when the Company suspended payment ; but finding that I was so ignorant a financier, so stupid a railroad manager, and so incompetent a general as not to know when I was beaten, and that after all I was likely to give them as much trouble as a corpse as I had done in the full vigor of life [laughter'], I think they made up their minds that they would wait no longer for the slow process of obstructive warfare, but would attempt to get the control of the Reading Railroad by a coup demain. And this is the danger that confronts the City of Phila- delphia to-day. The danger is, that the system of rail- roads, of which I have been so long at the head, and of which, notwithstanding the loss of my ornamental title as Resident, I have a good deal to do Avith yet [//rcat ap- plausff\, will be captured by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. I have come here to-night to tell you of this danger, and I cannot but think that it is about as much your business to prevent it as it is mine. [App/ause.] I 28 Now, why do I say that this danger exists ? I say it I because I believe it. I believe it because the circumstan- tial evidence of the fact, after a fair and impartial exami- nation, is so strong that if equally strong testimony was offered against a prisoner on trial for murder, it would con- vict him and send him to the gallows. I believe it because it is to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company alone that I owe so many of the difficulties I have had to contend with. When I was struggling under the burden of a load of debt, there was hardly a financial institution in this town, with two or three exceptions, that did not have some director or some stockholder that was an emissary or an advocate of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, to caution it against lending us money or giving us credit. At the very lowest period of our depression, when I had to go to New York to get that which I could not get in Philadelphia, a Vice-President of the Pennsylvania Rail- road went over to New York, and at a well-known club, among well-known financial men, announced that when- ever the stock of the Reading Railroad reached .119 per share, he sold a thousand shares short, for it was not worth the money. That was a very good way of helping me in tlie City of New York to get money upon the securities of the Reading Railroad Company. \_Langhter^ I believe it, because when counsel were selected to take charge of the litigation against us, the counsel were those who had been affiliated to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. I believe it, because the firm of Kidder, Peabody & Co., of Boston and New York, who represent McCalmont Brothers & Q>o\n\)i\\\Y, or rather their senior partner, acted as one of the Committee of Five — the chairman, I think — to nego- tiate tlie sale of the Philadel])hia, Wilmington, and Balti- more Railroad, to sell it to the best bidder and at the highest price. He was expected to do that which was the best for his clients, and in the circular which lie issued inviting those clients to repose confidence in him, and to send hj^i their shares, he stated that the railroad was of vast value to the Reading Railroad Company as well as to the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company, and that the rivalry and the struggle to get it would make it command a high price. 29 He knew all this therefore, for he piihlished it over his own signature ; he knew that we relied upon the Phila- delphia, AVilniington, and Baltimore Eailroad to obtain traffic from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ; he said so; and after he had gotten all these shares into his possession, and that of his committee ; after he was empowered to ne- gotiate this sale and perfect and close the contract, he not only never came near the Reading Railroad Company, nor offered what he had to sell to a single man connected with its management, bnt without saying one word to us he sold it to our enemy, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and I infer from this act that his interests are not those of the Reading Railroad Company, but are identical with those of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. lApjjIause.'] 1 believe it from other circumstantial evidence, among which is this: that the Pennsylvania Railroad Company proposed to construct a rival road to Germantown and Chestnut Hill, which they had a perfect right to do, and it would have been a very good thing for the property holders along its proposed line if it had been constructed. They located the line ; they bought property a year or two ago, and everybody was on the qui vive for the construc- tion of the railway. Suddenly it was stopped. Why? I am informed that one gentlemen, who is not, it is true, a very high official of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, but one who knows a great deal about what he is speaking of, said that the construction of the road was quite unnecessary, for after the change in the management of the Reading Railroad, his company would get as much of the Germantown and Chestnut Hill passenger traffic to Xew York as it wanted. Another sign is, that I am told, upon the most un- doubted authority, that the Local Superintendent of the Delaware and Raritan Canal, in Xew Jersey, that has not been getting as much of the coal trade as it used to get from us, simply because we are sending such traffic over the Bound Brook Railroad, said in very expressive lan- guage that the Bound Brook Railroad had dried up the Delaware and Raritan Canal, but it would all be right before long, for after the new management got into power 30 ill the Reading Railroad Company, the canal would get the coal trade back ao-ain. I believe it from some other