Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-05-24

Aah 4a4 AaA N1lANAI OAA ~ -
Of England he does not find prompt sym.
patty and practical aid from the people
Of St. Louis, he will se overthrow and
compelled to hand oyer his magnificent
railway to a management that will speed.
lily hand over the lucrative trade which
st. Louis is now doing in Texas to the
cities of Memphis aud Louisville.
Louisville has a direct rail connection
with Memphis; Memphis has a direct
rail connection With Little Rcck; the St.
Louis and Iron Mountain and Southern
reaches Texas via Little Rock.
Get these facts fixed firmly in your
mind, reader, and then see what it Is the
Earrings, at the instance of Louisville
and Memphis, are trying to force Mr..
Allen to do.
Louisville and Memphis want to cap.
ture the Texas trade which St. Louis
now enjoys, and having a railway 10 Lit.
tie Rock, Arkansas, they have deter
mined to attempt this achievement. By
an examination into the affairs of tbs
Iron Mountain railroad, they discover
that the Earrings, of England, are large
bondholders therein, and By a little
manipulation common to unscrupulous
capitalists bent on the accomplishment
Of some pet scheme, it is so arranged
that the Earrings obtain a large interest
in the railways leading from Louisville
and Memphis to Little Rock.
1t was her demanded Of Mr.. Allen
hat lie should make a low pro rate with
Louisville and Memphis TO Little Rock
for the Texas trade.
Think OF it a moment, Note the amaz.
ing cheek of such a request.
Mr.. Allen, by the force of his owu
genius and determination, built the St.
Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern rail.
road from St. Louis through Missouri
and Arkansas into Texas. he built it
for the express purpose Of carrying mer-
chandise and passengers into the terri
tory through which ii runs and into
Texas, where it terminates, and to bring
out of Texas and Arkansas the cotton
live stock, grain, etc, which were sure to
be shipped. And now comes the railway
companies referred to and demand that
Thomas Allen shall allow them the full
and free use Of his road from Little Rock
to Texarkana for the avowed purpose OF
stealing away from Thomas Allen the
traffic he has spent twenty years Of his
lie and his entire fortune in building q
railroad to secure.
If any Columbus navigating the realms
Of cheek ever discovered a more colossal
specimen OF it than is here presented, the
fact should be Immediately telephoned to
the world.
Mr.. Allen refused, to be sureI Why
should be not2 What interest had be
in the success Of the railways ruaning
from Louisville to Memphis and from
Memphis to Little Rock2
he did not own a dollar OF their stock
on the contrary, his whole fortune was
tied up in the st. Louis, Iron Mountain
and Southern. Let US for a moment
suppose hat Mr.. Allen had been weak
enough to permit Louisville and Mem.
phis to capture bis Texas trade by the
use of his track from Little Rock 10
Texarkana, does any intelligent reader
suppose the other stock and bondkolders
Of the Iron Mountain railway would have
patiently subEitted2
Stock and bondholders do not hold
their own interests in such utter y
tempt rs that would imply. No, sir;
they would have raised a storm about
Mr. Aliens ears at once, and he would
have had a fight on his hands quite as
severe as the ono he is now stemming.
1t is fortunate for St. Louis that Mr..
Allen has given her d complete rail cen
nection with Texas. She has the trade,
and q magnificent trade it is, too. Ii
Louisville and Memphis want to share
that trade let them continue their rail
way from Little Rock into Texas, just as
Mr.. Allen has done, and then yet as
much of the trade as they can. 1t is a
free country, and there is no law to pre-.
vent their having 40 independent and
unbroken railway to Texas. All they
have to do is to build it, and then they
a adopt such rates of freight as they
see fiji, and they will be welcome to al
the trade they can get. But when they
ask Mr.. Allen to haul Texas freight las
miles over his own road from Texarkana
to Little Rock, turn it oyer to them and
run his cars home 1855 miles empty, they
are simply making a request which never
can be granted,
They realize this fact and it makes
them furious, aud they have determined
that Thomas Allen shall be deprived of
the management of the Iron Mountain
railway, if it is possible to accomplish
that feat, and they have applied to the
Earrings for help.
1t is very doubtful whether the Bar
ings, If they really upderasood the mat
ter, would urge Mr.. Allen to pro rate
with the Louisville and Memphis ring,
but they are represented by men who can
be made to see anything which It is de.
Sirsble that they should see.
Be this as it may, it is clear enough
that if Mr.. Allen is compelled to shap.
don the management OF the Iron Noun
tain Railway to new hands, St Louis
may taks q permanent farewell OF her
Texas trade, Because, though the new
managers might not commit the supreme
lolloy of handing this trade over to Mem
phis and Louisville, they would hand it
over to New York city. This would BE-
done by making low through 7aScs from
the East.
Our merchants have had 0 little taste
Of this through-rate business, They have
seen goods going from points East Of st.
Louis right through this city to Texas
for less nancy than was asked for goods
shipped from ST. Louis to Texas, and