The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-02-09
The Railroad War.
y. LouiS Democrat.

The Railroad War.
From The 81. Louis Democrat.
That man can have no soul at all for a fight
who does not take lively interest in the
battle Of the railway giants. Thursdays des-
patches gave us information of a new man.
1uyre, and within short time another great
charge will either prevail or be- repulsed.
On the face Of things there appear four
great trunk lines between the East and West
The New York Central has an interest in the
route from Cleveland via Bellefontaine and
Indianapolis to st. Louis, and in another via
Toledo and Springfield. The Toledo route is
unbroken; the Bellefontsine route ls broken at
Indianapolis, for the indianapolis and Terre
Haute road, after sharp fight some time ago,
was wrested from the control of the New York
Central by Ben. Smith, and is now in the in
terest Of the Pennsylvania Central. Therefore,
the New York Central has talked, surveyed,
and threatened new line between Indian
spolis and Terre Haute. Meanwhile il has its
connections unbroken with Chicago. The New
York Central we shall call Vanderbilt.
The Erie, under Gould, has control of a
complete broad guage route to Cincinnati
and st. Louis, and is now fighting for the
control of routes 10 Chicago. little while
ago, Gould and Vanderblt.were fighting; now
there is more than a suspicion that they have
united their interests for q common object.
The Baltimore and Ohio, having recently
consolidated line to Cincinnati and oonneo-
tiOps via Indianapolis with Chicago and st.
Louis. But the control of the Indianapolis
and Terre Haute road was needed to make It's
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 working together, for what To
cripple and destroy the Pennsylvan Central
say Scott, "for short" The Gould ma
nnuvre was to get control, in the interest OF
one or the other of the three allies, of every
road by which Scott could reach Chicago, st.
Louis, or Cincinnati. Accordingly, the Allan
tic and Great Western was secured by Gould;
the Ohio and Mississippi by Gould, and the
proposed change of gauge 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
then 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
Terre Haute. Smith had road from Column
bus to Indianapolis, then another via Logans-
port to Chicago, and with the Terre Haute
road, he became power in the land. Hence
the fight for the control of Smith, in which
Erie was beaten, Scott and Smith having
now joined hands. The new line from this
point to Terre Haute will soon give the Penn
sylvanis complete route to this city; with
the Smith roads II has complete route to
Chicago, and it is now fighting for the control
of the Columbus and Xenia and Little Miami,
by which il can reach Cincinnati. 50 far,
then, Scott resists all efforts to tie him up.
There remained the great Pittsburg, Fort
Wayne and 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 combination would
get 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 carry
ing 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 little bill was introduced in
the Pennsylvania Legislature, and passed both
houses and was signed by the Governor before
noon, which reads as fOllows:-
at shall be lawful for the board of directors
of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, and Chicago
Railroad Company, by lot or otherwise. to SO
near as may be. shall terminate their official
terms directors. At the first next annual
and bond holders shall elect only members of
cause d by the expiration of the period OF SER
vices fixed as aforesaid"
Accordingly, the New York people will be
able to elect only one-fourth of the directors
this year, if they do get majority of the
stock, and will then have to hold their stock
and proxies year longer in order to get con-
troll OF another fourth--which puts Scott ano-
ther point ahead in the game. Meanwhile, a
proposition has been made by the Little Miami
to lease its road to the Columbus and Xenia,
which is soon to be voted on, and If that car
ries, both roads will then be leased to the
Pennsylvania Central. Such is the fight as il
and the New Workers control mint of money;
but they find it no easy job to kill off the
Pennsylvania Central. And, since oompeti-
tion 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
,aaoa . huk loD Tricaa