signs. I believe it in con- sequence of the attitude of some of our good friends, the newspaj^ers. I do not desire to speak against the news- papers, although I am not afraid to do so. [ Great applause.'] There are two or three (and one especially) that have been very kind to me, and there is one — I do not like to mention names — that early in the campaign very vigor- ously opposed me, but has ended by being quite civil and impartial, and I cannot but think well of it, for you know that " there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." [^Applause.'] But I have a recipe which is an infallible one for dis- covering what the Pennsylvania Railroad Company desires to accomj^lish in this community, and that is to read three or four newspapers in this City, and if any one following this recipe does not discover the truth, it is not for want of information given by the newspapers, but by reason of a lack of intelligence in the reader. [Laugh - fer.] Whenever you see three or four newspapers in this City attacking any particular person or project, you may depend upon it that the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- l)any is violating its charter and acting as editor instead of common carrier. Let us be candid and frank about this. Here we are, citizens of a great metropolis, certainly as well educated, certainly as refined, certainly as intellectual as the citizens of any other city in this countr}^ ; but, though located in the midst of such an intelligent community, the papers of Philadelphia, with a few honorable exceptions, are so wedded to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company that they have neither eyes, nor ears, nor pen, nor tongue for any- thing but the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. I picked uj) some of the papers a short time since, the day after an accident on the Pennsylvania Railroad. As " acddents will happen in the best regulated families," so accidents will happen upon the best managed railroads. There was an accident in New Jersey the other day to a passenger train of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and I hap- pened to read the papers the next day, with one or two exceptions. I read those papers with a great deal of interest, for, with one exception, I believe every one gave as the only reason for the accident, the good management of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and seemed to assure its readers that if it had not been for such good management the accident could not have occurred. {^Lam/hter^ As to the other paper which was the exception, I wrestled a lono- time with its article. I think it would have taken Archbishop AVhately himself to get at the meaning of it ; but, from my little recollection of the rules of logic, I was enabled to reach the conclusion that the object of the newspaper article was to show that the Pennsylvania Railroad had purposely killed a few j^assengers so that they might have a small number of killed to compare with the greater number carried safely, in order to show, according "to the doctrine of chances, how safe a thing it was to travel on the lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. \_Laughter and applause^ And now, when I am speaking about the newspapers, I must make my acknowledgments to my friends of the Ledger. Although the Ledger h^ been very severe upon me since I went to Euroi)e, everybody knows that the Ledger is not susceptible to the slightest corrupting influ- ence ; everybody admits that, and we all know further, that my friend Mr. Childs does so much good with the money' he gets honestly and fairly, that we wish, much as he has, that he had a great deal more of it. :\lany people have supposed that the Ledger was opposed to me, and gave circulation to all these ugly articles of the lawyers when I was away, because Drexel & Co. owned two-thirds of the paper, but'l am satisfied that such was not the reason, and I think the Ledger in that respect is impartial enough ^iometimes to publish articles that even Drexel &. Co. do not like. Now I will tell you the reason why the Ledger does not like me. The Ledger is managed upon certain well- recognized principles of journalism, one of which is always to be upon the winning side. {Laughter^ Another is, to advocate a man in proportion to the rank ■ he occupies in society. {Laughter?^ When the Ledger found that McCalmont.s intended to vote against me, it 32 assumed that it was all up with me, and giving me its ])arting benediction, it prepared itself to welcome my successor. It also unfortunately happened, that at the head of a committee in England, which was supposed to be adverse to me, there was a very distinguished man who held the title of an Earl, and the Ledger could not resist that. \_Great laughter^ Indeed, when I was in London, and heard of the attitude of the Ledger, I had some thoughts of requesting a gentleman who wore the coronet of a Marquis to act as the Chairman of my Committee, because as the title of Marquis is higher than that of Earl, I knew I should thus capture the Ledger. \_Great laughter.'] But suddenly recollecting what I had lost sight of before, that my friends of the Ledger were on very intimate terms with a Duke, whose rank is more exalted than that of a Marquis [laughter'], I determined if I formed a Com- mittee, to endeavor to procure the services of a gentleman who held the title of Prince ; for I knew I would thus secure the Ledger beyond peradventure, because as the etiquette of his position would not permit a reigning monarch to accept the chairmanship of a railroad com- mittee ; if a Prince was at the head of mine, the enemy could not do better. [Great laughter.] I do not desire to say a word against the Ledger. [Laughter^ I would not do so for