Litchfield enquirer., 1879-12-11
Railroad Management.

poration of that city. The business men of New York have long complained of the dis criminations against that place allowed by leading railroads and searching examination has been made of the special rates allowed by these roads; into the watering of their stocks ; and into other particulars of their manage lnent. We notice iu the bearing of the rail- way magnates. something of the high and mighty style so long practiced here by Presi- dent Bishop, of the Consolidated road, when called on to meet what he has always affected to consider the impertinence of legislative examination This New York Committee, however, unlike the Joint Standing Railroad Committees of our legislature, does not allow itself to be trifed with. If it has not gone to the bottom of things, it has at least unearthed enough of the iniquities and of the injustices of railway management to show how little de- serving of the respect of and support honest people the great companies really are. The closing speech of MT. Simon Sterne, made on behalf of the city committees before the legis- lative committee, and reported in the New York Times of Wednesday and Thursday last sums up the evidence against the railroads with great force. Referring in the outset to the spirit of dislike that prevades all classes against existing railroad management he says
 The request for the callof the meeting which l appointed the Chamber of Commerce Com mittee was signed by the largest representa- l tation that had signed any request for any I nf fha Inc, hor ciD fLoh hao 1f 1 the wa:. The signatures appended to the re- quest for the call represented capital of three times over the combined capital of the New York Central and Erie Railways. And the meeting was attended by larger number of merchants than had attended any meeting since the war. As to the charge that Com lnunistic spirit had taken possession of the | Chamber in insisting that the railways of the State of New York shall do jnstice to New l York City, the speaker had only to read some of the names appended to this call to over- whem Mr. Depew, attorney for the railroads, with confusion. 'lf, <" he continued, i've had not on Fifth-avenue, palace after palace, and fortune after fortune, acquired through in- dIirection dir of moneys. and if people were not compelled to pass vice ensconsed in comfort and In luxury. beyond the power of the law to reach them there would be great deal less of the Communistic spirit than exists now.
 
 taining control of the leading and all the affili- ated lines from New York to San Francisco, affiliatlng himself with the leading and best l citizens of New York and throughout the country, with career as we'll know in every household as that of Robin Hood-that say, | is what creates Communistic spirit of rebel l lion and honest indignation in the spirit of the people. There are certain facts in this con- munity just as clear and patent as those which l I>oco s,>k kl, l and which raised storm of indignation that cut off heads, burned buildings, tore down the Bastile, and created reign of terror for years" MT. Sterne referred to the proof adduced from the books of the companies themselves showing the special rate privileges granted to special interests favored by the managers, and often those in which the managers were per sonally interested. He referred to the system of false entries by which it had been attempted to cover up the watering of their stocks. He showed how at the very time the New York Central was doing through business at loss it was able to pay heavy dividends from the money wrung from local business which could have no benefit from competi- tion.
 AS an instance of the gross unfairness of special rates, MT. Sterne averred that at times the cost of transporting freight from Chicago to New York had been actually less than that of carrying it from Buffalo to New York AS a necessary result, the Western farmer had actually the advantage of lower rates for the transportation of his grain than the Eastern farmer. There were six thousand cases of l special rate proved upon the New York Gen. tral in the face of Vanderbilt's positive denial. l ''This," said he, twas but system of bribery on the one hand, cajolery and successful l effrontery on the other, which between them crushed out honest, accomplishing toll. It was but the building up of monopolies, the destruction of the small tradesman, grinding taxation for the one and profit to the other '"
 After quoting from the testimony of several witnesses Mir. Sterne continued:
 ''The true explanation for the whole special rate system az it has grown up in the State of New York, is that, in 1865, there was tariff of extraordinary high war prices for freights on all the lines of our railroads. Instead of subjecting the local tariff to a revision to keep pace downward with the fall of prices that came with the gradual return to sounder currency and financial basis the railways at- tempted to maintain these warrates as whole, giving way only as individual pressure was brought to bear upon them to reduce their rates. And when greater reductions in values came after the panic of 1S73 the pressure be- came greater and greater, and therefore, with out theory and without principle governing any particular case the whole tariff was honeycombed as the railways yielded to this pressure, until it has become a structure with out foundation, without cohesion, and injuri- our to every interest of society,""
 He maintained that the railroads habitually discriminated against New York city; and, as consequence, Baltimore and Philadelphia grain-shippers had an advantage. The Erie Canal. and her control of other business, was all that saved New York. Otherwise the rail- roads would wipe out her trade nc though z barrier of rock blocked all her channels to the
 sea.
 Probably the most remarkable instance o all those vexatious and destructive interferen ces with the natural development of business which have characterized the railroad manage ment of the country, however, has been that by which the ''trunk inos' ho~o footorod c few oil monopolies We wish our space would admit of the full statement of this mat ter as set forth by Mr. Sterne. The resul, was to crush out everything like opposition tc the favored monopolies, thus keeping up the cost of cue of the necessaries of modern life to an unnatural price for their benefit and tt the disadvantage of the public. At last, afte years of oppression, business forced anothe . way through:
 What readily might have been foreseen, if tn,
 railway managers had had the slightest regart for their duty to the public, not to speak o : their duty to stockholders, had come to pass 1 the loss of an enormous traffic, which, at &
 per barrel, crude, would have brought to then D $10, 900, 900 year, which they could easil, n have kept if they had dealt with equal fair
 ness to all producers and re6ners. AS MT Vanderbilt had said, the oil business for tn Il railways is doomed. This chapter of Ameri