The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-12-29
As TO THE DEAL.
1t is Said That There VIII be No
Rate Raising.


and Rio Grande Western regarding the
Utah Central, Sanpete Valley and
Great Salt Lake and Hot Springs rail
ways. of which The Herald has furn-
ished exclusive accounts, is still at
tracing a great deal of attention in
railway and business circles and vari
Gus conjectures as to the future are
advanced on all sides. It is learned
that the matter of the relations of the
two big and three small roads was
brought UP at the meeting of the
freight men which was held here a
short time ago for the purpose of
organizing a local board for the set
Element of local matters and
the representatives of the aggres-
sive lines were asked to state what eff
feet their new alliance was to have.
The move will probably have some ef-
feet on the tendencies Of that organiza-
ton if it ever comes to a head.
OF course the connections of the Union
Pacific and Rio Grande Western will
be largely affected by this new move
ment, and those which connect with
the Western will be shut out of their
heavy bushes with Park City that
they have been doing up till now 1t
may be said there will be compensa-
tons because Of the Union Pacifc'5
withdrawal from Sanpete Valley, but
the suficiency of the compensation is
doubtful. Therefore some new compli-
cations might arise if the Central
could succeed in forming a traffic ALI
ance with one or more of the big east
ern roads, such as the Rock Island,
Burlington or Missouri Pacific, for then
it would be almost certain that the
Western would be compelled, out of
policy Of self preservation to recognize
the little line.
A prominent railway official, whose
name canot be used but who generally
knows what he is talking about, has
taken issue with the supposition that
the mastery of the situation on the
part of the Union Pacific and Western
means the raising of rates. He said
yesterday:
This movement has been on the ia
pis for several weeks and has been
matter of much discussion But in
all the discussion that has been in
dulged in there has been no sign that
the movement is being made for the
purpose of raising rates. In fact the
tendency of rates in these days is
downward, whether there is any COM
petition or not. The position that
has been taken by the Union Pacific
in Park City and the Western in
Sanpete Valley has been in line
with business methods employed
the world over. They were
the initial roads in the two fields and
felt that they should have such a part
of the business as was due to them
because they were such. When the
Utah Central built into Park City it
hurt the Union Pacific by taking away
all the business that came because Of
the shorter line. When the Sanpete
Valley. road entered the Sanpete valley
and the cities where the Western had
IL l-r1 h1fG
ness, of course the latter road was
injured by a decrease in the revenues
The Sanpete valley business is valuable
to the Western, the Park City business
to the Union Pacific. They are now
endeavoring to obtain all the business
they can by approved methods. those OF
shutting out all competition. They have
done nothing unfair and will do moth
ing unfair. The public will not be in
jured by increased rates, and only two
roads that are regarded as interlopers
will be injured"
However there are those who do not
believe that any railway corporation
that has a monopoly can resist the
temptation to send rates UP to very
high notch. They believe that while
there is no reason to doubt that it is
the present intention of the big sys-
TENS only to drive their smaller COM
petitorS out of the field, yet when they
have done so and can do what they
please, if that condition should ever
arise, they may do some surprising
things in the way of fixing rates But
there are two sides to every story
Men generally. before they make up
their minds on the subject, are wait
ing to hear from the big Union Pacific
officials who will arrive here tomor-
row They may have something new
to tell that will put different face
upon the matter It is. to be hoped
that something favorable to the cap
| italists who have invested in these
growing smaller institutions will be
brought about.