the world, even if I wanted to, because just so surely as I stand here to-night I am going to win in this fight, and when I do win the Ledger will be on my side. [Great laughter and applause.] And I do not propose to close the door in advance to pre- vent its getting back earlv. It will be all rioht if we onlv give it time. There are, however, some unchristianlike and ill-natured people who have suggested to me there was another cause for the opposition of the Ledger. You know that the Ljedger has a fondness for obituary poetry, and it has, I am told, the biography of almost every man of prominence ready to put in its columns the moment he dies, and it may well be supposed that the authors of these sketches feel something akin to indignation if the subject refuses to die at the proper time. I do not know that they attempt 30 O to accelerate liis departure in order to give publicity to their effusions — but human nature is weak. Of course they only knew or expected to write about me in my offi- cial capacity, but I am told they thought my expected official death would afford an excellent opportunity to publish an obituary notice that would immediately take rank at the head of all contemporaneous funereal litera- ture, and I learn that poetry was not wanting to grace the article, but that the following verse was ready to conclude the solemn record of departed worth : "Affliction sore long time he bore, Deferred bonds were in vain ; He got two adverse Court decrees, And that put him out of his pain." [Gre^ laughter.'] And then, I am told, there was added, like a postscript, "Gone, but not forgotten." ILaughter.'] And now, gentlemen, I have given a great number of the reasons why I believe the Pennsylvania Railroad Company is taking part against us, but there is one other which I must touch lightly, but of which I do intend to speak plainly, and that is the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. I think that decision is another instance of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's opposition. There is no one who should be more condemned than he who criticises the motives of a Court because it has decided against him ; but the correctness of a legal decision is always a fit subject for discussion, and there are times when the motives of Judges may be fairly criticised. We all know that one great difference between the two professions — that of the doctor and that of the lawyer — is this : that when the doctor makes a mistake, it is buried out of sight very quickly ; but when the lawyer makes a mistake,* especially if that lawyer be a Judge, he makes it in writing an opinion, which becomes the prop- erty of the profession, subject at all times to the decent and respectful criticism of the Bar. The Supreme Court, by a majority of four to three, in the late election case of the Reading Railroad Company, 34 decided — what ? Tliev decided that a by-law of the share- holders which transferred the corporate powers of the Company to the Board of Managers, also transferred to such Board of Managers the rights with reference to calling meetings for an election of officers, which, by the charter, were vested in and restricted to the shareholders, and they held that a meeting called by the Board of Managers, under one section of the charter, was to be treated as a meeting called l^y the shareholders under another section, thereby disfranchising the large majority of the shareholders, who treated the meeting, as its call indicated it to be, as one convened by the managers, and thus the Court gave the control of the organization of the Company to a minority against the protest of a majority of the sliarehold^'s. Was this law ? If all tlie Judges had said it was law, I would not have opened my mouth about it ; but I will tell you one thing, that when jurists of the eminence of Judge Sharswood [^cijyp^ausf'], and Judge Trunkey [cipplause], and Judge Sterrett [ctpplause] say that it is not the law, then it is no contempt of Court for me here, or elsewhere, to say that Judge fSharswood, and Judge Trunkey, and Judge Sterrett were right, and that the majority of the Court decided that to be law Avhich was not law. There is but one power in this State that can control the utterances of the Court, and " wrest the law to its authority." and you all kuoAv well enough who that power is, and therefore from this cause, also, I believe that the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany is at the bottom of all the opposition to the Reading Railroad Company. What, then, is the danger to you as citizens of Philadel- phia ? Gentlemen, look at yonder smaller map to the right. The shaded portion of that map represents the l)uilt-up 23ortion of the City of Philadelphia. The lines in red, all of them' to the north, with one exception, are the lines of the Reading Railroad. The lines in^black are those of the Pennsylvania Railroad. With the exception of the lines of these two companies, there is no other railroad entrance into the City of Philadelphia, and none other could be sC'cured except at great and enormous expense — the expense of buying property and tearing down houses O'J to open a path for a roadway and secure ground for sta- tions. So long as these two lines exist as independent lines, just so long can the citizens of Philadelphia select either of two rival routes, and send their traffic over which- ever one will take it on the best terms. If one company will not take it the other will. The system of the Read- ing Railroad is connected directly with all the lines in blue upon the large map, except the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and I am happy to say that within a year or fifteen months it will be connected directly witli the lines of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. The