The morning times., 1896-02-15

and operating its own line .arough to Los
Angeles and San Diego; the Union Pacific
and Oregon Short Line, connecting with
| the Southern through the Oregon Railway
and Navigation Company at Portland; the
| Canadian Pacific, in connection with the
! Pacific Coast Steamship Company, run
ming steamers between Vancouver and San
| Francisco, and which also connects with
the Northern Pacific, and through it and
the line operated by the Central Pacific
from Portland, reaching all California
points; and, finally, the Great Northern
which connects with the Central Pacific at
Portland.
GAVE SOME FIGURES.
"Of the through freight passing to and
from the Pacific coast over the various
lines operated in whole or in part by the
Central Pacific or Southern Pacific dur
ing the ten years ending with 1892, the
| Central Pacific Ogden Line) carried 54
| per cent, against 46 per cent carried by
the other lines, while OF the passenger
| traffic for the same period it carried over
80 per cent against all the other lines. Dur
| ing the first two years of this period all
| these lines were operated by the Central
| Pacific, ard for the remaining eight years
! by the Southern, and in these two years
| the percentages carried by the Ogden Line
were. for freight, 80 per cent, and Tor pas
senger. 62 per cent. Since then the North
| ern Pacific, the Atlantic ard Pacific, the
| CAM dian Pacific ana The Southern Cali
| fornia roads have become factors; but it
seems TO me that this fine showing for the
! Central Pacific gives US the right to claim
that ii has been accomplished by reason Of
the common control of both the Central and
Southern Pacific lines.
'In confederation of the above. let me
say that in 1875 the Transcontinental As
sociation, composed of all the railroad
nj inf m ct
traffic with tie East (t0 which Mr.. Coon bs
generally refprs). agreed to pool the traffic,
aud, being unable to agree upon the allot-
mcnt. left il to board of eminent and
practical railroad men, with the result
that, after having heard the claims OF all
parties they made the following award:
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
To the Ogden lines. 81 per cent
To the other lines. =. :. =. :. 80 per cent
FREIGHT TRAFFIC.
! To the Ogden lines. :. :. :. 61 per cent
To the other lines. :. :. 40 per cent
las To the competition OF the Southern
Pacific Railroad, which is used by the
/ Union Pacific officials as an excuse for
their greatest loss, the records show that
the Sunset Route that is, the steamship
aud rail line between New York and san
Francisco via New Orleans participates
in very little traffic, which might be di-
! rected over the Ogden lines, kept traffic
/ interchanged by California with the At
! lantic soa board, and the sum OF that traffic
is but 20 per cent of the total traffic in
| tcrcllaugcd ley California with United States
| territory on the east OF the Missouri River,
ard Il portion of that is taken from the
! Panama and cape Horn routes at rates so
| low that the all-rail trauscontinentaI lines
/ do not care to compete for it.
81 Mr.. CoombS says ii is currently re-
tod in Cnli hnf nrlS Sfn -
brought TO bear upon shippers who wish to
| ship over The Gem raj line To force them to
| ship by the Southern.
CHARGE THAT Is FALSE.
"0utside of the fact that rumOr is a
! bad argument iu itself, let me say at once
! that this charge is ialse, and that an appeal
| to the shippers themselves is the quickest
| refutatiuu of it; and as the Southern Pa
! cific has not been at any time without
! competition during the period referred TO,
both by sea and rail, shippers have been free
10 exercise their choice OF routes, and TO
say that they could be forced over any
S;Jscial rodte simply shows ignorance OF
| the Sub ject and OF the method OF soliciting
and handling traffic, to say nothing or the
weI-&Bowu indepe dcnce OF shippers under
competitive conditions. The Union Pacific
has been represented in California by as
large STAFF of soliciting agent, as The Cen
trail and southern Pacific, and all the other
competing companies have also been repre-
sented
Mr.. Coombs explains the Union Pacific's
course in building roads, or entering into
alliance with roads already built 10 the
north and south OF IL, which should act as
feeders to the main line east of Ogden, as
being necessary to release Itself from the
clutches of It's competitor. This simply am
ticipateS charge that the Union Pacific has
itself been building lines TO divert freight
from The Cent raj Pacific. Now, the facts
are That the Ctla Mort 1ern was commenced
in 1872, som ten OF twelve years before the
Southern Pacific was built. The Oregon
Short Lin" w;ISeommenced before ihe South
ern Pacific was completed: when the Cen
trail was then, as iC is now, being conducted
upon lines OF great liberalty, whilst our
eastern nei2hbo., n Union Pacific, charged
over the Utah Northern from Ogden to
Silver Bow, Montana, first class, S4.1U;
| second, $4.oG; third, 1915; fourth, $3.25-
per hundred pounds.
DIsPRoPoRTIoNATE RATES.
When through rates were esta blshed be-
tween San Francisco and Silver Bow the
proportions received by the two companies
We're as follows:
lst Cts 2d els Sd els. 4th CTS
lO9 lOs.::,.. sbO5 Sass aOs 50 so
Centrl Pacific 80 80 30 l5
The disproportionate character of these
rates will be better realized when it is
noted that the rates received by tue Utah
Northern were for a haul of 390miles, while
those received by the Centra! Pacific We're
for haul of Ss5 miles west OF ogden! and
they were fixed by the Union Pacific, which
then controlled the situation with respect
| to this through business.
The Oregon Short Line cut off from the
Central Pacific all participation in the
large and valuable traffic interchanged by
Oregon and Washington with the Eastern
States by way of the Union and Central,
which before this diversion was carried via
Ogden to Roscvlle, though TO Oregon and
Washington. When the Utah and North
ern Railroad was completed to Butte City,
Montana, it passed into the control of the
Union Pacific, which instantly began dis
| eliminating against the Central Pacific traf-
| fic with Montana, which was considerable,
in order to force the business over the
| Union Pacfic's rails and extensions, and to
divert it from the Central Pacific line over
which it had been going; and its efforts
We're largely successful.
when the Central Pacific first COM
menced taking coal from the Union Pacific
in 1870 we paid that company for coalfrom
the Almy mine 81 per ton of 1000 lbs.
for a haul of 10 miles mostly down grade to
Ogden, or 1-2 cents per ton per mile,
while coal is hauled on some of the roads in
this country for 1-2 mills per ton per mile
In fact, very high rates prevailed until
the Denver and Rio Grande Western was
built to Ogden, and since then we have
bought coal delivered there for about half
of what we paid for transporting our own
coal 10 miles, and the Rio Grande West
ern hauls it, as | remember, about 125
miles. 1 do not believe any of the
Officers of the Union Pacific Company who
were familiar with their business have ever
made any complaint of our handling their
Itlct fl..r Do