Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-10-26
TROUBLE AHEAD.
a Great Railway Rate Contest
Put in Pickle.
BIG WESTERN SYSTEMS COMBINING

To Camp the Trail of the Recent
vanderbiIt-Union Pacific Trafhc Ar
rangement-Everything Goes Against
the Deal; That Il, Everything That Is
Outside-Prospect OF n Beautiful strug-
gle with Lots of Fun for Stockholders
CHICAGO Oct 26-Ths Herald says: The
Vanderbilt Union Pacific coalition will be
met by combined opposition on the part OF
all the lines not in the deal The leaders OF
the opposition are the Union Pacific's old
partners in the tripartite agreement OF 1885.
That agreement was made by the U Mon
Pacific, Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific
and the Chicago, Milwaukee and st. Paul
1t provided for an interchange OF all traffic,
both passenger and freight, to the exclusion
OF all lines outside Of the agreement The
compact was made for twenty years, and its
foundation stone was the provision that 1t
could not be broken save by unanimous con-
sent
The 80" Broke In, However.
Single handel the Chicago. Burlington
and Quincy attacked the allied lines and
forced them to modify the ironclad regula-
tons regarding the interchange OF traffic,
and admit it to the agreement as a full part
ner Time and time again Charles Francis
Adams has yer Daily aud in writing protest
ed that the tripartite agreement was a sa-
cred one and come what might should never
be violated 10y the Union Pacific The agree
ment made between the Chicago and North
western and Union Pacific, which is now
claiming the attention Of the entire railway
world Is charged by the Chicago Burl ing
ton aud Quincy and the Rock Island to be
VIZ off ha trim ito nj
Of 1850
An AggravstiDg Feature.
An especially aggravating feature OF this
violation is that the North western is an lien
| line-outside the old alliance Believing
that agreements really do amount to some
| thing, the roads with whom the Union Pa
| cific has broken faith are now making
rangements to compete with the Northwest
ern and Union Pacific alliance. 1t means
nothing less than fight from the drop of the
bat II not already signed, there is in ex-
istence a compact between the Burlington,
the Rock Island and the Milwaukee and St
| Paul roads providing that they shall stand
shoulder TO shoulder in the fight against the
Vanderbilt combine The manager of one
| OF these roads said yesterday;
what the Burlington did single handed
in 1885 We three ought to be able to do
now"
Some Railway Geography.
! The Burlington and the Rock Island
reach from Chicago to Denver. From Dem
yer to Ogden there is the Rio Grande,
which in a short time will be changed from
narrow to broad guage. From Ogden to the
| coast the Southern Pacific controls nearly
every mile of track south of the Oregon
state line clear to Mexico, with a branch
into Portland 1t is germane to the subject
TO mention the fact that the Southern Pa
ciic is a bitter foe of the Union Pacific. The
Milwaukee and St Paul completes with the
Northwestern TO every important point on
the latter's system, and from St Paul there
is an independent line to Lake Superior at
Duluth, with which the Milwaukee and st.
Paul can easily effect a trsffi, arrange
ment
The Boycott TO Take a Hand.
1t is proposed by the lines above to boy
colt every line in the Vanderbilt system.
| Neither freight nor passenger traffic is 10 be
interchanged with the Vanderbilt or Union
Pacific systems. All east-bound business is
to I've divided equally between the anti-Va
derbit lines running east from Chicago II
| any rate-cutting follows the strained situa-
ton the Milwaukee and st. Paul IS to punish
the Northwestern in its own home. 1t Is
proposed TO read the riot act about violating
| agreements anu the lOfnatlOu OF gigantic
consultations which must result in ruin to
vast systems Of railway. 1t is more than
probable that the Gould lines will be invited
to join in the fght against the Vandcrbilts.
The Santa Fe mas already been approached
and its assistance sought
Anytbin 2 10 Beat the vsnderbilts.
Whether the Santa Fe takes an open part
in the struggle or not, the officials OF that
line are counting on reaping substantial
benefits from the fight, every pound OF
freight which the old members Of the tripar-
tite agreement cannot secure for themselves
they viii do all in their power to throw to
the Santa Fe. 1t matters not who carries
transcontinsntal freight now, SO long as it
is diverted from the Vanderbilts and Union
Pacific That the situation is terribly
strai ned no one attempts TO deny. That the
roads east and west are on the verge Of a
terrible rate war no one can gainsay. The
situation is also viewed with alarm on Wall
/ sfra