The Forrest City times., 1893-09-15
RATES MAY BE CUT.

 The Scramble for the Worlds Fair Busi-
 ness by the Western Roads May Lead
 to Further Cuts-The Agents Making
 Charges and Counter Charges Against
 Each Other, and the Public May, In
 the End. be Benefitted-Improvemen
 in Freight Traffic.
 CHICAGO, Sept. 12.-A regular hor- nets nest has been started up in the Western Passenger association, and members are flying at each other with charges and counter-charges The re- suit of the whole will probably be further reduction in Worlds fair rates. The immediate cause of the present trouble is an advertisement of the Santa Fe which appeared in the To peka papers, announcing that mem bers of the Kansas chorus that are coming to the celebration of Kansas week at the fair would be admitted to the fair grounds free. That is an ar rangement of the fair directors, but the advertisement has been taken as offering free admission to the fair grounds for everybody. The of having donated through a local shipper at Leavenworth sl50 to the chorus members from that place and by so doing persuaded them to cancel an arrangement they had with the Burlington for transportation over that road. The Santa Fe officials say if any such donation was made they know nothing of it, but they know that all their competitors are doing 4 l.. 1w. of t-s ,,,I and they have already placed in the hands of the chairman evidence to that effect. They add that if the pres ent turmoil is to be continued they will at once give notice of their inten- tion to begin running cheap excursions as they have right to do under the agreement.
 Freight traffic is improving consid- siderably. Both the lake-and-rail and gains last week as compared with the previous one, which in turn was con- siderably better than the one preced- ing it. All-rail shipments last week aggregated 52,260 tons against 50,23 tons for the previous week, and 52,540 tons for the corresponding week last year. Lake shipments amounted to s5,24s tons, against s0.746 tons for the previous week. Through shipments of flour, grain and provision amounted to 24,973 tons against 25.962 tons for the previous week and 21, lS2 tons for the corresponding week last year.
 Through shipments are carried by the competing roads in the following proportions: Baltimore tS Ohio. CT per cent; Big Four, 5,3 per cent. Chicago < Erie, l2.5 per cent; Grand Trunk, cent; Michigan Central, 14.4 per cent; Nickel Plate, s. 2 per cent: Panhandle, 7.G per cent; Fort Wayne, 11.6 per cent; Wabash, , per cent.
 Joint notice has been served by the southwestern lines on their connec- tions outside the association that busi- ness between their terminals must be protected at all hazards To do so it will be necessary for them to insist that no cut rates on through business may be made by competing lines out side the association, either until they have been advised and their consent obtained; no stop-over privileges must be provided for within Western Pas senger association territory, and all other regulations must be strictly ad- hered to. The western roads say it would pay them better to go out of she through business entirely from now until the end of the Worlds fair than to allow rates to be demoralized between their terminals.