New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-12-22

-. 1870 l-s1z{ q -
lhsir own dtsdit1 losk hi. mics
have bssn done BY the public administra-
ftieesx 81 slsaatnas Nellaa tAennszsejeee
has besn effected BY their Successors g
ENM b sesa. A ~ yedls havs passsd
away since the sale. The new company
proceeded to repair the roads. It be-
cans indispsnsablsr 70 the command
Il through trade that the annoyance
u 8 stsamboae Tip from Colum'
bus to Cairo should be dispensed With.
The company to which money had 20 re-
gently bssn no object, proceeded to sell
it, bonds for the repair Of its track, and
subsequently, for tho extension Of the rail
from its northern terminus to 9 connec-
ton with tho Illinois Central ct Cairo.
To effect this last enterprise it became
necessary that the company should CO.
cure aid, and this WAS found in the in
dorsemcnt Of the Illinois Central Railroad
Company. The proceedings in the courts
disclose the fact that the company in con-
troll Of the two roads to which We have re-
ferred, has been in default on payment
Of the interest coupons on those guaran-
teed bonds since July, 1875, and that the
Illinois Central Railroad Company has
been compelled to meet this obligation.
Upon this representation the courts de-
creed the surrender Of the road and their
affairs to . receiver, and after lapse Of
some months the Circuit Court of the
United States has decreed sale of the
whole line from New Orleans to Cairo,
subject to tho prior mortgages, and after
to the indemnity Of the Endorsement on
the construction bonds Of the Cairo ex-
It is thus that work which connects
the Gulf of Mexico with the lakes, and
which should give New Orleans the con-
troll Of all Longitudinal commerce. has
passed beyond the control Of our State
and city, and may be henceforth orerated
in the interests Of Others perhaps rival
interests to our own.
We blame no one for the fact that New
Orleans 10 the only seaport city in the
Union which has no control over her own
commercial connections with the interior.
We must add that it had been hoped the
Illinois Central Railroad Company would,
in obtaining exclusive control Of this
great connection between, the tropics and
the Northwest, have taken some measures
to develop its full capacities. We had
hoped It one time that the Illinois
Central would have, with the aid OF, other
companies and Of Congress, put on lines
Of steamers from New Orleans to Vera
Cruz, Aspinwall, and even Rio Jansiro.
We have now even fears that the con.
trol Of that great road has passed to New
York and that its schedules will favor q
Northern instead of Southern business.
These fears arise from tho closure of the
general Office of the road at New Orleans,
the forced sale of the Jackson and Missis-
sippi roads and from the price of Central
road stocks quoted in New. York and
Chicago at much less than their rates
some years ago. We can not admit that
any such reduction has been caused by
the connection of the Central with the
Southern roads. We lave, therefore, ap-
prehensions that it may not meet the
policy of the Illinois Central Railroad
Company to purchase the mortgaged
roads, and work them in the interests of
New Orleans and the Mississippi valley.
For this loss Of city control over lead
ing way of intercourse with the upper
West We blame no one. The response
bility is too great and too grave for in
dividual liability. Louisiana and New
Orleans have been for years the victims of
politics. The Republican administra-
tions have been so occupied with the de-
tense Of life and right as that they have
been unable to advance the material in
terests of the State and city. The Demo-
cratic aspirants to Office are wholly
ignorant Of and Indifferent to the con.
struction or administration of public
work. They deem such sordid objects
wholly unworthy the mind Of State
rights aspirant to Office. However either
or both political parties may be respon-
Gble for inability to act, on the one part,
or incapacity to comprehend on the other,
the fact remains that the control of all
railroad connections with the upper West
has passed from New Orleans, and that
all schedules and tariffs established upon
these roads may be ordered rom the At
lantic ports. Regulations of fares and
freights may be therefore so adjusted as
to discriminate against New Orleans, and
the weapons forged and once welded for
her defense may be seized and turned to
her injury. New Orleans may then be
deprived of the control of her own rail-
roads, and may consummate alike her po-
litical and commercial dependence upon
New York by an abject and inevitable
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