Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-05-18
As A BRITON SEES IT. y
Our Railway Situation at Short
Range.


Under the caption of Blind Mans Buff
the Financial Times of London prints
long and rather lively letter on the Ameri-
can railway situation, from the correspond
ent whom it lately sent over here to report
on American railways. He writes that
since Jay Gould took the Union Pacific rail
road IN hand, he has become stronger ad-
vocate then ever of territorial limits and
of dividing competitive traffic.
His predecessor, the great and good
Charles Francis Adams" adds the CORE
spOndent, had been working on the other
tack TO such an extent that Union Pacific
business was being literally given away to
neighboring roads. Not only were they al
lowed to invade its territory, but they got
running powers over the Union Pacific to
make it rs easy as possible for them.
That was the real trouble at the back of
the Omaha bridge dispute. The Chicago,
Rock Island and st. Paul has branch line
beyond the Missouri, which they wished to
connect with their main line terminating at
Omaha. In order to do this. they would
have had to parallel the Union Pacific for
about thirty miles. besides building bridge
across the Missouri at a cost OF not less than
three-quarters OF million dollars. Charles
Francis Adams being an amiable old gentle
man. whose one idea of railroad manage
ment was to be well thought of by
everybody, good and bad alike. had horror
of paralleling. 1t seemed to him to be the
objectionable sin in the railroad decaogue,
so. in order TO preserve the Rock Island
men from II. he magnanimOuSly proposed
to them to use the Union Pacific bridge and
us much as they needed of its track at a
nominal rental.
That soft-headed deal had been nearly
conSummated when Jay Gould captured the
Union Pacific from the weak hands of the
Boston moralist. With his fine and never
failing sense of dishonesty he cut the i'm
polite covenant. From the standpoint of
the decalogue, he was, as usual a bold,
bad man. but from the Union Pacific point
of view he is doing his duty. That road
would soon have had its vitals cut out all
around if the Adams regime had lasted
much longer Roads from Chicago and St
Louis are closing in on it and invading ter
ritory in which it for years had almost I'M
divided sway. Mr.. Gould's other road the
Missouri Pacific, is even more exposed to
the same danger. The number of compel
ing points on it multiplies, and the compe-
tition ut each grows keener.
The problem which Gould sets before
himself is how TO control these competing
points. If he We're free to adopt the syS-
TEN of percentages the solution would be
easy, but the interstate commerce law
vetoes anything of the kind. The anti
pooling clause may be repealed by congress
some day, but il may live yet for years.
Some temporary substitute for pooling is
the thing wanted, and Mr.. Gould'S ingenious
brain has perhaps discovered one.
If the great competing centerS like Chi
cago, St. Louis, Omaha. Kansas City. St.
Paul. etc. were brought under discipline,
the rest of the muddle might soon right
itself. Gould'S so-called clearinghouse
scheme is. in fact, little more than an at
tempt to divide competitive business by
friendly agreement, but in such way that
all who join it.
&c. p. Huntington would deal with the
problem on Il larger scale and in different
way. His idea is to have mother COM
pany sitting on the various railroad corpora
tons of the same territorial group and hold
ing the fear of the stockholders over them.
He has given an example of what he means
in the Southern Pacific company, which
controls the whole of his transcontinental
lines-the Southern Pacific, Central Pacific,
California and Oregon and their tributaries
In the Morgan conferences of two years
ago, Mr. Huntington advocated this remedy
for over competition. and received a good
deal of support for II. Col. McCook, of the
Atchison road. took up similar ground He
sees no escape from the present chaos of
conflicting interests and personal rivalrieS,
except in a consolidation of voting power
How 1t is TO be attained, whether by Great
ing special trust to hold maiorities of the
various stocks TO be co-operated, or by lodg-
ing the voting power in disinterested hands,
he is not yet clear. but his mind is made up
that uniformity of rates has to be achieved
somehow -