The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-01-11
CHOPPING OFF HEADS
The Union Pacific Management Playing
Havoc.
MANY MEN TURNED OUT
The Latest Concerning the App!i-
cation for Separate Receivers
for the o. >. L. and u. NJ
It's a Big Scheme.

BUTTE, Jan. 10.-It is learned to-day
from a reliable source that wholesale re-
auctions are being made along the Utah
Northern and Oregon Short Line, and 1t Is
believed by some that tho object in the
extensive curtailment of expenses is TO
influence the courts, in an indirect way,
against the application for separate re-
ceIvers for these lines, which is soon to
come up for hearing.
A few days ago 50 employees in the shops
at Pocatello were discharged out of total
force of 1870, and the business men of that
town are said to be greatly worried over
the exceedingly blue outlook. The train
crews at that point have also been
cut down and similar reductions have
been made at every other point where
they were at all practicable. Every item
of expense that was not absolutely neces-
sary has been cut down to the lowest pos
sible point.
No reductions have been made in Butte
for the reason that both the freight and
passenger business from this point Is as
large as ever and this city is now more
than ever one of the principal mainstays
of the entire Union Pacific system.
The attempt TO secure separate recelv-
| erships for the Utah Northern and q. :.
| l.. is watched with a good deal of interest
A separate recclvership for these two
lines would quickly put them on a paying
| basis, but IL would at tho same time
| knock an enormous hole in the Union
| Pacific receipts by putting an end to the
| lead pipe cinch which that road now en-
| joys on all passenger business from the
| Missouri river to Montana and the great
northwest. For this reason II Is believed
that the government will take hand
| in the proceedings and oppose the
| application for separate receivers Tor the
two best paying pieces OF road on the en-
tire Union Pacific system.
Ii has long been known in railroad cir
Giles that the profits of the L. \. and q. >.
l.. have been devoted to making up the
losses of other parts of the sytem. The
business with these two lines Is now con-
Quoted OH pro rata basis, which is ar
ranged so that the main line gets all the
profits, or all that IT needs to make up IT'S
losses. With the appointment of separate
receivers the pro rata would be raised so
as to secure moro equitable division,
and the close passenger tra1llc with the
Union Pacific would be entirely abrogated,
which is OF "A great deal more importance.
Under the existing conditions the Union
Pacific enjoys "A practical monopoly OF all
northwestern passenger business by re-
fuslng to accept tickets on the o. =. l..
and u. N, sold either by the C., Is. d e..
Santa Fe or Rock Island via Denver or
Oguen. l. ne u. ~. anu W. - lie aiSo
refuses to sell tickets for the East over any
route but the Union Pacific. Passengers
who wish to go over the Southern route
are compelled to pay full local fare be-
tween Chicago and the Missouri river, TO
Denver, then over the Denver q Rio
| Grande to Ogden, and from there TO their
destination. With separate receivers,
| however, the O. :. l.. and u. n. would be
| in the field for all the passenger business
they could get, and the c., Is. x O., Santa
Fe and Rock Island would be able to
ticket passengers through to Butte and
the Northwest, the same as the Union
Pacific, which business they are now COM
PEELED to reluctantly relinquish to the
latter road. With the three lines mem
toned in active competition the Union
Pacific would secure only its legitimate
share of tho business to this section of the
country and il would soon be in n much
worse condition financially than 1t is
now.
This being the exact condition of things
IL can be easily seen why the Union Pa
cific receivers propose TO fight the appli-
cation for separate receivers for the o. ).
l.. and L. n. to the last ditch, and it is eX-
pected that the government will step in
and do likewise.