Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-09-15
HAS NO CONTRACTS.
TIE TERMINAL BRIDGE AND SYSTEM DEFINED
BY JUDGE COCHRAN.
/; is Simply Toll Road Open to ali on fqaai Term
Seine Inside Facts Of Recent Occurrence
Referred 10.

To a REGISTER reporter, yesterday
President R. II. Cochran, OF the Wheei-
ing Bridge and Terminal Company
made the following very pertinent ana
interesting statement:
ave feel that our past dealings WIN
the public entitled US TO falr-mlndeu
treatment, and as yet the public have
not failed, when aroused, TO vindlcate
their good name for honesty and falr
dealing. The present movement ag ainst
paying the last installment TO our COM
pany is serious blow aimed at the Com
pany and at the county by hidden hands,
not Interested. we believe, in the life or
welfare of our Company, nor In the
credit Of the county.
"Without stopping to discuss the par
ties or motives prompting the move
ment, let US calmly consider for mo-
ment what the pending question Is:
"With the bridge and tunnels compile
ted, as all know they are, the only re-
naming question, in the language OF
the contract, is, has "a new railroad
from the bridge to Bowerston, In the
State of Ohio, been constructed ready
for the passage of trains% 1t has, and
is now doing business with US.
'If it has, the contract says the re-
naming one hundred thousand dollars
shall be paid The contract is not that
a new railroad shall be built by new
company or by any designated company:
The Wheeling Bridge and Terminal
Railway Company has not now, nor ever
had, a charter extending beyond Mar
tins Ferry. The s. p. q y. Ry. 20.
was chartered about 1883. The present
Wheeling & Lake Erie BY. c., is new
company, chartered about 1856, with us
eastern terminus at Bowerston. In
1887, probably, it took out a charter lor
a road from Bowerston TO Wheeling,
called the Harrison, Jefferson ~ Bel
mont r. r. Co., and this was the status
in January, 1883, when the S30O,OOO
was voted by the county.
There was no railroad reaching Bow
erston but the Panhandle and the w:
g. L. E., and the only thing to be gained
by building line simply between Bow
erston and Wheeling was to let the w.
81 L. E., then ending at Conversion,
into Wheeling. The branch from Port
land to Steubenville was later deter
mined upon, in 1883 or 1889, and 1T was
built under some other charter or pro-
ceeding auxiliary to the main line be-
tween Bowerston and Martins Ferry.
The Wheeling and Harrisburg KY. Co.,
which is now known by thename or the
Wheeling Bridge and Terminal Rail-
interest in any of these Ohio
roads, nor anything to do with
their management, and 1t was with the
knowledge that the w. 81 L. K. and the
Cleveland and Wheeling Railroad Com
panies were both working on line be-
tween Bowerston and Wheeling, and an
uncertainty as to which or whether
either road would construct its road
within four years, that the subscription
was put in the form 1t was.
"Ne believed then that the kmwl-
edge or prospect that bridge would
be built to let any road into Wheeling,
would induce the building Of the link
between Bowerston and the bridge, and
were willing to take the risk that others
would build it. We never agreed nor
intended to agree that we would build
ii. And we venture the prediction that
with fair treatment that will keep the
Terminal property Union property,
open to all, yet other roads will come TO
Wheeling because OF the bridge, and the
terminals we have built and desire to
enlarge and extend.
Il have maintained for twenty years
that such bridge, to say nothing of an
added terminal system, would induce
the building of other railroads to Wheel
ing. One has already come, and others
will yet come, if capital is fairly treated.
"We have no traffic contract with any
road and do not see the need of any, for
if we had such contract with any one
road, that would only fix a rate for all
other roads. We cannot imagine that
any arguments can be added to those al
ready urged upon us to induce US to fix
a secret rate for any road.
"We are sorry we cannot give to the
Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway Com
pany the rate they have indicated to us
as satisfactory to them. We are unable
and unwilling to discriminate in favor
of or against any road, because sound
policy, our contract with the county and
the Interstate Commerce law all alike
forbid.
If they think the rate which our
General Manager quoted to them is
exorbitant, let them specifically give it
to the public and we are satisfied that
that public which we have trusted, and
which has trusted US, will be with US
every time.
1.-THE rate we quoted to them is pre-
cisely the same upon which other roads
are now doing business with us without
a murmur of complaint, so far as /
have any hint. We are simply toll
road and when we name rate it is the
rate upon which all roads may do bust
ness with Us, irrespective of any traffic
contract. But all this matter OF rate
is wholly outside OF the question now
pending before the county"
''As to the petition presented to the
Commissioners, desire to say that it
was solely conceived by prominent citi-
zens without shadow of prompting
from US. When it was handed TO us as
a good will offering and an earnest of
the kind feelings towards us, it would
have been a discourtesy to the splendid
names it contained to have Withheld it
from the Commissioners"
KNIGHTS OF HONOR and their friends
ara invited to attend the outing at