Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-08-22
REVIEWED.
The Conference of Traffic Men and Mr..
Blake's Committee at Dallas.
What It was all About and What 1t all Came
tO-SOme Valuable Information Con-
tributed by the Roads.
Special Correspondence Of the GazetIs.

DALLAS, TEX. Aug. l6.-The freight
conference which was held IN Dallas this
week was in many respects remarkable
affair, but the outcome was hardly sur
prise to those who attended it and heard
the arguments.
The conference had its origin in the
freight convention held in this city on the
Sth ult, which relegated the question to
committee of thirty Subsequently
this committee OF thirty one held a secret
meeting and addressed communication
to the traffic managers of the roads oper-
meet the committee in Dallas on the 18TH
inst. In accordance with this invitation,
a portion of the committee of thirty one,
together with the traffic managers of the
various roads, viz:
E. H. Hinton and r. S. Lovett, rep
resenting the Texas and Pacific; J. w.
| Terry and w. II. Masters, representing
the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe; Daniel
Ripley, representing the Houston and
Texas Central and the Texas Central; E.
| G. Bleker, representing the Galveston,
| Harrisburg and san Antonio; L. f. Day,
representing the ST. Louis, Arkansas and
Texas; J L. A. Thomas, representing
the Fort Worth and Denver City; L. j
Polk, representing the San Antonio and
Arkansas Pass; j ohm A Smith representing
the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, and
Richard Lord, representing the Fort
Worth and Rio Grande, assembled IN
Dallas last Monday.
The committee of thirty-one held
conference, and in order to facilitate
! I,ItsiDasS ftaa of sar-ap
| chairman, was appointed TO confer with
the traffic men, and consequently at 2
o clock OH that day the remarkable con-
ference which consumed the better part
! of the week was commenced.
The proceedings of the first day ses-
sion was nothing more than a wrangle
which had its beginning in determine
l on on the part of the railroad men to
! have the conference public one, and q
! seeming determination on the part of the
committee to have the proceedings con-
! Quoted in secret. 1t was a surprising spec
! tacle to witness d committee assuming to
! represent the great people of Texas
| clamOring for dark lantern confer
! ence. Such desire was rather more to
! be expected from the other side, whose
! interests, while public in a measure,
were of a positive private nature.
| It is but just to several gentlemen be
! longing to the Blake committee, among
them Mr.. G.. NJ. Sutherland of Fort
Worth, to state that they disagreed with
! their chairman in this particular, that
! they believed that the committee could
not assume to represent Texas and adopt
the ''star chamber plan, and they con-
tended throughout the discussion on this
point that the press and public should be
! present to listen to the argu-
ments presented by both sides.
1t is to the credit of the
traffic men that they insisted upon au
open session, and that they positively re-
| fused to treat with the committee until
they received the assurance that their
side of the question should receive the
same publicity through the public prints
as had the grave charges preferred
against the roads by the semi-political
| convention held here in July.
That the committee failed in its agree
ment TO invite the various papers OF the
state 10 be present, was not the fault of
the traffic men, for the stenOgrapher' S re-
port develops that after awaiting half an
hour for the representatives of the press.
Mr.. Lovett asked Mr.. Blake if the papers
were represented, TO which Mr.. Blake
replied i'll the affirmative. The only
paper that was notified of the desire
that the press be represented, so far as
the writer can learn, was the Calves
tom Dallas News The Fort Worth
GAZETTE, representing the Waco Day,
Austin Statesman, San Antonio Elk
press and Houston Post, was kept in
blissful ignorance Of the meeting, and
so with the representatives of the ST.
Louis Globe-Democrat and Republic
The state papers which were caught in
the ''freeze OUT each are representa-
tive papers, and certainly do their part
in furnishing the people with informa-
ton which is Of vital concern; and the
st. Louis pupers are known to circulate
largely among all classes in all sections
of Texas.
Whether or not the directing power of
the committee had a motive in the man
ipuiatiOn Of the press, it is safe to say
that in case Of another conference the
railroad representatives will not trust the
press feature TO Mr.. Blake. When they
learned that only one paper had been in
vited, they were indignant and felt that
they had been played with, that they had
not been accorded the courtesy which
they had been led TO expect.
"a
After the press matter had been dis
was caused by the Blake committee as
Stunning arbitrary power, strictly in
the name OF the people, and
demanding to know if the traffic
men were going to grant the re-
auctions asked. This appeared to be
strange conception of true courtesy. The
traffic men had been invited to q confer
ence regarding Ithe reduction of
rates, and when they appeared in
response to the invitation, they had
a demand hurled in their teeth;
not even the courtesy of q request If
the traffic men had recognized the COM
mittee as an authoritative body, they
would doubtless have trembled in their
boots. But they managed their case
with fine discretion, and before the end |
of the conference Chairman Blake and |
the sonorous kearby must have felt that |
the dear people had failed to convoy to !
them the power to deal summarily with |
the railroads or anything else. At any |
rate, while the argument on this vicious !
demand was in progress, an outsider like |
the writer could not Tspress genuine con-
sternarion that seven men, purporting TO |
represent the . 800 900 population of |