City of Baltimore has three independent lines ol railroad, and the City of New York has eight. AMiat will become of the City of Philadelphia if it is to have but one ? That is the question I ask you to-night. AVhat will become of the City of Philadelphia if it has but one line of railroad ? If no person who leaves this City or comes into it, unless he goes or comes in an omnibus, or a boat, or on a bicycle, or a wheelbarrow, can travel except with the consent of one corporation, where will your City be left in the race of competition ? It is for you, gentle- men, who are here to-night, to prevent this catastrophe. It is for vou to do what you can by the expression of puli- lic sentiment, and otherwise, to prevent the control c great corporation that I now have the management of, from falling under the protecting ?egis of the Pennsylvania Railroad Comjany. Let me tell you something which I learned only on Tuesday of this week. You know that the AVabash sys- tem of railroads is making an arrangement to secure east- ern outlets. It has made some contracts with the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western, and it recently made a contract with the Central Railroad of New Jersey, by which, if tlie Pennsylvania Railroad Company would permit, the traffic of the Wabash line can be thrown upon the low grade line of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and thence over the Philadeljohia and Erie Railroad, belonging to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as far as Milton, from which'point it would take the line of the Reading Rail- road (the Catawissa Branch) to Tamenend, and thence ] 36 s'O to New York by the Central Railroad of New Jersey. That arrangement was agreed to by the Pennsylvania. Railroad Company, I am told, and after it had been agreed to by the Wabash and by the Central of New Jersey, the latter company applied to us to know whether we would take the business over the Catawissa Railroad. I met some of the parties in New York on Tuesday of this week. After hearino- what thev had to say, I said, " certainly ; we shall be very glad to take the traffic ; we will take it and jjro rate with you ; and the more you give us the better we will like it ; but now I w^ant to ask something else : If we do this, we also want busi- ness to Philadelphia ; we want the traffic for Philadel- phia from the Wabash line, over the Low Grade line and the Philadelphia and Erie to Milton, and from thence by our own line to Philadelphia." But they said " No ; we tried to get that for you, but the Pennsylvania Railroad Company utterly refused to permit the joint line to be used for bringing any business into Philadelphia." Now, gentlemen, why was this refused ? The Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company has a line to New York as well as one to Philadelphia. All the business they throw over the Central New Jersey is carried in rivalry and opposi- tion to their New York ftine. Why do they j^ermit com- peting business to go over a portion of their system, and then to be thrown upon a rival line to New York, and do not permit it to go over exactly the same portion of their system, and then to^ be thrown upon a rival line to the City of Philadelphia ? It is simply because there are so many lines leading to the City of New York that they could not prevent the business going there if they wanted to do so ; and if they closed their line to the traffic, the busi- ness would go over some other ; but there is but one line into the City of Philadelj^hia beside their own, and if they can prevent traffic reaching the line of the Reading Rail- I'oad, they can effi^ctually prevent its getting into Phila- delphia at all, except by their own lines. Therefore, they discriminate against Philadelphia. They do not permit this traffic to become competitive to Philadelphia ; they treat it as competitive to New York, your rival city, but it is their own local business for Philadelj^hia, and they will not permit any portion of their line to be used to make a competitive route for the traffic of Phihadelphia. \Miat, then, is the remedy for this ? The remedy is to secure the control of the Reading Railroad, and to extend its system so that PhiladeljDhia shall haye competing railroads as well as other cities. To-day I haye the control of the shares of the Reading Railroad Company. I hold proxies of more than a ma- jority of all the shares of the Company \_ap2:)lause\ ; hut among those proxies there are some 90,000 from those whose shares are not yet registered in. their own names, and including those 90,000, there are 2)robably a liunrice for them that they cannot well afford to wreck the Company afterwards ; and in that respect, and to that ex- tent, my duty to the shareholders will have been fulfilled, although I cannot protect and defend the public whose interests I may be said to have somewhat in my charge also. \_Applause^ Often and often, during the struggles through which I have been passing in the last few years, I have thought that if the necessity ever came, if I was ever so driven to the wall that I coidd not see my way out of financial diffi- culty in any other manner, I could go before the peoj)le of this State and make a public appeal to them to save this great property from destruction. I believe that its value to this State, and especially to this City, is so great that I could have made that appeal with the sublimest confidence that it would be successful. 