The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1868-03-28

One can hardly open daily paper but he
finds q column or more about the Erie Rail-
road War, yet to nine-tenths of newspa-
per readers the stuff is unintelligible, as they
have no intimation a. to the origin and
meaning Of the difficulty. ,, Having been
appealed to half dozen of times within
week or tive, in private conversation, to Tex.
pound the difficulty, we shall, attempt to do
SO here in q few words, = we understand it.
New York has two noted milionaires and
rival railroad kings Commodore Vanderbilt
and Daniel Drew. Neither of these gentle
men is in the habit of investing largely in
railroad or other enterprise unless he can con-
troll the whole. thing, and it must be pretty
big thing at that. The main object generally
is more to getat the pickings and stealings and
manipulation of the stock in Wall street, than
to make the concern pay dividends. Thus
year or two ago, Vanderbilt got control of
the New York Central Railroad, and, to be
even with him, Drew swallowed the Erie
Road. The two being rival routes from New
York to the great West, were of course capa-
bic OF doing each other great damage. After
running pretty sharp opposition for some
time, Vanderbilt proposed to Drew to como
to terms. Uniting with the Pennsylvania Cen
trail road, he proposed that the three cempan-
ies-Erie, N. Y. Central and Pa. Central
should agree on a uniform tariff on freight
ana passengers, and divide the net proceeds
OF the three companies tor carrying passen-
gers. The Erie rejected the proposition.
Vanderbilt finding persuasion unavailable,
had recourse to craft. In few months he
quietly got possession of about SIG, 100000 of
Erie stock, which, at the next election of d.
rectors, would place the road in his hands.
Drew walking up one morning to realiza-
tlon OF this fact, saw the necessity of counter
craft to meet it.. He projected plan to give
the Erie road uniform broad guage rate from
New York City to Chicago. BY its connection
with the Atlantic and great Western road at
Salamanca, the Erie already had broad
guage route to Cincinnati. By an arrange.
ment with the Fort Wayne road (also broad
guage) which intersects the Great Western &
Atlantic at Mansfield, Ohio, it was found tn.
Erie road could get to Chicago y But the
New York and Pennsylvania Central getting
wind Of the project, had influence enough
with the Fort Wayne road to defeat it. Then
the Erie by examining the Great Western and
Atlantic road, found that it could be tapped
at Akron, Ohio, by building a road rs miles
long from that point to Toledo, and bv law
ing down an extra rail on the Michigan South.
ern from Toledo to Chicago, the Erie could in
that way get to Chicago on uniform broad
guage. The plan was adopted, but to carry
it out, $S,0O0,000 were needed, and here was
exactly the nub Of the whole thing; for Drew
proposed to raise this money by issuing 49,.
ooo,ooo more Erie stock, by getting hold of
which, OF course, he would still have by LARGE
odds the control of the road, in spite of Van
derbilt's $l6,0o0,0O0. Thereupon Wander
bilt sues out writ of injunction to prevent
Drew from issuing this stock Az he owns the
Court in New York before which the writ is
made returnable, Drew and his board of Di-
rectors, to get away from the jurisdiction of
the New York Courts, have moved not only
the office OF the Erie r. r. Company, but them.
selves bodily, to New Jersey, where thew bro.
pose to stay until they can either yet the
New York or New Jersey legislature to pass a
law giving them full authority to carry ont
their project for defeating Vanderbilt. or
compel Vanderbilt to to give up the fight.
Democratic County Convention-Im.