CALIFORNIA. 



99 



Resolved, 1. That the Central Pacific Eailroad is a 

 State corporation, and as such amenable to the laws 

 of the State concerning corporations. 



2. That the relations of that company to the na- 

 tion are simply those of agent and principal and 

 debtor and creditor, so far as their property within 

 this State is concerned. 



3. The power of the State over said corporation is 

 far from having been surrendered by the act of the 

 Legislature in April, as claimed by that company. 

 It was rather affirmed thereby in these words : 

 u Said company is to be subject to all laws of the 

 State concerning railroad and telegraph lines." 



4. That the right to regulate fares and freights 

 whenever it exists is a condition annexed to the 

 franchise, and is necessarily vested in the govern- 

 ment by which the franchise has been granted. The 

 right to collect tolls is one of the essential franchises 

 of railroad corporations, and the power to regulate 

 these is simply a power to regulate the franchise 

 under which they are collected, and the power must 

 be exercised by the authority creating the corpora- 

 tion. 



5. That the existence of the Central Pacific cor- 

 poration and its right to operate roads in California 

 rest exclusively upon the authority of the State law ; 

 that its natural character is limited to retain the 

 functions which it derived by the State's consent 

 from Congress, such as the right to operate its road 

 outside of the State and to create liens upon its en- 

 tire line in favor of the national Government and 

 other creditors. 



6. That as a necessary result of the foregoing, 

 while Congress has the right to regulate tolls over 

 the road on through and inter-State traffic, the State 

 Legislature has absolute and exclusive power to reg- 

 ulate the rates of freight and fares between all points 

 within this State. 



7. That experience has shown that the railroad 

 companies, where left uncontrolled, naturally look 

 exclusively to their own interest ; often disregard 

 the interest and convenience of the public they were 

 created to serve, whereby unreasonable rates for 

 freight and fare have been and are still imposed, and 

 unjust discrimination made against communities and 

 classes of merchandise, and many settlements and 

 towns put to inconvenience, and even seriously in- 

 jured, for the building up of localities in which 

 members of the company are interested. 



8. That we recommend that the people should ex- 

 act in advance from candidates for the Legislature 

 an unequivocal pledge first, that they will, if elect- 

 ed, vote for such reductions in the rates of freights 

 and fares as will leave to the railroad companies fair 

 incomes on the actual cost of construction of their 

 roads and allow for maintaining and operating the 

 same to enable them to meet their just obligations ; 

 second, that they will to that end institute a thorough 

 investigation into the affairs of corporations, as they 

 have ample power to do, in order to ascertain the 

 real cost of construction of their roads, and the an- 

 nual outlays for maintaining and operating the same ; 

 and third, that they will, in adjusting a tariff of 

 freights and fares, abolish all unfair discrimination 

 between some classes of merchandise and equalize 

 rates between different localities, having due regard 

 to grades and curves. 



Resolved, That the Republican party disclaim any 

 sympathy with indiscriminate war upon associated 

 capital with blind disregard of its rights | it is en- 

 tirely independent of all corporate power, and it is 

 opposed to all schemes in State, county, and city, 

 whereby under pretense of providing gas and water 

 to communities, or irrigation for farming, a f'6 w men 

 seek to enrich themselves by imposing heavy bur- 

 dens on the people. It repels all attempts of cor- 

 porations to force into office through Republican 

 conventions men who will guard their own interests 

 rather than those of the republic, and it expects to 

 be judged by its acts and the character of its candi- 



dates, rather than by the false accusations of its ene- 

 mies, who, after having had the Executive power of 

 the State for the past eight years divided equally be- 

 tween them, can present no better claim to public 

 confidence than loud and empty professions and hor- 

 ror at the alleged corruptions and profligacy in pub- 

 lic affairs which they themselves have managed and 

 controlled. 



The eleventh resolution invites the coopera- 

 tion of the farming interests in carrying out 

 the measures of the platform. 



The twelfth resolution decries disunion in 

 the Republican ranks, and invites unity of 

 action in the approaching presidential elec- 

 tion.- 



The platform and nominations did not meet 

 the approval of the organization known as the 

 Peoples' Independent party, which was origi- 

 nally formed in 1873, under the lead of Gov- 

 ernor Booth, largely from the Republican 

 ranks; and it was charged that Mr. George 

 G. Gorham, Secretary of the United States 

 Senate, and ex-Senator A. A. Sargent, had 

 controlled the convention in the interest of the 

 Administration wing of the party, and the so- 

 called railroad monopolies. Accordingly, the 

 Independents held a convention of their own 

 at Sacramento, on the 22d of June, and nomi- 

 nated the following ticket : For Governor, John 

 Bid well ; for Lieutenant - Governor, Romal- 

 do Pacheco; for Secretary of State, William 

 Rousch ; for-Controller, Lauren E. Crane ; for 

 Surveyor - General, E. Twitchell ; for Attor- 

 ney-General, Peter Van Clief; for Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction, J. M. Guinn ; 

 for Treasurer, Ferdinand Baer ; for Clerk of 

 the Supreme Court, Paul Morrill. A very 

 long platform, consisting of thirty-six resolu- 

 lutions, was adopted. The general purposes 

 of the party are declared as follows : 



1. Whereas, The bitter dissensions that have di- 

 vided citizens of California into opposite parties, on 

 purely national questions, for so many years, having 

 passed away with the Civil War, and the reconstruc- 

 tion measures growing out of this war, it has be- 

 come obvious that serious local evils are weighing 

 heavily upon the people of this State, requiring our 

 earnest and thorough attention, lest they become, 

 through carelessness, perpetual ; 



2. Whereas, The so-called national parties in 

 California have fallen into the control, m a large 

 measure, of the more worthless elements of society, 

 in the interest of certain powerful corporations and 

 associations of individuals, who systematically seek 

 to accumulate wealth at the public expense through 

 and by^ means of the machinery of government, un- 

 til affairs have reached a point where the people can 

 no longer safely trust the political control of the 

 State to either of them : therefore 



3. Resolved, That > the "People's Independent 

 party " seeks to unite together honest and law- 

 abiding citizens of all colors, irrespective of class, 

 local or business distinctions, and regardless of re- 

 ligious or previous political opinion, for the pur- 

 pose of bringing about a thorough reform in the 

 State, court, and municipal government generally, 

 and especially with the view of securing retrench- 

 ment in public affairs, consequent reduction of taxa- 

 tion, regulation and control of all corporations, exer- 

 cising franchises of a public nature ; the reduction, 

 to a reasonable rate, of the fares and freights on 

 railroads as well as steamboats, operated on June- 