1 believe, if I had l)een driven to the wall, that I could have gone upon the line of the road itself, to every manu_ 4 38 facturer and liousiness man upon that line, that I couhl have gone to its 26,000 employees, and gotten every man of them to subscribe some little of his hard earnings to protect this property from ruin or disintegration. [Great applause^ Fortunately there is no longer any loss from disintegra- tion to be apprehended ; there is no longer loss from finan- cial failure to be appreliended. Thank God, the share- holders and bondholders of this Company need not lose anything, and will not lose anything if they hold on to their property. But, not having gone before the public to save the property from destruction ; not having gone out among those I have named to save it from disintegration ; I do come before an intelligent audience of this great com- mercial and manuflicturing City of Philadelphia to ask that they shall do something to preserve its independence, and I say that if there are but fifty men in this audience to-night, each one of whom will buy one thousand shares of Reading Railroad stock, register it before October in their own names, and hold it over the election so as to vote for the old management, it will be an utter impossi- bility for the enemy to succeed. \_Great applduxe.'] I could easily make up what is called a syndicate to do this, but I do not propose to go quietly to work and buy shares for the sake of sustaining myself in any position. Neither am I speaking for myself. I re]:)eat here to-night, what I have said in public over and over again, that the very moment the Company is restored to good financial credit and commercial prosperity, I intend to sever my connection with it as President. I am therefore making- no appeal for myself. I am making an appeal to the wealthy, intelligent people of this City to protect the inde- pendence of the Reading Railroad, to protect and preserve it as a highway of commerce forever for this great City and its inhabitants. [Applause.!^ Gentlemen, I assure you that if I am to be l)elieved, with reference to any financial opinion, this purchase would be an entirely safe one. I assure you that if it had not been for the adverse decrees of the Courts, tlie Company to-day would be upon the high road to pros- 39 perity, its debts paid, the receivership ended, and its sjiareholders looking confidently to dividends. \_(ry('yL time, indeed, when they offered to take our coal. Within a year or two they said, " We will go out of the anthracite coal business ; we will either give you all the coal we mine at the breaker, or we will lease you all our collieries ; we will open all our lines to your coal ; we will take it all over the United States ; we will give you the lowest rates we give anybody ; we will never compete with you ; we will do all that if" — what? "Provided you will join us and prevent the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad getting into Philadelphia," and we said, " No." \_Ai)plau8c^ These are the terms upon which we could have done I.Hisiness upon the highways of this Commonwealth. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company hold those highways under the State, by virtue of the right of eminent domain. They are dedicated to public use as public highways. We have a right to force our traffic over them, and we are coolly told, "You shall not use these public highways; you shall not have your business taken over them ; you shall be excluded from their use, unless you will unite with us, and violate the law yourself, by closing your own public highway against the business of another corporation, and thus prevent it from obtaining entrance into the Citv of Philadelphia." \_Appla u^e^ I have read to you to-night the notices under which they stopped the oil trade, and I will tell you how they endeavored to stop the passenger traffic of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad passing through Philadelphia. I do not mean how they annoyed us on that one mile of road when the Baltimore and Ohio passengers were going over the "Bound Brook" route, because you all know that they detained the trains from fifty-iive minutes to an hour and ten minutes in going one mile. That they did every dav until at last nobody would go in the cars to suffer the detention, and the business fell off so that it was not worth while to transport it. But when the Baltimore and Ohio ( 'ompany was sending its passengers over the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's own line to New York, and the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company got the benefit of tlu; entire Inisiness from Philadelphia to New York, it ha])pene(l that th(? Baltimore and Ohio line from St. Lcmis was so much sliorter than that of the Pennsylvania Raihnjad C/ompany, 53 that the former company couhl make better time into New York, and by virtne of that short line the Bakiniore and Ohio passengers leaving St. Louis reached Xew York about half an hour or an hour ahead of the Pennsylvania Railroad passengers. Of course, all the people wanted to go by the short route. The ingenious manner in whi'ch the Pennsylvania Eailroad put a spoke in the ^Yheel of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is worthy the attention of anybody who desires to study modern railroad tactics. They simply changed their schedule so that Baltimore and Ohio passengers had to stop one hour at the AVest Philadelphia depot for dinner, and while the poor belated passengers were waiting for dinner, the Pennsylvania Railroad trains were making fest time, so that both arrived at Xew York on the same schedule time. [Lauffhter.'] That little meanness, that little trick, that contemptible piece of chicanery was just the last feather that broke the back of the camel. It is just that, I believe, which made the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company determine that it would build a new line of railway to Philadelphia. The result of those few dinners in the AVest Philadelphia depot, from which the