St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-04-03
THE RATE CUTTING.
Everybody Appears TO be i'm IT..
Rum0rs and Contradictions.

Rum0rs and Contradictions.
Mr.. +. B. Clarke, general traffic man
ager of the Omaha, was disposed yesterday
to be little humorous about the cut. He
remarked that he ought to have known bet
ter than to have gone to Duluth the next
morning after the great peace jubilee held
at the Ryan on Tuesday last, when all the
railroad men promised TO stand by the old
rates till Tuesday next. when got back
10 st. Paul" said he. Il found the boys had
not kept their word and that the pins had
all been pulled out. and that the whole train
had been diSintegrated, 1t looks as though
it dad attempted to pass over thesMissouri
Pac tic road and fallen into the hands
of the strikers" MIR. Clarke appeared to
think that it would all come out right after
all. He declared that his road had cut
nothing, but now that the cutting had been
commenced the friends of the Omaha road
would not be neglected or forgotten. 1t
would protect its friends anyway. 1--WE
will carry freight and passengers, " he said,
Just as low as any other road. We have
not got the longest road to Chicago nor to
Omaha. and we have concluded to stay
with the boys. When we were on the road
coming down from Duluth. at every stop
ping place we got a dozen dispatches telling
what cuts were being made and asking for
authority to retaliate, but l sent back word
to keep still. L thought it would keep till
/ got back, and when we got back here to
st. Paul we found that there had been
a good deal Of cutting. AS l said we were
compelled to follow suit and protect our
friends. We have sent out no circulars as
to rates, but are here with the shortest road
and shall stay"
RUNoRs AND REPORTS.
The streets were loaded yesterday with
rumors of cuts. Among the reports was
one that the Rock Island had made five
cent rate west from Chicago. Another was
that the st. Paul d5 Milwaukee was making
sixty-day contracts. OF course both these
roads denied these reports. The Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy notified the Mime
sofa & Northwestern that it had made a
rate from st. Louis to st. Paul of 10 cents.
The Minnesota d Northwestern met this
cut instantly and so have all the other lines.
so far as the Chicago cut is
concerned there in no salts
factory evidence Of cut lower than and
10 cents. The Chicago Tribune declares
that at the meeting OF the freight agents
held in st. Paul last Tuesday for the pur-
pose of establishing and maintaining rates
during the summer. it was discovered that
two of the roads had issued minimum tariffs
making cut Of the Northwestern Traffic
association tariff of from 40 to rs per cent,
and that urgent appeals were made to those
two roads to withdraw the reduced tariffs
until the question of rates could be properly
discussed. and they finally agreed to hold
rates as firmly as possible until next Tues
day, when another meeting is to be held in
Chicago to see if some action cannot be
taken whereby general war between the
various roads interested can be
avoided" According to the present
appearance of things it does not look as
though anyone wanted to avoid difficulty.
On the contrary it appears as though there
was a general desire for good sharp strug-
gle. The most important fact about this
reduction of the Milwaukee is, that it ap-
plies on business to all points in Montana
md idaho, and all business northwest of
St. Paul. The Tribune adds:
The principal reason for the st. Paul Mil
yankee making the rates so low at once il
;he desire to punish the Northwestern for the
position ii has thus far taken regarding the
Nashburn business. Under the Old agree
nent the Northwestern has been allowed a
iifierential Of seven cents on business going
via Washburn, which principally consisted of
fourth and fifth classes of freight. With a
rate of eight cents but one cent per 100