The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1876-07-30

the most part, Quilted the Mo.
bile and Ohio road and found its way
eastward by Southern lines. The ST
Louis business was transacted at Colum
bus, aud found its way to that city over
the soil OF Missouri, thus leaving the
Illinois Central to contend for the small
amount OF business reaching there by
the rivers going to st. Louis or eastward
with the boats on the Mississippi, the st,
Louis and Cairo narrow gauge, and the
Cairo and Vincennes lines.
TO maintain itself, the Central was
driven to take some steps to secure with
certainty and permanently. a controlling
interest In a line south OF the Ohio river.
The Mobile and Ohio was tied up to the
st. Louis and Iron Mountain railroad at
Columbus. and to the Louisville, Nash.
vile and Great Southern at Humboldt,
and could offer no hope of relief. It will
De seen at glance that relief aud security
10 the Central could alone come from
obtaining q controlling interest IN the
INES from New Orleans, and extending
them from jackson. Tennessee, to Cairo.
and controlling. at the same time. the
connections at Humboldt and Columbus.
Negotiations were set on foot which
resulted, as it Is understood, i'm the ILL
nois Central railroad company-in con-
sideration of substantially controlling
the entire line from Cairo to New Orleans
and ALI connections with other roads-in-
vesting six millions of dollars in con-
structing the one hundred and seven
miles OF road from Jackson to Cairo, and
in renOvating and eQuipping the two
lines from jackson to New Orleans, so as
to secure a line from Chicago and st.
Louis to the Gulf of Mexico. The lines
from New Orleans to Cairo were CONSOLE
dated under the name of the New Or
leans, st. Louis and Chicago railroad
company. and all promised to secure
what the Central wished I'm the south and
southwest.
But it now seems that things have not
worked well. The lines south of the
Ohio have not furnished the business ex-
pected of them. The Central has been
ern connections. All are found to be
open-mere "suckers,' so to speak, of
the main line. At Milan-the new sta
ton on the new line. mile or two west
of Humboldt, and the point OF intersec-
ton with the Louisville, Nashville and
Great Southern railrOad-travel and
freight going eastward, take their way as
formerly. The crossing OF the Ohio at
Cairo is i'm no sense what it should be,
and things aret a bad way generally.
Worse than all. the New Orleans. ST.
Louis and Chicago railroad company is
bankrupt, and the millions put into 1t by
the Illinois Central are in danger of being
entirely lost. The veXed question in this
latter company now is-who
blundered? 1t is pretty GER
tain that neither Mr.. Douglas
nor John Newell, the president of the
company who Immediately preceded
Mr.. Douglas. could have been so egregi-
ously taken in rs some one seems to have
been. And it seems equally certain that
some one in New York has been done
for to the tune of six to eight millions at
the expense of the Illinois Central rail
road company.
The journal deems it but proper and
in the interest OF the tax payers of this
State, to call attention to the general
facts above stated, reserving other and
more detailed information for the future.
Illinois cannot stand by dislnterested
spectator and see its perpetual interest in
the Illinois Central lmperilled and swept
away without a most searching and rigid
inquiry. In the meanwhile. it would be
idle for any one to suppose for moment
that such men as John NJ. Douglas and
John Newell are capable of makingsuch
monstrous blunders as have been COM
mitted by some one in the management
Of our great land grant corporation.