restau- rant of the Pennsylvania Railroad receives a small profit — I really do not know whether the ofiicers get the profits or the company get the profits [Jaughter'] ; but the profits could not have been more than twenty, thirty, or forty dollars, and for the sake of getting that profit the Penn- sylvania Railroad will lose in the future eight or nine hundred thousand dollars a year in the Baltimore and New York traffic. One pretext for this discrimination in rates by some railroad companies is, that they only make it in favor of those who do the greatest business ; but oftentimes this is the baldest pretext of all, because these unjust discrimina- tions are generally in charges for transporting the products of the mines or the products of the soil ; not products raised, owned, or manufactured by the shipper, but han- dled or transported by a factor or a commission merchant, and the very fact that such factor or merchant has the promise of a lower rate enables him to get the large 54 amount of business, which he coukl not ol)tain but for that lower rate, and it often effectually prevents any one coming after him from securing the same amount of busi- ness, in order to have a right to demand the same rate of charges. When I became President of the Keading Railroad Company, nearly all the coal business at Port Richmond was done by factors. They did not own the mines ; other people mined the coal and consigned it to factors, or sold it to coal merchants. If the Reading Rail- road Company had taken the position that whoever did the largest business should have tlie lowest rates ; if it had simply picked out one or two of the commission men or merchants, and said, " If you get a million tons we will carry for you at ten cents per ton cheaper than for any- body else," the extra projfit would have been $100,000 a year, and all that w^ould have been necessary for the favored consignee to do, in order to get his million of tons, and secure the low rate, would have been to go up to Schuylkill County, among the miners, and say to them, " Consign me your coal for this year and I will give you five cents better than anybody else," and he could thus have secured the million of tons, and nobody else could have competed with him. He would have secured the business simply because he got the low rate ; and he could then have said to his distanced comj^etitor, to the public, to the Legislature, and to the Courts, " Why, this is per- fectly right ; if anybody else will ship a million tons he can have the same rate," Nobody else, however, could get that quantity, because one man had already absorbed so much. It is quite safe for a railway company to promise to treat all alike, after their favorites have secured so much of the particular traffic that no one else can comply with the condition upon the performance of which all are to be treated alike. What is the remedy for this evil ? As I am delivering a lecture on abuses, I should point out the remedies for such [d3uses. The remedy for this evil is with the Courts. I opposed at Washington (two or three years ago) the 55 passage of a law upon the subject, because I thought Congress had very little, if anything, to do with the con- trol of the railroads of the different States, and I did not want them to have anything to do with them. [Applause.]^ I advocated, however, for "the protection of shippers of inter-State commerce, that which I would advocate in Pennsvlvania to-day for the protection of those whose consigiiments do not pass the boundaries of the Common- wealth, namely, that there should be a law vesting in the Courts the power to issue a writ of mandamus to com]Del every railroad company to move the same kind of traffic, between the same points, at the same rate for one person as for another. There is no efficient remedy but this. If the shipper can rely only on his action for damages, and he ships a cargo of peaches, or a cargo of ice, or a cargo of other perishable material, which the railway refuses to trans- port without discrimination against him in charges, and he brings his action at law for damages, his peaches are rotten, his ice is melted, his perishable property is de- stroyed, long before he can get his case before a jury, and a verdict in damages is compensation only for the lo^:s of the particular consignment, but not for the destruction of his business as a transporter. What is wanted is some remedy that will enable a man in business to have his traffic moved instantly. If there is a dispute about rates, let security be deposited in Court, and when the Court decides what is proper, let it be paid ; l)ut do not permit the railway company to stop the traffic one moment, pend- ing a dispute about rates, if security is offered for the proper amount. If you stop the traffic, you destroy the business of the shipper. A railroad company wins in every fight of that kind, because the remedy by an action for clamages is utterly and entirely inadequate to cure the evil. \^A2)pIause.