St. Paul daily globe., 1889-02-22
After Much Bickering the
Wisconsin Central Joins
the Farcieal Parade.
Charles F. Adams Springs a
-: Sensation and Is Sat
Upon.
Interstate Walker Likely to
Refuse to Accept the
Nomination.

with the lines that nave signed the
presidents agreement instead of labor
ing further with the companies that
have refused to sign. WAS carried to-
day, and the association is now fact.
The membership is composed Of eight
teen roads out of the twenty-five, which
were at first deemed necessary to the
adoption of the agreement. The WIS
cousin Central, for some unexplained
reason, changed front and became q
party to the contract Notwithstanding
It's emphatic declaration of the preced7
ing day that it could not do SO if the
Chicago, Burlington IL Northern re-
manned out. General Manager Millen,
of the Wisconsin Central, was present
at to-day's session will full authority to
sign the articles of agreement. Vice
President Harris, of the Burlington u
Northern, appeared before the meeting
and explained that his company, in
Justice to itself, could not consistently
become a member of the association un-
less it's principal competitors on sea-
board tratfice were also taken in This
was given as the final answer of the
Burlington & Northern to the urgent rt-
quests it has received to reconsider its
determination. When the presidents
first convened at II a. M, thele seemed
to be very little prospect of their being
able to complete the proposed organiza-
ton. They changed their place of
meeting from the Grand Pacific hotel to
A ROOM IN THE ROOKERY
building. where they heard the report
of the committee appointed on the
previous evening to make such changes
in the details of the contract as might
be necessary or eXpedient. The COM
Inittee made no alterations except to
Strike out the prOvlsu i'll regard to the
number of signatures necessary to
make it binding, and recommended that
the agreement be adopted as it stood.
An animated discussion followed, and
for time it looked as If it would be i'm
possible to harmoniZe the views of the
officials sufficiently TO save the project
from absolute defeat. President Miller,
of the Chicago, Milwaukee and st.
Paul, who had been withholding his
assent to the new arrangement until he
should see what his northwestern COM
petilors were going to do, appeared to
be in no hurry to sign the articles even
after the Wisconsin Central had receded
from its position. This seemed 10 try
the patience of Charles Francis Adams,
of the Union Pacific, and possibly one
or two others who were particularly
anxious tp reach some kind of settle
ment. When matters were looking
very blue and everybody present was
about ready to give up and ac-
knowledge the boasted agreement
4 failure. President Adams surprised
the assembled gentlemen by introducing
arather remarkable resolution. 1t was
TO the effect that the movement to Or
T,,f fnf, N,,nnt Poi
road association be then and there aban-
dohed, as it had been found impossible
to carry it to success, owing to the Oh
struction placed in the way by the Chi
eagO, Milwaukee & st. Paul and the
Chicago, Burlington i Northern rail-
roads. -
THIS CAUSED A SENSATION,
and brought President Miller to his
feet with sharp criticism of Mr.
Adams resolution SO far as it applied to
hlm and, the company he represented.
Several others took up Mr.. Mlller's
cause, and gave the Boston gentleman
to understand that they considered he
had perpetrated breach of courtesy
which the circumstances of his sur
r0undings would hardly excuse. The
resolution received no second, and after
it had been figuratively sat down upon.
President Adams graciouSiy withdrew
it, and even apOlOgiZed to Mr.. Miller
and the meeting for having offered it.
All this. occurred just before the All
journment of the morning session, and
when the meeting reconVened, at 2 p.
m., President Adams was conspicuous
for his absence. nor did he appear
again during the day. A strong fight
was made by several of the presidents
TO bring about some kind of an Organi-
zat on, principally on the ground that
failure at this stage of the proceedings
would destroy confidence in Western
railroad values and possibly lead to
decentralization Of rates. The Objectors
were finally brought into lire, and the
following named companies signed the
agreement with tie understanding that
1t becomes effective Immediately The
Chicago ~ Alton, the Rock Island, the
Chicago, Burlington d Quincy, the Chi
cagO, Milwaukee u st. Paul, the Chi
cago, st. Paul d Kansas City, the Chi
cago 81 Northwestern, the Chicago, st.
consin Central, Missouri Pacific, the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the
Union Pacific, st. Louis u San Fran
cisco, Wabash Western, Burlington.
Cedar Rapids & Northern, Minneapolis
g. st. Louis, Iowa Central, Fort Worth
81 Denver and the Wabash. The four
roads not in the agreement are the Illi-
nolS Central, the Chicago. Burlington u
Northern, the Kansas City, Fort Scott
Il Memphis and the Missouri, Kansas
IL Texas. The details of the agreement
were not completed this evening, and
adjournment was taken until Tomorrow
at 10 O'clock. Messrs. Hughitt, Nc
Malta, Mcmillan and Miller constituted
committee to
CONFER WITH ALDACE F. WALKER,
of the interstate commerce commission
and ascertain if he will accept the
chairmanship of the Interstate Com
merce Railway association. The COM
mittee has communicated with Mr.
Walker and will probably have an an
Swer to report at to-morrow's meeting
There is a good deal of speculation as
to whether he will accept Or not, with
odds in favor of a refusal. The skep-
ties look upon the final action of the
presidents as something of farce.
They contend that the association will
be of no practical value with several
important roads omitted, and that it
cannot long survive. The presidents
talk differently. however, and appa-
rently time alone can determine which
view is correct. According to the terms
of the agreement any company may, on
April 1,;give thirty days notice of it's
intention to withdraw.
Arbitration Agreement Approved.
A.