Joseph Widney - Public Service

Public Service

Widney did much in outlining the railroad, maritime and commercial policy of Southern California. He and his brother Robert were prime examples of entrepreneurial professionals. They proved to be "effective lobbyists for the Southern Pacific and for harbor improvements" and were especially "active in transport enterprises and in the development of the San Pedro harbor".

As early as 1871 Widney saw the need for Los Angeles to have its own harbor, and with Phineas Banning successfully lobbied the United States Congress for funding for the establishment of the harbor at San Pedro, California (the Port of Los Angeles). In 1881 Widney was described in the Los Angeles Times as the "prime mover of Wilmington Harbor". He was chairman of the Los Angeles Citizens' Committee on the Wilmington Harbor. He wrote the memorials to the U.S. Congress advocating the deepening of the harbor. He successfully opposed the attempt of the railroad interests of Collis Potter Huntington and his partners from claiming the state tidelands of the harbor for their own corporate purposes, ensuring these lands remained in public hands.

Widney was discussed the feasibility of dividing the state of California and establishing the commonwealth of Southern California. He wrote on the subject, and was regarded as "one of the ablest and most enthusiastic advocates of the new 'California of the South'". For many years Widney advocated unsuccessfully for the division of the state of California into at least two (and later he advocated four) states, in order to maximise its representation in the U.S. Senate. He indicated in 1880 that "the topography, geography, climatic and commercial laws all work for the separation of California into two distinct civil organizations". In 1888, Widney contended that "two distinct peoples are growing up in the state, and the time is rapidly drawing near when the separation which the working of natural laws is making in the people must become a separation of civil laws as well".

In his book The Three Americas(1935), Widney suggested that the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa form an Anglo-Saxon federation with freedom of migration and a common citizenship.

While Widney was Republican in general politics, he was "an earnest worker in the cause of temperance". In an 1886 Los Angeles Times op-ed piece Widney suggested that the liquor question – the restriction of its manufacture and sale – should not only become the subject of a Republican party platform plank but should be the issue around which the party rebuilt itself. He was interested in the progress of prohibition, and served as head of the city's nonpartisan anti-saloon league.