Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-04-13
SOUTHERN RAILROADS.
The Five Great Syndicates Which
Control Almost All Of
Them.
Is There Business Enough TO
Divide Probably:

The last year has seen some extra
ordinary changes in railroad control in
this country, and it may be ftly called
the consolidation era of their exist
ence. 1t is matter OF fact that there
is only one road less than 200 miles
long in the South that preserves the
Individuality of its original title, and
is operated under the management and
and name Of its first charter. 1t is
the line from Montgomery to West
Point.
Perhaps the most powerful road or
consolidation is the Louisville, Nash
vile 4 Great Southern. Its lines are
southwest from Louisville to Mem.
phis. through the fertile grazing lands
Of Kentucky and Tennessee; from
Bowling Green, the junction of the
Memphis line, to Nashville, and d.
rectly south to Montgomery, then
southwasterly over the leased road Of
the Montgomery & Mobile to Mobile,
and lao miles west to New Orleans,
over the road originally bearing the
names of the two cities These and
the road from Nashville 10 st. Louis,
one from Montgomery to Selma, and
coal and other branches, swell the
total mileage to 1850. Trains for pas.
sengers are run solid from New Or
leans to Louisville in forty hours, but
freight is moved over the same dis
lance in ten days, and thought to be
moving fast at that rate. The effects
of this great consolidation are, in the
Judgment Of many people, equally di.
vided between good and bad. For
example, the repair shops at Mont
gomery and Mobile have been taken to
Louisville, and 600 worknen driven
elsewhere to seek other labor. Natu-
rally the cities thus deprived of an
important factor in their population
feel aggrieved, and regard the consoli.
dalton as a disadvantage. On the
other hand the consolidation has har-
monized diverse interests and rendered
possible the development Of the min
eral wealth of the region through
which this line passes. 1t must be
said that little Of development IN this
direction has been done as yet, and
the benefits to be reaped are only
prospective.
The most comprehensive consolida-
ton, and the one that promises to do
most for the country, runs north
and south and east and west,
from the Ohio river at Cincinnati to
the gulfat New Orleans, from the At
lantic ocean at Brunswick to the Mis-
souri, river at Kansas City, and west
ward to the Gulf of California at some
port in Mexico. The extent Of road
to be operated by this management
will, when completed, exceed 1000
miles. About 1900 Of it is already in
operation. Its system is known as
the Erlsnger syndicate, and its build
ing capital is from a foreign source;
hence it assumes at the outstart the
most beneficial relations to the South
ern country. Its expenditure has also
been in the hands Of a Southern man,
Frederick Wolfe, of this city, the
financial agent of the syndicate
The roads now in operation are the
Cincinnati & Southern, from Cincin-
natl to Chattanooga, distance ap
proximaiing 800 miles. This road
was built for the most part by the
city Of Cincinnati, but, failing at the
outsiart Of its career to justify the
expectations had 10 store for it, be-
came the shuttlecock of change until
it finally reached the hands Of the
Erlanger people, when the plan Of
short line to New Orleans was mooted.
The next link on this branch Of the
system was the Chattanooga, Alabama
d Great Southern. 295 miles long. ex-
tending from Chattanooga to Merid
ian. Miss Ii was built by Boston
capitalists directly after the war, and
was designed to form the nucleus o. a
line from New York to New Orleans,
to follow the western base Of the Ap
palachain range Of mountains the en-
tire distance, and open up the vast
coal and iron veins that extend in al
most unbroken deposits between the
two cities. The constructed portion
penetrated the most valuable mineral
region of the route, that OF northern
Alabama, but unfortunately it had no
market terminus, and its condition
was that Of man on a desert island,
with untold sums OF money, but with
neither food TO eat nor raiment where
with TO keep himself warm. 0rigi
nally the road had obtained conces-
sions from the State, with some sort
Of forfeiture attached, and thus it
became necessary to demand, and the
State one day found itself 10 possession
OF, an unmanageable railroad property
with no prospects oil soon making il
profitable one. It's requirement by
the Erlanger syndicate was the next
step Of importance in its history, aud
the line 10 New Orleans had only TO
fill the gap from Meridian, something
| like 200 miles. This is now building
and will be complete early 10 the fall.
The Kansas City and Atlantic
ocean section is the great feature Of
the syndicate's plans By il they pro
pose to tap the grain country Of the
Northwest, the mineral wealth Of
Southern Missouri, the cotton yield
ing uplands Of Arksnsaw, now the
second cotton growing State, to be-
come an important factor in the pros
perity Of Memphis, where the Missis
sippi will be be crossed, and continu
ing southessterly through Selma and
Montgomery, Ala, and Euiaula. to
reach tidewater at Brunswick. The
length Of this line will be about 1900
miles. All Of IL is surveyed; some
100 miles from Selma westward are
built, and work is progressing at a
dozen points east Of the Mississippi
, river. To my mind, the plan has no
great promise Of success. Brunswick
= has neither prestige as a seaport nor
terminal facilities for tho railroads