^ I do not think it would be productive of good to have railway commissions, simply because I fear that if the great corporations could not secure the commissioners, they would attempt to influence and secure the powers that 56 appointed them, and it is much better that all these things should be left to the administration of justice in the Courts of law. As an illustration of the degrading effect of political in- fluence upon official life, I have often thought that the judiciary of Pennsylvania, after the blow that it received by the introduction of the elective system, received no greater blow than that which vested in the Judges the j^ower to appoint persons to j^olitical office. It has not yet done much harm ; we have not felt it ; the system is too new to have wrought changes ; but for many years the Legislature, in one case after another, has been vesting in some of the Courts of this Commonwealth, and especially in those of this City, the power to appoint j^eople to office ; and what will be the result, five, ten, or twenty years hence ? The result inevitably will be this : that the people who struggle to secure those offices, the lower i3oliticians and the political rings, will take j^art in the nomination of Judges, and install their own candidates in power, for the mere purpose of disbursing the ]:)atronage of their appoint- ing power, and from that moment the judiciary of Penn- sylvania will begin the deep and rapid descent which will inevitably terminate with its destruction. [^Applet use. ^ Another instance of danger to be apprehended from a similar cause is this. You know how badly the Indian affairs of this country are supposed to be administered, and I have no doubt there have been great abuses. It has been suggested that the administration of Indian affairs should be placed under the control of the regular army of the United States. I have not the slightest doubt that if the reoular army had the administration of the Indian affairs, for the first five or ten years they would be honestly administered. Great savings would be made ; great scandal would be avoided ; but what would be the ultimate effect uj)on the army ? How long do you think young men from West Point, without experience, some of them probably with extravagant habits and easily led astray, would resist the corrupting influences of a horde of Indian contractors and post traders ? The result would be that in fifteen or twenty years the morale of the army 57 officers might be destroyed by the influences which some woukl be unable to resist. And so I say that if you attempt to control the railway traffic of this country by a commission, the great danger is, that if the commission is not controlled directly by the railway companies, the power that appoints the commission will be. People will be sent to Congress ; candidates will be selected ; certain railway companies will take part in politics for the mere purpose of securing the appointment of the commissioners. The only remedy, therefore, that I can suggest for this evil is that which the Courts can administer, and I do not believe that any adequate remedy can be afforded by Congress, or even bv the Leo-islatures of the several States. The third and last evil of which I have to speak, is the corrupt control of political power. AVith sorrow and with shame I am forced to admit, that there is no State that has suffered so much from this evil as the State of Penn- sylvania ; there is no city that has suffered so much from it as the City of Philadelphia, and without hesitation or fear of contradiction, I say that there is no company in the whole United States that has been so guilty as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. From the date of the repeal of the tonnage tax until within a year or two, it has owned the Legislature of this Commonwealth. It has bought its memijers like sheep in the shaml;)les. There were times when it went so far and became so shameless, that the money for their votes was given at stated periods in envelopes, almost with the regularity with which other employees were paid. And what has been the result ? Have we achieved honor ? Have we achieved greatness ? Is there anything in the recent political history or govern- ment of this State of which a single citizen can be proud ? AVe have amongst us in Philadelphia, we have within the borders of Pennsylvania, as able, as good, as honest, and as noble men -as those of which any other State in the Union can boast. If the good people of this City and of this State were permitted to select their own representa- tives, they could send to Harrisburg; and they could send to Washington, as able a body of men as that of any other 58 State ; men who would reflect honor upon the Common- wealth, in whose ability we could take pride, and to whose integrity we could look with glory. But what has been the record of the State ? The name of a Pennsylvania politician has become a by- word of re- proach all over the Union. Occasionally a good man may be appointed to some office, but how seldom do you see any good or great man elected to a great or a national office from Pennsylvania ! Why is it ? We have no in- fluence in the councils of the nation, and the representa- tives which Pennsylvania sends to the conventions of both 23arties are powerless to protect the interests of the State. It is because those who fill so many of our offices have been corrupted and debauched, that there is nobody to stand up and defend the interests of Pennsylvania, except those who have been trained to look out for their own j^ocket and to neglect the welflire of their constituents. I have shown you the effect of this evil uj)on the com- munity, and now let me ask, what has been the effect ujDon the Pennsylvania Railroad Company itself? Has it done that company any good ? Is it good for that company to have the animosity and the ill-will of the great and good people of this Commonwealth? How much stronger to-day would the Pennsylvania Railroad Company be in the affections of the people if it had never tampered with their Legislature ! \^AppIaiise.'] True, such interference has been temporarily crowned with some transient success or triumph. True, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company has over and over again, by reason of this corruption, ob- tained a victory over its oj^ponents, but at what cost, and what is to be the result ? The end is not yet, and when the day of reckoning does come I am sure it will be found that, tested by business principles alone, and apart from the question of