Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-09-18
THE LABOR COMMITTEE.
OF Commissioner Fink-Origin
I'D Object OF the Great Railroad
Pools.

New York, September 17.-Albeft
Fink, commissioner of trunk lines
was before the senate committee OF
laboran education to-day. He testi-
fled that h& is at the head of II bureau
composed of about forty railroad com
panies who organized Tor the purpose
of establishing and maintaining uni
form tariffs. The extension of Sallroad
lines in the United States and the
fierce competition between them made
organized action necessary to their
existence 1t would not do
for each to operate and fix it's own rates
of transportation without regard to
other roads, In order to improve con-
nections and better accommodate the
public by establishing u uniform sys-
tenn of rates, the Joint executive com.
mittee formed II system of railroad
management which had ueen greatly
! complicated by the immense increase
| in the number of roads. The roads
represented in the association were five
| trunk lines, the New York Central,
New York; Lake Erie d
Western, Pennsylvania; Balti-
more & Ohio, and the Grand
Trunk line of Canada, with all their
Western connections. The latter are
roads running east and west. The ter
! ritory i'm which these roads are located
/ is included between the ONO ana
| Mississippi rivers and the great lakes.
| Fink also stated there were two other
associations west of the Mississippi
river, one of which included several
large lines raining west from Chicago,
us the Chicago 81 Northwestern. chr
cnpo & Alton, Chic go & Rock
Island and Chicago, Burlington q
Quincy. The other association COM
nrised roads west OF the Missouri.
Roth associations were under controi
of ]. Michelet. The first attempt al
organization of any railroads was III
the South in 1875, when witness wa'
manager of the Louisville and Nnsh
Vile. AT that time there was flerct
competition between various easl ailo
west roads, and the property OF th'
commercial interests OF the country Wa'
endangered. The system was estap'
iished or the same basis that AZ pres
, emit prevails in the north, Inc plt'l
worked so we'll that 1t was adopted pN
, all later associations as the feguia.o
~ railroad tariffs. The water route
! by way of the great lakes anu niasas
Sim; liver were very in, ffectuai AT Ger
SeaSOllS. 4 D WV thi's '>
: clnsed TO traffic, IL was POPULAR,
= supposed that the railroad
= lhrn had il all their own way, I'M
/, wns not true, and the idea that tn
= rnads could,~eXtott any iariif the
pleased by mer,ly combining wa
,alse. There were many other ei'
nneuts which would combine to pr
4 vant such n result. Inlegard to con
h netition on water routes, witne'
r Thought this could not be controile
). as in the case OF railroads.
. W. was much easier to put
4 steamboat or dozen cam
!. hoats on a route than to build a ne
d abroad. The principal OBJECT Of Il
association was TO arrange uniiorl
rates of tariff for transportation on
c la,u plan. 1t had nothing
do With local business, but only wh'
q there was competition at some gre
!. distributing lolnt Tor certa
:, class Of business. his was neesssa
: in order to protect cue shippers th
e n The roads com ptting for this basine
should be knotD.