The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-01-13
JAY GOULD'S PLAN FOR A RAIL
!. ROAD TRUST.
The Plan Described in q Letter of Mr.
Gould Publiahed in the New
York Sun, Nov. 18th.

a group OF roads known "a the West
ern and Southwestern systems traverses
the most fertile and the most rapidly de-
veloping territory of the United States.
The stock and bonds in these properties
are held by thousands of investors in New
York and New England and the other
Eastern States, the stockholders in some
Of the corporations numbering over II, 900,
and probably a~ggregating O,0OO stock
holders; and upon the prosperity of these
roads many small il vestors depend for
dividends upon which to live.
Something ver eighteen months ago,
during a period of great depression, the
three great banking houses, Messrs.
Dcexel, Morgan & Co., Messrs. Kidder,
Peabody & Co., and Messrs. Brown Bros.
invited the presidents of these roads to
meet at Mr.. Morgan's residence. The re-
suit of that meeting was the formation of
the Sd called Presidents Agreement
and it may interest you to know the iif-
terence in the net earnings of this group
of roads, as between the rates which
were established and maintained for sew
eral months after that agreement and the
rates that have prevailed under the loose
and ~disorganized state of affairs that has
existed since the agreement was broken,
each road looking out for itself.
I estimate the total number of tons
moved one mile annually by this group of
roads to be 16 900, 600, 900. The auditor
of one of these roads has furnished me a
statement showing the difference between
the rates under the Presidents Agree
ment' and the present rates, which
amounts to a decrease of IA mills per ton
per mile. Applying this difference of l.
mills to the Is 900, 900 900 gross annual
tons one mile, gives the startling figure Of
$22. 400, 900 annual decrease in the net
earnings of this system of roads as be-
tween their operation under the 'PreSi-
dents Agreement and the loose methods
now prevailing.
Under this condition of things il is
call the presidents together again, with
the assurance that they have the whole
mass of investors behind them"
JAY GOULD.
New York, Nov. IA, 1890.
THE PLAN AS BY THE N. Y. CON-
NEROIAL ADVERTISER, NOV. %.
"And so, in a couple of weeks, the
I Little Wizard got control of the prin-
cipsl systems west of Chicago, excepting
the Burlington. Rock Island and St. Paul,
and laid the foundation for his control of
the whole transcOntinental system. He
has nothing to fear from St. Paul, which
is controlled by the Drexel-Morgan peo-
pie; he has brought down Rock Island
stock to a point where the management
may be glad of a compromise, and the
n N,.So-,11- - N4-L-;ll0 - H. T1lS-~ -
Central are in no condition to fight him.
In fact, with The Pscif Mail Gould now
has a route of his own from China to the
Atlantic coast.
A grand railroad trust after the pattern
of the Standard Oil Trust-that is what
Jay Gould has long contemplated a1d
what he has now almost effected. His
sickness and the set back which the rust
idea received in the courts delayed his
plans, but they are now placed on foot
again; and what would it mean? Simply
,his-that One Man would Dictate the
Transportation Rates of the American
Railroad system JUS a. the Rockefeller
Brothers ma ne the prices for oil 1t is 8
scheme which has beer dreamed of before,
but nobody ever attempted to realize it until
Gould came to the front 1t was worthy
Ct the little mans genius, and fitting
occasion for his eturn in triumph to the
street"
IT'S QUIET CONSERVATION, so AS NOT TO
ARousE WESTERN LEGISLATURES
(M Y. San, Dec. 4.
ct appears that ali of the railway co L
psnies operating in the territory west of
the meridian of Chicago have, with more
or less fOrmality, agreed 60 the plan foI
~reorganizing traffic department, the u
lines of which were printed in the San
SIX weeks or so ago. 1t is doubtful
whether a formal meeting of railroad
presidents and representative bankers will
be called, since the Object for which such
a meeting has been suggested appears tc
have been virtually accomplished in &
les conspicuous way. II view of the
temper which kas been disp aged ut the
Wet relative t 0 the establishment O
methods which will deprive shippers Of
their present facilities for making rates, il
must be conceded that much would be
gained by introducing those methods -
quietly as possible"
This sche ne of Gould's is taxation with.
out representation. The COlonists D
1776 did not shake OH the rule OF KIM
George for their su jcessors to tameIy sub,
NIT to King Gould. The Boston GEobt
char acterizes thiS railroad trust ssfollows
"A MENACE TO PUBLIC RIGHTS"
"The gigal tic railroad trust that il
now believed to be forming under the
management of Gould, Huntington anc
Rockefeller-three men VIII )se combined
wealth is not less than $780, 900 00O--i!
cleanly a menace to the public rights anC
public safe-y. Neither protection, rev,
enue Tariff aor free trade will curb a trus
of this character. If it is to be curbed
other means must be adopted"
THE "RAILROAD TRUST" OF
Jay GOULD CAN BE
DEFEATED
D. EYaui1~ the GOuAP0maOF E0Pari0sC