The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1884-01-17
The GIANT OF MONOPOLIEs.
Earning Il Million Il Month on m
Investment Of 81 1000.
Secret History Of tho Fight Made Against
the Texas Pacific Magnates Who
Tried to Share the Feast Of the
Kings Of tho Southern
Pacific.
INcm York Morrill,

hlngS OF the southern
Pacific.
New York worldl
The Colton.Huntington correspond
enee Is mn almost complete history oi
the infamous lobbying which disgraccd
the National Capital while tho Texas
md Pacific bill to guarantee tho in.
tcrest of the bonds of that road was
before Congress, md fully exposes tho
arrogance, corruption and duplicitv Of
the Central Pacific company and tho
fact that &. I. Huntington and his
colleagues have been systematically
engaged IN dcbauching congressman,
buying up Legislatures, presenting
fraudulent reports, declaring dividends
with borrowed money, buying up news
papers, misrepresenting the status Of
tho Southern Pacific company, gobbling
up steamship and railroad lines, and
strengthening every point, by tho
basest methods, of the monopoly they
created on the investment of
Sl1,5OO. Twenty years ago the men
who figure most prominently in this
history were residents OF Sacramento
Cal, engaged in business-C. p. Hunt.
ington and Mark Hopkins rs hardware
merchants, Leland Stanford rs dealer
i'll oil, Charles Crocker MS a dry goods
dealer, and Judge Croker ~ Il lawyer
and their combined capital would not
have purchased the shortest line Of
railroad in the country, yet hssociating
themselves with dozen others as poor
rs themselves, they formed corpora
ton for tho purpose Of building the
Central Pacific railroad, and in few
years were powerful enough to defeat
the great project Of one Of the most
progressive Of Eastern railroad mag
nates-col. Thomas A. Scotland hid
defiance to all rivals.
The project to build Southern
route from the East to the Pacific coast
antedates the war, and was favorably
reported on us early rs the period when
Jefferson Davis was Secretary of War.
The breaking ont OF the rebellion, how
ever, caused the availability of South
ern route to be lost sight Of, and aid
was extended to the Union and Cen
trail Pacific companies to build
tho road which has Omaha and
San Francisco for its termini. This
aid was in the shape of immense
land grants and bonds, which the Gov
eminent turned over to the companies
to realize upon, and which the Govern
ment has since paid the interest upon.
The help thus derived made the orig
inal projectors Of the Central Pacific
railroad immensely wealthy, and to this
wealth they continually added by charg-
ing eStortionate fare and freight rates,
and were thus able when the project OF
the Southern overland road was re-
yiyed after the war to fight it step by
step. The project of Southern road
was favored by many men laying claims
to craftsmanship, on the ground that il
would assist the South to rccuperate,
and it was advocated by some as q meas
IRE of justice, Northern overland
route having in the meantime been au-
thorized 10y Congress and endowed with
a heavy land grant, Fremont was one
OF the most enthusiastic supporters Of
the project, and the new company,
known as the Memphis and I'll paso
company, was encouraged by Congress,
receiving heavy grants Of land from
Texas, and was getting on fair basis,
when Fremont's negotiations in Paris
for capital were brought to an abrupt
close by charge of attempted fraud
being lodged against him, and the prof
ect dropped out Of sight for time.
scorr IN THE FIELD.
Finally Col. Thomas A. Scott, of the
Pennsylvania railroad. took an interest
in the project, and to give il the appear
ance of u new enterprise abandoned the
old title and substituted the name Of
Texas Pacific. All the land grants
made by the State of Texas to the
Memphis and FL paso were transferred
to tho Texas Pacific, the preliminary
arrangements We're completed, and
Scott undertook to raise capital on the
bonds of the road, and was in fair
way to succeed, when the great panic,
commencing with the famous BLACK
Friday" in 1878, again paralyZcd the
project. Scott himself was embarrassed
by the panic, but he soon got his head
above the water and made fresh efforts
to build Southern route. He pro-
posed to 60 before Congress and ask,
rs an act of justice to the South and in
the interest Of healthy competition, that
Congress should guarantee the interest
Of the bonds of the Texas Pacific road,
receiving as security for this concession
. first mortgage ON the lands anu road
bed and rolling stock of the company.
The plan was looked upon with favor,
particularly by Southern Senators and
congressman, and the business
men of the South and California,
who had begun to realize the
fact that the Central Pacific was
tyrannous corporation, from which
no fair dealing could be expected SO
long rs il retained the power to fix its
own rates for freights and fares regard
less OF competition. and there is no
doubt that it would have been carried
out had il not been for the manipula-
tions and corrupt practices of the
managers of the Central Pacific. These
men, not content with the enormous
profits derived by them from the traffic
Of the Pacific road, had conceived the
idea of totally monopolizing the rail-
road business of California and of
shutting out all overland competition.
and in pursuance of this object created
the Southern Pacific Company TO build
line of railway from San Francisco
through the Territories Of Arizona and
New Mexico to some point or the
Eastern seaboard. The letters of Hunt
ington show how the money was raised
to build the road. The money markets
81 the country were secured to borrow
money on Central Pacific security. The
earnings of that road, which, accord.
ing to Hnntington's own statement,
were, in 1877, fully one-half profit
xrar. an,,l,ya1 In yha v,rE 'chaSe