The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-11 00:00:00

THE
_SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 11, 1869.

211 E RAILROAD WAR.

, •
(From the Western Railroad Gazette.)
The Missouri Democrat is inclined to treat the
contest between Gould and the Pennsylvania humor-
oualy. Here is a leader in the number for February
6 :—That man can have no soul at all for a fight
who does not take a lively interest in the battle of
the railway giants. Thursday's despatches gave us
information of a new manoeuvre, and within a short
time another great charge will either prevail or be
repolsed. On the face of things, there appear four
great trunk lines between the East and West. The
New York Central has ati interest in the route from
Cleveland via Bellefontaine and Indianapolis to St.
Louis, and in another via Tol-•do and Springfield.
The Toledo route is unbreken ; the Bellefontaine
roate is broken at inclianapols ; for the Indian-
apolis and Terre Mute road, after a sharp fight
some time ago, was wrested from the control of the
New York Central by Ben Smith, and is now in the
interest of the Pennsylvania Central. Therefore,
the New York Central has talked, surveyed,
and threatened a new line between Indian-
apolis and Terre Haute. M .anwhi'e it has
its connections unbroken with Chicago. The
New York Central we shall call Vanderbilt. The
Erie, under Gould, has control of a complete
broad gauge route to Cincinnati and Sr. Louis, and
is now fighting for the control of routes to Chicago.
A. little while ago Gould and Vanderbilt were
fighting; now there is more than a suspicion that
they have united their interes.s for a common ob-
ject. The Baltimore and Ohio, having recently
secured the Marietta and Ci. cinnati Road, has a
consolidated line to Cincinnati and connects via
-Indianapolis with Chicago and St. Louis. But the
control of the Indianapolis and terra Haute Road
was needed to make its line to this city complete,
and therefore it joined interests with Vanderbilt to
get that road. Beaten by Ben Smith, it probably
has an interest in the projected new route. Here,
then, are these powerful interests, virtually work-
ing together, for what ? To cripple and destroy
I the Pennsylvania Central—say Scott, "for short."
The Gould manoeuvre was to get, control, in the in-
terest of one or the other of the three allies, of
every road by which Scott could reach Chicazo,
Sr. Louis or Cincinnati. Accordingly, the Atlantic
and Great Western was secured by Gould, and
the proposed change of gauze stopped ; the Pitts-
burg, Fort Wayne, and Chicago was to be grasped,
the Columbus roads westward were to be seized ;
and poor Scott, thus shut in on all hands, would be
deprived of all Western connections. Exactly what
the allies would have done for the benefit of the
public, we do not know. The first ' failure
was when the Ben Smith combination gained
the Indianapolis and Terra Haute. Smith had
a road from Columbus to Indianapolis, then
another via Logansport to Chicago, and with the
Terre Haute Road. he tecatne a power in the land.
Hence the fight for the control of Stnith, in which
Erie was beaten. Scott .111(1 Smith have now joined
I hands. The new line from this p tint to Terre
Haute will soon give th- Pennsylvania a complete
route to this city; with the Smith roads it has a
complete route to Chicago, and is now fighting for
the control of the Columbus mu.l Xenia and Little
Miami, by which it can reach Cincinnati. So far,
thee, Scott resists all efforts to tic him up. 'l'her •
remained the great Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, an I
Chicago Road, his best and most natural route to
the Northwest, the directors of which are now in
the Scott interest. The danger was that the Gould
comNnation would eet control of the road. Stock
has been bought, proxies have been obtained,
agents have been sent to Europe to get control of
stock held there, and the boast is openly made that
the Erie already has a certainty of eaieying the
next election of directors to be held in March. But
the schemers counted without their host. They
forgot that Scott not only owns a railroad, but also
a legislature. For, on Wednesday, a little bill was
introduced in the Penniylvattia Legislature, and
passed bo'h Houses, and was signed try the Go-
vernor before noun, which reads as follows , It.
shall he lawful for the board of directors of the
Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chicago Railroad
Company, by tot or otherwise, ,o so classify the
members thereof that one-fonr,h, as near as may
be, 5h..11 terminat, their official terms as directors
At the first annual meeting after being thus classi
tied the stock aud bondholders shall el: ct only
members of the board of directors necessary to
fill vacancies caused by the expiration of the pe-
riod of services fixed as aforesaid." Aceordingly,
the ew York people will be able to elect only
one-fourth of the directors this year, if they do get.
a majority of the stock, and will then have to hold
their sock and proxies a year longer in order to get
control of another fourth, which puts Scott another
point ahead in the game. Meanwhile, a proposi-
tion has been made by the Little Miami to lease its
road to the Columbus and Xeeia, which is soon to
be voted on, and if that carries both roads will then
be leased to the Pennsylvania Central. Such is the
fight as it stands. Gould is sham p, Vanderbilt is
strong, and the New Yorkers control a mint of
money, but they find it no easy job to kill off the
Pennsylvania Central. And, since competition is
the only hope of the public, we are very glad of it,
and hope that neither may succeed in crippling the
other. " Let us not have peace," but low prices.

