, 1880-02-15

tS.
either cut the rate, gave passes, or was II
I some way guilty of breaking the agreement
If there was that confidence existing, tht
gentleman said, between the representatives
honorable competitors, they would 80 to the
line charged with cutting the rates and lnvestl
gate the matter. In nine cases out Of ten
plain statement of facts would SHOW that tne
charges were false # all the lines from this
city would say to their agents that they
would hold them personally responsible fol
the business and that they must strictly
maintain rates or lose their official heads,
there would be but little trouble. As a rule
the complaints came from men 1ots that nad ,n9 ne
when they got left by, some wide-awake
agent they cried. "Stop thief!"
EAST-BOUND FREIGHT MOVEMENT
The east-bound freight movement for the
| past week shows another slight falling of.
The shipments of grain, -four, and provisions
for the week ending Feb. Il were B,o03 tons,
against 34.S17 tons the week previous, fall
! ing off of 1911 tons. Bad as this exhibit IS,
it becomes still worse from the fact that more
than one-half Of the grain carried went via
the Grand Trunk and Michigan Central: Out
| Of 5000 tons Of grain the Grand Trunk anu
NEt1LkUl 4UutE 4CtAF
but $500 for all the other routes. The mis-
taken policy Of the Eastern trunk lines Is
I rapidly bearing its fruits, and an immense
amount of business that would ordinarily go
| by the Eastern trunk lines is now directed to
opposition routes. AS already shown, the
Grand Trunk is doing larger business than
ever before by the regular pool route, and,
besides, is beginning to pick up good busi-
ness over its new line to Portland and Boston.
The Southern lines connecting with South
f1nrtir al hporf f1 fn a Ia
business. and are prospering beyond prece-
dent Much of this Southern business goes
partly BY water down the Ohio and Missis-
sippi Rivers. The New. Orleans grain re-
q during the % week ' ending i % Jan: 81 last, When
they amounted to 1,120,063 bushels, which is
weeks %eeRs Pr Previous. iousn IN s ISIS and @ i$7s.
winter rates were low, and consequently
Southern routes; but this year, with rail
rates well maintained, and ocean rates ex-
tremely low, and an enormous SURPLUS OF
grain awaiting shipments ct this point and
the Eastern seaports, it IS not surprising that
we'll. New York, Philadelphia, and Balti-
more are the greatest sufferers from the
present state of affairs, and the roads to
taSse points haXe no one to 6ame hnt them, them
cars. Boston and New England points are
doing extremely we'll, owing to the Grand
Trunk boom, and the people IN that SECTION
are n9t sloW in tappreeiating # as I viii pc pc
Springfield NIass.) Republican,:
"The more Northern and less direct railroad
lines discharging freight from the West at
Boston have OF late come into unusual pronl--
the advance in their shares. The Boston s.
Lowell Road delivered more grain at Boston
last week than all the other lines together,
the corn amounting to Ii, GIT bushels. against
66,61o for the rest Of them. The bulk Of this
was immediaatcly sent to Europe, and there
The Boston s. Lowell has no elevator, and
the only charge Is one-hah cent a bushel for
transferring the grain BY hoppers from the
cars g: to vessels, whereas the charge rby other
comes from Chicago by the Grand Trunk
and Central Vermont Lines, and the
construction of an elevator in which
all three of these, companies viii be
has been imprpving p % is connexions s % for some some
time, and now has a tolerably good through
line from Chicago. It has ordered 800 new
freight cars. There has been handsome
during the past few months, and the same is
true Of the Ogdensburg dkLake Champlain.
The Boston, Concord & Montreal reports
more business than it can attend to, and the
0gdensburg & Lake Champ1ain proposes to
that 1,500 nerchandisecars lie built right |
away. The Portland s. Ogdensburg is pick |
ing up too. The two lines from Boston to
Portland are doing well, and the stock Of the |
Eastern Road is now more than four times |
as high as 1t was year ago. The Maine |
Central shares have mounted up even more |
rapidly, going from 10 to &C. There is talk Of |
closer connection Of these three roads, but |
no defnit plan has been marked out The |
advance in Central shares is quite as likely /
to be due to competition for the control be- |
tween Maine and Boston parties as to any |
project for consolidation"
These facts ought to convince the Eastern |
managers of the necessity of a reduction in |
the east-bound freight rates, but they stub
bornly ignore all the facts, and claim that |
but little business is being diverted. Yet it
is hardly probable that they will stick to
their present policy much longer, as another
and most dangerous enemy is fast approach
Ing with the opening Of lake navigation. |
They have an idea that lake competition will
not trouble them badly. as they believe lake
rates will be unusually high this year on ac-
count Of the demand for iTon-ore and lum-
Der. They may be mistaken in this calcula- |
tion, however, because the probabilities are
that the demand for the above-named articles
will not be By any means as great as is ex-
pected, because railroad construction PROM
lses to be very light next summer on account
Of the 1arge1y-lncreased cost of iron.
The following statement will show the
amount Of flour, grain, and provisions car