The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1869-06-11

From the Proriiencs Journal.


We eobserve in every part of the coun-
try d tendency to consolidation, as it is
called, among the great railroad cor
pOratiOns. Mere confederation and CO.
operation of the different corporations,
while each retains its Independence OF
every other, have ceased to be satistac-
tory, So important has the through
business and the long traffic become,
that they are falling into the absolute
control Of few capitalists. The con-
sOlidatiOn is not in outward and legal
form. Each separate road still retains
its charter as before. A majority of its
shares, however, is gradually absorbed
by one or two great operators, who at
some annual meeting assert their cuu-
troll over its affairs by turning out the
old directors and putting in their place
representatives of themselves. This
takes place with ono road after another
till the whole series has fallen under
the absolute control of two or three
great proprietors. All other sharehOld-
ers in each particular corporation find
themselves pOWerleSS in the manage
ment of its affairs, and are sure to sec
their interests made entirely tributary
to those of the men who have these
magnificent schemes TO promote. The
result is pretty sure to be great dissatis-
faction, and often serious loss. For the
arrangement that may be profitable for
the whole series of connected lines,
may be very far from profitable for any
particular one in the series.
This tendency to combination has de-
veloped itself very rapidly among the
lines of travel and transportation in
New England and New York. They
have now nearly all fallen under the
same control. Resistance was made,
and, in some instances, strenuOusly
persisted in, but concentrated capital
was too strong 10 be long wlthstOOd,
and its triumph at length became COM
plete. The lines are still called by their
old names, the corporations retain
their former charters, but wherever
they could be made tributary to these
ulterior interests, they have passed in
TO new hands and are controlled by
new influences. Their stock has some-
times been bought up in open market,
and sometimes by sales that have been
forced upon them by actual or threat
ened opposition. By all sorts of
means, discreditable as we'll as lair,
sometimes by political agency as we'll
as pecuniarY, the result has been
brought about, and at the present mo
ment the railroad system of New Eng
land and the Middle States is entirely
under the control OF few great CAPT
talists, who have really acquired
monopoly of the through business:
1t is now said that this consolidation
is about to extend still further east.
ward, until it shall embrace a continu-
GUS line over all roads between New
York and Omaha-the point from which
the Union Pacific stretches toward the
opposite shore of the continent. In one
way and another, the intervening lines
are expected to succumb to the resist
less power of concentrated capital, and
ere long to fall into the same bands
which have already grasped so many
others of the great routes of inter- com
munication in the northern states.
Such a combination will, of course, be
favorable to speed in transportation
aud travel. 1t may also, for time, be
favorable to safety, as it certainly Is to
definite responsibility on the part OF
the managers and their agents. But.
Notwithstanding all this, there is much
to be eapprehended from these great mo-
nopolies. They soon become eXtortiOn-
ate and Indifferent to the public con-
venience, and at length reckless of the
public safety and OF the security of hu-
man life. Concentrating, as they do,
such enormous power OF capltal, they
are always liable to be made use OF for
political ends, even ifthey do not have
political ends OF their own 10 accom-
plish.
The past winter has taught very seri-
ous lessons to the public concerning
matters of this kind. State legislatures
have evinced their Willingness TO 90
the bidding of q financial corporation
at the SaCrlnCe OF Any PuOlAS lHSS
however great, and in New York, II
nowhere else, judges have been made
tributary to the mOuey making schemes
of Wall street operators. The people,
we know, like speed and dispatch,
trans-continental lines OF travel, great
railroad corporations and everything
else that is magnificent. But it is well
to remember that these things are not
without their risks and their positive
evils. and that among these evils. may
he a gigantic corporation sacrlhclng
eVervthing to its own ends, purchasing
legislatures, corrupting justice al lis
fountain heads, and even controlin8
public opinion by its overshadow 1tS
| influence. If all these things are 10 pe
permitted and to become a part OF tue
social system Of the country, 1t WlA pc
necessary for States, especially lor
small States, to adopt some new sate-
guards for their independence. Notn-
ing is more degrading than the pecui-
mary control of a corporation unless ~
be the pecuniary control OF one man.
APPLEToN's JOURNAL for June l9tn;
is accompanied with handsome steel
engraving of Indian Rock. Narraga1@
sett, after painting by w. S. daseA-