Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-04-12
THE TWO MILLSTONES
CARNEGIE AND THB PBNNA. RAILROAD
BOTH AFTER The STUFF
So Long as the Great MonopOhst Enjoyed Fayors
From the Company He Had Nothing to Say
BE Was Their Efficient ToOl-No
More Rebate for Andrew

PTrsBURG, April LII fully agree
with the reasoning of the New York law
yer who denounced Mr.. Carnegie's motives
for his attack on the Pennsylvania Rail
road Company" said an iron manufacturer
this morning. 1.-THE gentleman had been
informed of the deal between the parties,
be COuld have shown more clearly whai
Carnegie is about. 1 have suffered for toe
many years from the grinding between
Milestone Pennsylvania Railroad and Mill
stone Carnegie to feel like swallowing
him now as the apostle Of light and discip.
seminatOr of sweetness. 1 have lost hun
dreds OF thousands of dollars because Of
the rebates given in past years to Carnegie,
and so mas every other msn who has big
iron or steel plant in Allegheny county.
The advantage of the Carnegie firms over
al others in the way of freight rates has
made the Carnegies milliOnaires and built
up their enormous plants. To give you
an illustration OF what mean, let ne say
that the freight rebates l speak Of would
in tbs aggregate have paid off every cent Of
the Indebtedness of the lats firm of Graf,
Bennett 4 Co., and would have left them
prosperous and with a handsome balance
IN bank. ="
What was this rebate you speak Of,
ana now wss it obtained ?"
at was gotten through the favor of j..
Edgar Thompson and Thomas A. Scott
chiefly, however OF the former. Before
the Edgar Thompson works were built
Mr.. Thompson agreed to give the concern
a special rate IN order to build II up and to
make freight for his company. The stock
holders in the steel company were the
friends and proteges of the railroad man
ayers As result of this understanding,
a contract was made by which the maxi
mum rate OF the Edgar Thomson Company
was arbitrarily fixed &C fve-eighths OF
cent mile for term of ten years from
1873. President Thomson became the
champion Of this contract and fought 1t
through the board of directors of his com
pany. Many Of the directors opposed il,
and claimed that it WAS entirely too favor
able. In mis- stubborn, bulldog way
Thomson dubbed the b0ard into shape,
aud finally got it passed.
THE new works were named after this
benefcent godfather and started of with a
big silver spoon in its mouth. The five
eights rate does not mean rs much now as
it did some time ago. For years it meant
that the Carnegies could ship freight to Chi
csgO at rnte of s. 80 ton as against So
rate for other manufacturers. Carnegie
brandished this IS 8 club over the heads
of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company
for ten years and cut the freight bills
in proportion. Besides he got spe-
eisly favored contracts for rails,
having hsen paid as high as Sl25 q
ton By the Pennsylvania road. He was
pinned to Tom Scott's coat tails all
through his Presidency. When one went
into a good thing the other was there TOO,
by virtue of mis- position. Carnegie knew
that under the management of Mr.. Roberts
there was no hope OF a renewal OF his great
contract, 30 he went into the Sodth Penn
as a means OF serving himself IN a double
sense. He thought the delivery Cf South
Penn. gagged aud bound, into the hands
of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company
would eutitle him 10 renewal Of the
old eontrac. or the making OF new
one not quite so favorable but still
GOOD enough to put him out Of the
reach of competition. The contract
expired Mr. Roberts refused to continue
it and then came a period of uncertainty.
Az last it bscame evident that Carnegie's
South Penn pole was not long enough to
even touch the special rate persimmOn, so
like Asron's rod il was made to bloom aud
its flowers were those Of rhetoric, reform
and rstribution. may also remark IN
passing that Carnegie's workmen will no
doubt have explained to them when scale
times comes, the difference between special
and open rates.
"If he does not want discrimination why
did he kill South Penn, which would have
prevented discrimination"