The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1888-03-29


The st. Louis and San Francisco rail
WY, by H. T.. Morrill,, second vice presi
dent and general manager, per f. d
Russell, A. q. F. A.
Memphis and Little Rock railroad, by
Rudolph FIX, general manager, per d
Miller.
Atohison, Topeka and Santa Fe rail
road and the Southern Kansas Railway
company, by j. F. Goddard, general
manager, PER W. F. White, traffic manager
Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway
com pany, by w. Sny der, general manager.
The Missouri Pacific Rail way company,
by W. H. Newman, third vice-president.
The St. Louis, Iron Mountain and
Southern railroad, by w. II. Newman,
third vice-president.
Receivers of Houston and Texas Cen
trial Railway company, by Chas. Dilling-
ham, receiver.
Receivers of Texas Central Railway
company, by Chas. DILLINGHAM;, receiver.
Done at New York, September Is, 1887.
ADDITION AL MEMBERSHIP.
On Oc'obsr 8, taking effect November
l, 1887, the Kansas City, Springfield aud
Memphis Railroad company, by the sig
nature of Geo. II. Nettleton, presidential
the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf
Railroad company, by the signature of
Geo. H. Nettleton, general manager. be-
came members of the association.
| On January IL, to take effect February
l, 1888, the Fort Worth and Denver City
Railway company, by the signature of G.
f. Meek, general manager, also became a
member of the association.
1t was organized in Texas in 1885, and
was rsmodeled and reorganized in Sep
TENDER, 1887, by all the aforesaid parties
as its members, with permission to ali
other railway companies so desiring to
join it. The association is controlle and
managed by the servants, officers, and
employees of defendants and said other
corporations, and they compose the e1-
ecutive committee thereof upon the basis
of one representative from each member
belonging to said asso ,ia;ion. The chief
executive officer of the committee is called
the Commissioner" and the person now
filling said position is j. Waldo, who is a
citizen of and resides at Houston, Texas.
The said Traffic association, by and
through its executive committee, claims
the right to, and in fact does, control and
adopt arbitrary rules and regulations gov
erning the tariff charges and rates and
the division of all the traffic, including
both freight and passenger business car
ried by the railway lines of the said par
ties belonging thereto, which has its or
| igin or destination wi! hin the state of
Texas. That by the tariff rates fixed,
the division of traffic and profits
therein made, and the rules and
regulations thereof adopted by said ex-
ecutive committee, or by the commits
sioner when it has not acted each of the
railway lines and corporations hereinbe-
fore mentioned are bound according to
the agreement of said association. That
all the rates, rules, regulations and divis-
ions adopted by said committee, or its
executive officer, are required to be and
are simultaneously furnished to the traffic
departments of all the members of the
association for their government and
guidance; and no deviation therefrom or
change therein is allowed unless author
lied by she committee or commissioner,
under prescribed rules after twenty days
notice thereof.
Under the said agreement all the tariffs,
regular or special, or contracts affecting
the commerce or traffic in Texas, must be
filed with the commissioner, whose duty ii
is to examine them and see that they are in
accord with the rules and regulations and
action of the executive committee, or of it's
chief officer covering the same, and to
have them carefully enforced That by
said agreement any railway corporation
belonging to said association which en-
tiers into competition with another mem
Der thereof, or directly or indirectly re-
duces the charges for freight or passen-
gers below the rates previously adopted
by the said committee or as fixed by said
com mis- sioner, is classed and made an
offender, and is subject to severe penalties
the extent of which is secret and cannot
be ascertained by your petitioner.
The members of said Traffic association
are required to and do promptly furnish
to said commissioner copies of all the
way-bills issued by the roads under their
control relating TO their freight traffic
and all the books and papers of the several
parties thereto are open and subject to
the ms pection of the commissioner or his
representative, in order that no member
of said association shall reduce traffic
rates or vary the rules OF the executive
committee without detection, exposure,
and punishment.
The commissioner is authorized and
empowered to and does on the first day of
each month assess each of said railway
com panies aud members of said associa-
ton sufficient to give him a sum equiva-
lent to all the expenses for the current
month, incurred in paying the salaries of
himself and various other employees of
the association, and in enforcing the rules
and regulations adopted by the executive
committee.
That he and each of the said executive
committee and each of the employees of
said association is an officer of each aud
all the defendants and of the said foreign
railroad companies, and are in common
employed and paid by them, and that
each of said railroad corporations Is a
competing line for Texas traffic aud
trade.
Wherefore, the state of Texas, acting
through her said attorney general, charges
and says that said railway companies, by
their said conspiracy, contract, combina-
ton, and copartnership, have formed
consolidation of parallel and competing
lines and organized monopoly that is g
menace to commerce, and is in defiance OF
and against the constitution and laws Of
the state. That said monopoly lacks pub
licity, legality. and responsibility to all
law; that said contracts and association