, 1870-05-24
RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

The Iailways of the West and Northwest
hare, up to the present time, been operated
with moro enterprise, and managed with
more fidelity, both TO the people Of the
State and to their stockholders, than those
of any other part Of the country. except, per
haps, New England There are but one or
two of them, whose management has been
Justly open to criticism on moral grounds
But the gigantic system Of consultations
which virtually blends in one the manage
ment Of scores of roads, is extending west
ward the power, and The strategy Of the
New York railway kings, Wherever these
influences extend, new and inscriptions
tactics are developed We know there is
general feeling among railway managers
that these virtual consultations be-
tween continuous lines, and
this heasy competition for through freights,
is good and profitable thing for all par
ties, md cannot be orerdone. But in this
respect, rs the powers Of the officers them
selves are aggrandized, and the amounts Of
money in which single railway officer
dea1s are increased from thousands to
millions, they have m interest in these con-
solidations which the public has not. An
Emperor can always see wisdom in those
concentrations Of power which finally
agg1andize himself. So Vanderbilts con-
eolidatious, first, of three New York roads,
and his subsequent attainment Of the virtual
control of Western roads, is q great thing
for Vanderbilt. So the entire business Of
effecting such arrangements between dif-
fe1ent roads on s'through freiglts" and
<t Through passengers" adds, in all IN
stances, to the power Of the officers making
the arrangements This is sufficient to ac-
count for their advocacy of it. and for the
confident dogmatism with which they set
aside MI objections to it Yet, without
inpeaching their motives or their iutelG-
gence, there are reasons for be1iving that
this is a s'penny pound foolish
policy. While it IS true, on the one hand, |
that '1t1lrough trains, !" taken at one termi-
nus OF road already. made mp, cau be |
hauled through to the.other end ct q con-
the same train could be made up on tho
route ut way stations, and that, to certain
extent, Through freiGhts" are cheaper, in
the fact that they keep more of the rolling
stock employed, with less handling; it is
also tine, On the other hand, that, III the
long run, local traffic, in which road is
subjected to no competition with other
roads, must be the main element of in
come, which determines whether the road
shall be rich or poor. Through traffic
must be competed for with other through
Lines, by land and water, and, when left to
the natural law Of competition, must be
reduced thereby to the minimum Of rates
consistent with the preservation of the
capital employed. On Through froights"
and fares alone no road can
ever grow rich The constant |
effort is, by extensions and consultations,
TO grasp ut monopoly of this through
traffic, and cut off competition But this
effort defeats itself, in the impracicability
Of absorbing everything. After nj, there.
fore, the only business Of which railroad
can have that monopoly which IS essent1nl
to wealth is It's local traffic
The grasping after through traffic has,
however, double effect to keep down tho /
amount Of local traffic first, by throwing
share Of the actual cost cs the through
traffic on the 1oca), but chiefly BY disconI-
aging settlement on the line OF the road
}oupEEIose, for instance, the Northwestern
Road charges ten cents per bushel for car
ry1ng grain forty miles, and makes such
through freight arrangements as to. bring
it from Dixon, Galena, md Lacrosse, ut
the same rates. It may, temporarily, win
freights from west of the Mis-
sissippi, which, but for such
low charges, would, in some cases, go to
1aaIket BY other routes. But, to offset this,
it carries eyag immigrant away from it's |
own 1ine;f6 settle in Iowa, Minnesota and !
Nebfaaka, instead Of having him settle on
the1ine Of the road itself It thus trans
fera to The line of othzr roads customer Of
whose trade it might have had the monopoly,
but for. whose t1ahace, when once passed
beyond its reach, it must foEs,nn time