Huntsville gazette., 1891-04-11
A R1nW AY VAR
The Combined Reads Agree to
Boycott the Alton.
That Road Independent About
Paying Commissions.

| The Read, Combine to Abolish Commits
| sions-Gne Alton Defiant Ye.-.he Joint
| Committee Issues its Uitimaium-The
| Tickets Sold by it Not to b. i;eco :n:zed.
/ Is it Legally Conspiracy.
New YORK, April 1o.-The. Board of
| Ruin s Of the Tlunk Line and Central
| Traffic associations has fired its first gun
| against the western roads that insist on
| paying commissions on passenger busi-
| ness If the board carries on the war in
accordance with the principles laid down
| in its notice of warning to the Chicago
and Alton railroad, it will be hot
struggle.
The board was created, or rather re-
| vived, when sixty-six of the roads be-
| tween the Mississippi river and the sea-
board met in New York last January
and swore solemn oath to break up the
| commission evil. They pledged them
selves to boycott such western or other
roads as paid commissions in joint COM
| mittee territory, and to discharge their
own agents who received commissions.
| Several of the western lines openly ig-
nored the order, while nearly all the rest
| kept on paying commissions secretly.
| The Chicago and Alton WAS the open
| violator. This road makes a boast of
commission paying. and it wants every
body to know it,
The board debated a long time at this
| meeting over the matter. feeling that If
| it did nothing to curb the Alton it light
as well shut up shop. The Chicago, Bur
| lington and Quincy was another road
which was charged with violating the
agreement of the siXtysix roads by pay
| ing commissions secretly.
| The first active steps were taken
against the Burlington. The other lines
| in the Western Traffic association com
planned to the board that while they
were living up to the rules that road was
getting all the business away from them.
| The board met and warned the Burling-
| ton that if it did not turn over new
| leaf by April l BOYCOTT would be de-
cIared against it. April l came. but no
| boycott. The Burlington made no at
tempt to prove its innocence, and the
other lines of the Western Passenger as
sociation held several heated meetings.
They sent rapid kilograms to the Board
of Rulings, demanding immediate as
surance of protection against the com
mission paying Burlington. The board
| was in dilemma and felt compelled to
justify its existence.
Their Conclusion.
The four commissioners met this week
and did some hard work. They con-
cluded that war must be declared, but
they consulted all the eastern and west
ern roads to find out how many they
could count ON to back them up. The
trunk lines were all of them in favor of
boycOtting the western roads that per-
sisted in paying commissions. The roads
in the Central Traffic association were
reached by letter, and they endorsed the
action. All the western roads promised
to join in the boycott, but they wanted
to fight the Burlington rs well as the
Alton. The Board Of Rulings included
the Burlington in the origiua. draft of
resolutions, but after various threats
against that road it was decided TO omit
i. for the present.
The only rolds east of the Mis- ~issippi
river that refused to join in the boycott
were The Ohio and Mississippi and the
Columbus and Hooking Valley. The
notification to the Alton sets out that in
view Of that road declining to abolish
the system of commission paying, ''the
former agency and authority of your
company to sell tickets eastwardiy over
said joint committee lines is cancelled,
and that on and after Wednesday, April
oil tinIyot Of NIL r.lao aud hon
checks sold and issued by your line or
by other lines eastwardly over your road,
which tickets and baggage checks pass
over joint committee lines, will be de-
clined for person and baggage rendered
by your company to our lines until you
are otherwise notified. On the same
date the sale or acceptance of tickets
and the issue of baggage checks reading
over your line westwardly will be dis
continued by joint committee lines"
A Former Instance.
The trunk lines probably remember
the eighteen months war that they
waged against the Alton several years
ago. The Alton came out ahead that
time. That time they simply refused to
sell the tickets Of the Alton. They didn't
refuse to receive the Alton tickets on
trains, as they have resolved to do this
time. 1t applied before only to west
bound business; this time it includes
east bound. The boycott also extends
to the connections of the Alton.
How far the trainmen of tke roads to
the agree nent will enforce the rule re-
mains to be seen. If all the roads carry
out the boycott to the letter, multitude
of law suits from elected passengers NAV
he looked for. If the boycott succeeds,
it will cut the Alton off from all through
connections to the east. 1t will not be
able to sell passengers a through ticket
to points beyond its line, SO it will lose
much of its patronage.
But undoubtedly the Alton will be
backed, as it was before. by all the
scalpels in the United States. and it will
appoint an extra corps of its own agents
to canvass for business. No doubt the |
Alton will carry the matter into the
courts: but the Board of Rulings claims