Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-08-18
REVIEWED.
The Conference of Traffic Men and Mr..
Blake's Committee at Dallas.
What 1t was all About and What it all Came
to-SOme Valuable Information Con-
tributed by the Roads.
,necial Correspondence of the Gazette.

Special Correspondence of the Gazette.
DALLAS, TEX. Aug. 16.-The freight
conference which was held IN Dallas this
week was in many respects a remarkable
affair, but the outcome was hardly a 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
a committee of thirty-one. Subsequently
this committee Of thirty lone held a secret
meeting and addressed a communication
to the traffic managers of the roads oper-
ating lines in Texas, inviting them to
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. H., 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; John 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 lone held
conference, and in order to facilitate
business subcommittee of seven, Blake
chairman, was appointed to confer with
the traffic men, and consequently at 2
'clock on that day the remarkable con-
ference which consumed the better part
of the week was commenced.
The proceedings of the first days ses-
sion was nothing more than a wrangle
which had its beginning in a determine
ton on the part of the railroad men to
have the conference public one, and
seeming determination on the part of the
committee to have the proceedings con-
Quoted in secret. 1t was a surprising spec
tacle to witness committee assuming to
represent the great people of Texas
clamoring for ''dark lantern D 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 aa
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 to 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 in 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 Ex-
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 nanera are knnrzn To cirnulafe