St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-15
WHO WILL CONTROL?
An Inside View of Northern Pacific At
fairs as Against Threatened
Speculation.
Indications That Vanderbilt and Wright
viii Consolidate Their Interests
The Result.
Dissatisfaction at the Low Rates
Charged by the Wisconsin
Central Road.
Arrival of the First Consignment OF
Tea from Japan--Other Notes
of Interest.
Nnrthern Pacific Affairs.

Northern Pacific Affairs.
There was great deal of gossip on the
streets and in railway circles yesterday on
Northern Pacific matters. The recent rise
en- stocks. from the lower thirties to the
upper forties. and the prospective rise hlgh
up in the fifties before the 31St inst, when
the books will be closed against further
transfers, indicate quite clearly that
struggle among financial giants Is gong on
to get control of the road at the September
meeting. which will determine the future
policy of the great transcontinental line.
1t may safely be stated that either the
DreXel- Morgan Wmslow-Lanier& co. com
bnation will maintain control, or
that the c. B. Wright party VIII
capture the organization on the basis
of the majority OF stock held or voted by
proxy at the September meeting, on winch
great issues depend. The theory that the
Rock Island or Gould is in the fight for
control as principal is not tenable, nor Is 1t
entertained by well-advised authorities on
Northern Pacific. East or West The fact
that President Cable is on a junketlng trip
over the line doesn't appear as convincing
argument or doubtful element in the allie
cation that the Rock Island is planning for
the control of the Northern Pacific, any
more than if President Harris of the
Northern Pacific were to take q pleasure
trip over the Rock Island, it would Indicate
that the Northern Pacific contemplated Sc
curing control of the Rock Island. These
managerial tours are made more in the line
of pleasure than for any considerations OF
business.
a MORE TENABLE THEORY.
1.-The fact is" as stated to GLOBE re-
III, te,4 hot
the Northwestern would become party to
securing control of the Northern Pacific.
MI Vanderbilt controls line of railway
now from tide water on the Atlantic to the
head of navigation on the Mississippi and
the northern lakes at Ashland, Bayfield, and
Duluth. His line is from New York, the
Hudson River. New York Central, Lake
Shore and Michigan Southern, Chicago 81
Northwestern and its allied system, the
Omaha. BY securing the Northern Pacific
to Wallula Junction and building the Cas-
cade division to Tacoma Mr.. Vanderbilt
would realize the avowed ambition of his
life. He would control continuous line
of railway from tide water in
New York bay Oh the east to tidewater on
Puget sound on the west. This ought to
satisfy the most eXacting ambition of more
than q hundred millOnaireS. He would not
only control the best railway system i'll the
world, but one which penetrates and levies
tribute on the most productive belt in the
land. More than this he could by putting
on a line of Pacific steamers control the
Oriental trade. China and Japan would
pay tribute to his transcOntinental system,
and he would be the imperial head of rail-
way managers Of the world. In support of
my position as to the trade, would cite
you to the fact that this very day train
load of tea from the producing area of the
Orient passed through st. Paul for the East
eTn market. This is but the beginning of
great trade. And, mark you, this tea didn't
come by the way of Portland and over the
Oregon railway lines, which the present
management of the Northern Pacific pro-
poses to lease, but by the way of Tacoma
on Puget sound, where c. 3. Wright's
great landed interests center. Would you
know what conclusion / would draw from
this? In brief would say that if c. b.
Wright cannot now secure control of the
Northern Pacific at the forthcoming meet
ing and build the Cascade branch to Tacoma
on Puget sound, and thus protect his own
interest, what would be more natural than
that he should join hands with an ambitious
capitalist like Mr.. Vanderbilt, with a
guarantee from him of the building
Of the branch, Gand vote the stock of
himself and of his friends in that interest?
This is not a visionary view Of the stua-
ton. 1t is
THE MOST TENABLE THEORY
that can be adduced from the chaos which
seems to reign supreme in the popular mind
on the future of the Northern Pacific. How
would this affect the present management
you ask? Well. | would say the present
active management not only have the conf
dence of all parties in the Northern Pacific
interest, but are held i'll high esteem by
railway capitalists and managers every
where. The way they have reduced eX-
penditures and held their own on earnings
through the protracted season of depression,
which has held sway i'll the East as well as
the West, has been a surprise to financierS
as well as railway managers. AS to Viii
lard, while he is popular throughout
the FNorthWest, and is regarded as a
OenefactOr, an honest, but perhaps vision
airy man, doesn't enjoy the confidence of
capital, which is timid and shrinks from ex-
trayagance or experiment. | do not think
it within the range of probabilities that he
shall ever again sway the Scepter of deS-
potlc power over the deStinieS Of the North
em Pacific empire. He is. however a no.
bic and generous fellow, and those in the
West who have suffered most from his fnan-
cial methods and visionary schemes have
not a word of censure for him, and to-day
would vote as unit to have him restored
to the presidency of the Northern Pacific.
lie has settled down to the quietude of do
mestic life fOr> the education of his chill
dren, to whom he is ardently devoted.
i'll Germany, and l doubt not would
shrink from again assuming the active re-
sponsibllitieS which must necessarily de-
volve upon the executive head of the North
ern Pacific at this critical juncture of its af-
fairs. If | We're the dominant power in the
Northern Pacific directory to-day [ would
place at the head of the corporation no less
a parsonage than Thomas f. Cakes. whose
prescience, had he been consulted by Viii
lard. would have saved him from the hui
initiation he has suffered since his down.
fall. Mr.. Cakes is 10 theorist. He is an
intensely practical man, broad and compre-
nensive in his views, thorough in detail and
quick to grasp and to decide momentous is
sues"
The First Tea Train Arrives.
The first train loaded with tea from the