Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1880-12-23

Hopkins u Co. were hardware mer-
chants of limited means in San Fran
cisco. They built the Central Pa.
cific Railroad, and deservediy made
fortunes estimated at from three to
five millions each. They found the
railroad enabled them to tar the pro.
ductlon and commerce of the entire
Pacific coast. Twelve years have
rolled around, and recent estimates,
based upon Legal proceedings neces-
sary in the estate of Mrs. Hopkins,
place the partnership wealth of Mr..
Leland Stanford at $34,543, 3os;
that of MI. Charles Croker at 1884,.
495, 45s that OF Mrs. Hopkins at
1926, 2s0,972, while Mr.. Huntington's
wealth is estimated even higher than
that of Messrs. Stanford and Croker.
1t is about twenty years since the
late Mr.. Vanderbilt was graduated
from the steamship business into
railroad management; his posses.
sions at that time were valued at
from s5,o00,000 to sl0,oe0,ooo; at
his death, some three years since,
they were estimated at $50, 900. 900.
Mr.. j. Gould "obtained his start"
IN the management of the Erie Rail.
road, in connection with the late Jas.
Fisk; at the time he gave his now
famous testimony before quoted lin
1873 he was considered worth from
$3,000,000 to $1,000, 900; to day no
one knows how much he is worth,
but in Wall street estimates are made
ranging from s30,000,o0o to $780,
100000.
Railroad men who have accumu-
lated, within a few years, amounts
ranging from 100000 to S., ooo.-
600 are too numerous to mention, as
are those, also, in branches of trade
depending upon and closely identi-
fed with railroad Transportation
shippers who, through the favor of
railroad managers, have been ena.
ble1 to outstrip or break down all
competition.
These are found in every branch
of trade, but in none, perhaps, are
they as prominent as in the petro
leum business. III true history of
the STANDARD Oil Company could be
written, it would read more like a ro
nance of the Middle Ages than a
statement of commercial facts posi-
ble in the nineteenth century. This
is the organization to which the Hep
burn Committee alludes as ssthis mys
terious organization, whose business
and transactions are OF such a char
acter that its members decline giving
a history or description of it, lest
their testimony be used to convict
them of a crime"
The testimony IN the PENNSYLVANIA
investigation showed that the trunk
lines of railroads paid in rebates to
the Standard Oil Company, acithin
the period Of eighteen months, $40, ISL.
21s item million, one hundred and
fifty-one thousand, two hundred aud
eighteen doilars,) which was con-
tributed by the roads in the follow.
ing proportions
Total shipments October II,
1877 to March 81, '79, bbls. Is.556,277
Total rebates during that time
at 80 cts (average) per Dbl $10,15l ,2ls. 90
Of which there was paid to
Standard bv Baltimore and
ohio Railroad, II per cent,
as per contract, October IL
1877 1,ll6,eSs. ss
Paid by New York Central &
Hudson River Railroad, 81
per cent, as per contract,
October II, 1877 -. -. 2,l3I.755. rs
Paid by Erie Railway, 81 per
cent, as per contract Oct.
II, ls77................. 2,lSl ,755.7s
Paid by Pennsylvania Railroad
At ner cent, as per contract,
/ Oct. II, 1S77-17t months AM. O72 46
Total rebates, Oct. II, 1877,
to March 81, 1872. .sl0I5I.2ls.0 90
In Ia report to the New York
Chamber of Commerce. the Com.
mittee on Railroad Transportation
of that body alludes to this subject
as follows:
"How obvious Of their obligations as
common carriers, and how regardless of pub
lie rights are the great trunk lines, is illus
trated by their making an agreement with
the Standard Oil Company article A. to pro.
tect them against loss or injury from compe
htion.' What has happened in the case o.
the Standard Oil Company may happen in
other lines of business. With the favor o.
the managers Of the trunk lines, wltat is to pre-.
vent commerce IN tie rest Of the great staple,
from being naonopolized in similar manner
Already, indeed, it takes this course. One
or two firms in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New
York and Boston. with their branch houses
in the West, are,by the favor of the railroads
fast monopolizing the export trade in wheat
corn, cattle, and provisions, driving compet
itors to the wall with absolute certainty
breaking down and crushing out the energ,
and enterprise of the many for the benefit
of the ia vored few"
CONCLUDED nert Ueek.)