A LUCID 1 XPLANATION OF THE ERIE
WAR BY THE FAT CON TRIBUTOR
The Cincinnati Times has this clear explanation
of the recent railroad complications from the pen
of the " Fat Contributor" ;-11 e are satisfied the
t)., schemes,dinil cot b ipnaastti ofne sw,
public are a good deal perplexed to under taud all
ie
about the nuttierous
e
ur
oameuukbsnttogwi urietee;d!iglliye-
igWB4rieeyenle:tkt ato_adtrn' portion Obtoivoi etteehaanedl :ors public,lilt :ittelr:nh
candidly
ut
that we were a little in doubt ourselves until we
made a determined and thorough examination of
the subject; but now it is all as clear as mud
to us. We know all aho.it it, and are enabled
to make our readers understand it too. You
see the Atlantic and Great Pen Handle Rail
road Co. having leased the Sharpsburg Cut-off;
together with its connections (including, of course,
its unch s, aunts, cousins, and their connexiims), so
as to control the traffic over the Harrison Pike, it
became necessary for the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne,
and Chicago Railroad to buy up the capital stock
of the Hamilton, Indianapolis Central, and Little
Miami, if they could hope or expect to maintain
their hold upon the trade of Licking River and
Duck Creek. Another object was to get into the
Cleveland! Union depot at St. Paul in advance of
Alex. Hamilton's stages. Then the New York
Central (Park) Co., holding a majority of the stock
in the Pennsylvania Southern and Northern Alaska
Railroad, executed a flank movement by leasing the
stockholders of the Sthquehanna. and Chesapeake
Canal, thereby securing a direct broad-gauge route
front the Isle of St. Thomas, to the foot of Fifth-
street. This, of crurse, necessitates the buying up
of Fifth-street Ferry Dick property, or the con-
struction of a bridge connecting the Union Bass
Ball grounds with Eden Park —a harmonious
blending of the East and West-end interests. Van-
derbilt, who wants to be considered the. "Colos-
sus of Rhodes"—that is to say, of the rail-roads—
is determined to cut off the Pennsylvania Central
from the North-west. He sent a man up there,
Feb. 12, to cut it off. but the result is not yet known.
The Pennsylvania Central immediately turned
about and 'gobbled up the Jack Noble Dug-hill
Railroad, and then effected a lease of the old and
d--d liable Co-du-Roy R.R., by which move
they cunningly monopolized the commerce of Che-
voit, forming the only direct line between that
flourishing section and the markets of Europe.
There was considerable excitement at the sale of
the Dug-hill road, which took place yesterday.
More stockholders voted than were on the
books 'of the company, and, on examination, it
was discovered that one was a whip-stalkhol-
der (a low stage driver) ; another held no stock
except an old-fashioned one lie wore around his
neck ; another kept a stock-yard, while a fourth
was simply a holder of old stock ale—the heaviest
stockholder in the lot. rhis latter individual was
detected when it was proposed to " water the
stock," when he howled dismally. All that is now
needed to complete our brilliant combinations is a
railroad starting at the Little Miami elevator and
running up Deer creek along the Eggleston avenue
to intersect with the effluent pipe and the Millcreek
Improvements; thence along Western avenue to
the Lunatic Asylum, which will unquestionably be
a Grand Union Depot at last for all railroad flier
and those who attempt to comprehend their gigantic
railroad schemes."

DENVILLE and Co., Belfast, are the largest
holders of Whisky in the world. Their Old Irish Whisky is re
commended by the medical profession in preference to French
Brandy. Supplied in casks and cases for home use or cxporta
Lion. Quotations on application to Messrs. Dunville and Co.
Belfast; 'or 4. Beaufort-buildings Strand, London W.O --(Ad-
vertitielneiaL

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

THE PURCILASE OF IRISH RAILWAYS.

The supporters of the scheme for the purcl)-
Irish railways by the State are still agitating y
energetically in favour of its adoption. In Ireland a
large party has been found in favour of it. Of these
the Marquis of Clanricarde seems to be the chosen
spokesman, and he headed a deputation on
the subject to the Prime Minister on Tuesday.
lie was supported by the Earl of Lucan, Lord
Claud Hamilton, Mr. Gregory, Mr. O'Reilly,
Mr. Blake, and Mr. M'Clure—M.P.'s all. The
Marquis of Clanricarde urged very strongly that
the Government should take the matter in hand;
and gave it as his opinion that if the Irish members
were canvassed they would nearly all express their
concurrence in the scheme. Mr. Gladstone, however,
has evidently enough on his hands for the present in
the Irish Church Bill ; when his mind is freed from
that he may be induced to take up the matter of
the railways. Until then we can hardly expect him
to burden himself. So the deputation could hardly
have expected more than the stereotyped promise of
full consideration of the question by the Cabinet.

nearing this, said the matter might rest, but a
charge of intimidation was preferred on the corres-
pondence, which failed on a technical point of laVr.
The case, however, illustrates very forcibly the exer-
cise of undue influence at election times. It is likely
that such transactions are common enough, though
the public would probably never hear of those
instances in which the threatened voter sacrificed
his political convictions to his pecuniary necessities.
Flow can Parlidment protect the Thorneleys against
he Brookses without the aid of the Ballot ?