morality, the most unfortunate investment ever made by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company was the money expended upon political corruption. Let me call your attention to one thing. You see that there are occasionally accidents upon the Pennsylvania Railroad, and of late years there have been a number. It 59 is as well-built a railroad as there is in the world. There is hardly a mechanical construction or appliance that in- 2;enuity"can invent, or that money can purchase, which is not made use of by the Pennsylvania Eailroad Company for the comfort and safety of its passengers. I do not be- lieve, as a j)iece of mechanism, that there is in the world so good a railroad. Why then do they have^ accidents ? Whenever there is an accident, if you look at its cause, in nine cases out of ten you will find it has been due to some want of discipline among its men. It is utterly impossi- l^le for any great corporation, whose principal officers have stooped so low as to be guilty of the wrong and crime which I am denouncing, to maintain proper discipline among its employees. Why ? Simply because they have corruptly controlled political power. They are not only under obligations to politicians, but politicians of the low- est type can control them, because they are in the posses- sion of such secrets as they dare not permit to be known. There never was a time within ten or twenty years when there Avere not hundreds of people of this State who could say to the Pennsylvania Railroad and to some of its offi- cers, "You must do what I ask you to do, because I know that Avhicli you dare not permit to be exj^osed." There are but few' of the" corrupt politicians of the State who could not demand from the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany the appointment of their favorites to a place in the service of the company, and wherever you have such a sytem, you will have lack of discipline and an inability to enforce a strict compliance with police regulations. A great railroad traffic cannot be successfully conducted ex- cept when, from the highest down to the lowest in the service of the company, every man can instantly turn to his delinquent subordinate and dismiss him for incompe- tency, without the fear that he may be told, " You dare not discharge me, for if you do, I will say something about you which you will not care to have made known." \_Appla use^ Do you think that those upon the staff of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company to-day, who have been manipu- lating Councils and manipulating Legislatures, would submit to be discharged? AMiy, gentlemen, if you do, 60 you know little about human nature ; and, wherever such a system exists, there will be a lack of discipline, from which the public as well as the shareholders w^ill suffer. This, then, is the third of the evils that are to be cured. What is the remedy for this evil ? The remedy is abso- lutely and entirely with the people of this State, and it is to be enforced at the jdoIIs. There is no remedy but this, and this remedy the public must enforce. I believe that calm, temperate, wise, but earnest and fearless discussion, will brino- about the proper solution of all these difficul- ties. I believe the good time is coming when this State will be purified and regenerated, and enter upon a new career of prosperity, of honor, and of glory. That this good time will come, I am well assured. That it will come soon, I have the most unfaltering confidence. If it comes quickly, it will come peaceably ; but if it is long- delayed, it will come upon the wings of the whirlwind, and it will rend its victims as with the swift lightnings of God. If this gigantic corporation, that has so long cor- ruptly controlled the destinies of a great Commonwealth, will not yield to the demands of an honest people for an honest government ; if, " trusting unto the multitude of their riches, they strengthen themselves in their wicked- ness;" if they continue to intrench themselves behind a fraudulent ballot, a corrupt Legislature, and a pliant judiciary ; if they take no heed to the first low mutterings of the coming storm, then I do know that when the great tornado of 23opular indignation bursts uj^on them it will be with the irresistible fury of the avalanche, and it will overwhelm them as with the ghastly ruin of the earth- quake. [^Ajjplause.^ To-day is the time for discussion and for warning. To-morrow may be the time for action and for retribution. "No time for speech, the trumpet riugs; Be patient, steady, calm ; God help them if the tempest swings The pine against the palm." And now I have done. I have pointed out to you the great evils of a bad system, and the greatest of all is the last, of which I have spoken. I cannot but believe that 61 you will do your part to place your great City in the posi- tion she should occupy towards a system which permits such wrongs to go unrebuked. Those wdio suffer from the injury can apply the remedy, and I can only conclude by exiDressing the fervent hope that the irresistible fiat of a great people will be heard and obeyed, without invoking the aid of any other instruments for the protection of society than those which are supplied by the organized forms of law ; so that vice may be defeated and virtue may be triumphant, and " so that a man shall say, verily there is a reward for the righteous, doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth." H DAY USF RETURN TO DESK FI cmrwpn^^-^ ^ This book is due on the la.f H.. on 4e daiTo'^L'rrlS" ''"°"' ' Renewed books are subject: Gaylamount Pamphlet Binder Gaylord Bros., Inc. Stockton, Calif. T. M. Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. M1757S7 1 1 v THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA UBRARY