The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-11-28
Railroad Combinations-The Public
Interest.

always topics of public interest; and
if the interest may be supposed to be
in any degree proportionate to the extent
of the transaction the attention given in
financial circles to the great sale OF New
York Central shares just made by Mr. Van
derbilt cannot be regarded as in any de-
gree exaggerated. In fact, this event mas
not only compelled the minute attention OF
the great financial world in two heml-
spheres, but it has excited the wonder and
piqued the curiosity of the public gener-
| ally outside of financial circles; and II IL
has not especially stirred the imaglnatlons
! of our Statesmen" and politicians with its
glimpse at the possible public effects OF
operations properly within the field of pri-
vate concerns, this is merely because poll
tics is the only activity in which Americans
engage without any fair comprehension OF
all the limits and relations Of that pursuit.
Wall street and Lombard street are two
| great pivots upon which the money world
of our age turns, and the money world of
| this age is certainly more vital than any
other part of it; for the heroic, the scien-
tific, the literary, the political activities all
wait upon the men who are filed with the
characteristic spirit Of the current civilian
ton. And it cannot be concern without
the farthest reaching relations that compels
for many days the exclusive attention of
the two great money centres here and in
London.
Precisely how the parties to this great
operation have sketched in their minds
eyes the respective consequences OF such
| sale and purchase-what specific objects,
| secret OF ostensible, either side may have
had in view-they have not set forth to the
| public and that is of the less conse-
quence, because in, great concerns, in con-
| Germs Of the first magnitude, whether in
the sphere of finance or in any other
| sphere, it is always true that the most i'm
portant results are not those that were
counted upon by the men who planned the
event. 1t is commonly said on small scale
in the theatre that as nobody ever knows
what is to be the fate of new piece before
it is actually played, SO nobody ever knows
what character is to bear away the honors.
Possibly it may be the hero who shall shine
forth in the splendor of primacy as the
playwrigh t intended but it is just as likely
to be his lackey. And in this respect as in
so many others the stage is only the world
in miniature. Grand transactions are
planned for one purpose and serve another.
Some unobserved line or phrase in law
proves when you get into court to belts effec-
tive part. We have had statutes passed to
force initiation, and they forced contraction.
Certainly the trainers of the national consti-
tuition never intended that the government
of this country should be in the hands of po-
litical conventions, or they would at least
have named such bodies. People may
trouble themselves the less with Mr.. Van
derbilt's schemes and those Of his customers
from the consid Iteration that everybody is,
fully as much as those persons are, in the
confidence of the forces that will actually
determine the consequences of this sale.
Doubtless, however, this event may be
fairly regarded as one Of the early moves in
grand combination with q view to one
more of those peculiar conflicts sufficiently
known to the public as railroad wars-great
schemes of rivalry which sacrifice the well
fare of the people to the large projects and
games of the money lords in order to en-
force vigorously upon one or another set of
lines the pitiless principle Of the survival
of the fittest. From the standpoint of
the great railroad projects the Atlantic sea-
board is regarded as o mere dumping
place for the produce of the West on one
hand and for the produce of Europe on
the other, and the great endeavor of COM
bined corporations is to secure the largest
dump at their favored spot. Shall this be
Baltimore, shall it be Philadelphia, shall
it be New York city? That is the ultimate
inquiry of all their schemes. With the
combination of which the Central becomes
a part by this transaction it is very likely
that this city will stand fair chance to
hold it's own against cities that have had
some advantages over us in previous con-
ficts of this nature. and with that result,
as it bears favorably upon our prosperity, we
have no reason to find fault, unless it be
secured at too great cost to the country
generally.
And that is to be contemplated always as
one of the possible consequences in these
cases. No local advantage is worth the
cost that is TO be secured through fact
which affects detrimentally the country al
large and that proves injurious to such Q
great machinery of prosperity as the rail.
road system. And every railroad war is q
detrment to. the country. The CHEAP
freights and cheap fares that are the tempo
rary symptoms are like the exaggerated &C
tivities, physical or mental, OF a man in de-
lirium (; they mean ultimate exhaustion, The
ruin OF shareholders, the forcing Of roads
into the hands of wrcckers, the demoraliza
ton and corruption of boards of directors
and Of the management generally, The
perversion of great instrument OF modern
civilization from its legitimate public use,