The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-01-30
KENTUCKY LAW
IS DISRECARDED.
Provisions of the Southern
Pacific Charter Are
Ignored.
YOKE OF THE OCTOPUS.
Methods Adopted in California
Used Also in the Blue
Grass Country.
YOKE OF THE OCTOPUS.
OUT OF THE STATES CONTROL.
Branch Lines Operated Under Outside
Charters-No Kentucky Office
Exists.

LOUISVILLE, KY, Jan. $3.50 far as can
be learned, that astute old railroad king, "
Mr.. c. P. Huntington, has left very i'm
portant points of attack on the charter OF
the Southern Pacific Company uncovered.
He has apparently neglected to comply
with the only provision of his charter that
has any reference to the State of Ken
lucky, Section of said charter provides
as follows:
The company shall keep an Office for the
transaction of business, and the clerk or assist
ant clerk of said corporation shall reside
within the State of Kentucky; but the said
corporation may keep offices at such places
outside OF this State as in the judgment of its
board OF directors its business may from time
10 time require; provided that nothing herein
contained shall be construed as granting any
lottery or banking privileges.
Sec. 9. This act shall take effect Immediately
upon its passage.
This provision has never been amended
or repealed. 1t is plainly mandatory and
not permissive.
Presumably such Office would be located
within Frankfort, the capital, or in the
city of Louisville, the metropolis and rail-
road center of the State, where the general
Offices OF the Chesapeake, Ohio and South
western Railroad, the western division of
the Newport News and Mississippi Valley
system, one of Huntington's transconti-
mental links, are located. There is no such
office in Frankfort nor has there ever been,
nor, as far as The CALLS correspondent
can learn, in Lexington or Covington.
If it is in the city of Louisville it is not
easily found. A careful examination of
Caron's Louisville directory from 1885 to
1895 fails 10 find any mention even of such
an Office or such company as the South
ern Pacific Company. Men intimate in
Louisville railroad circles for the past
twenty years fail to remember ever having
heard of or seen such an office. The
directory for 1895 gives H. s other offices in
this city as follows:
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, ticket office
253 Fourth street.
Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern Rail-
road, general offices Union depot, 126 Seventh
street; ticket offices 4O3 West Market street
Short Route Transfer Company, I26 Seventh
street.
But 1t makes no mention OF the South
ern Pacific Office.
In kentucky..Mr. Huntington follows his
general plan of operating his roads in each
State under charters obtained in other
States, so as to avoid being responsible to
or under the control of the State courts.
His lines from the Mississippi to Newport
News are operated by the Newport News
and Mississippi Valley Company under a
charter procured in the State of Connect
cut, and whose general offices are in New
York City.
This company, of which Mr.. Huntington
is president, operates the lines east from
Louisville to Newport News under the
name of the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail-
road, of which the general offices are in
Richmond, Va. 1t operates the line from
Louisville to Memphis under the name of
the Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern
Railroad, with the general offices at Louis
vile, where General John Echols, the sec
ond vice-president, is stationed. This gen.
eral Office, as well as the office of the
Louisville Short Route Transfer COMPANY.
by which the Eastern and Western divi-
sions of his lines are connected, are in the
new Union depot building at Seventh and
Water streets, which Mr.. Huntington built
some years ago. The general Offices of the
Newport News and Mississippi Valley
Company are not located in Kentucky.
but in New York City.
So the people of Kentucky are as much
in Mr.. Huntington's power as those of
California. They have ielt and groaned
under the burden for years. The principle
of charging all the freight that the shipper
could bear has been persistently followed
all along his lines in Kentucky, and enter
prise has been throttIed and the projectors
bankrupted. The disposition of the peo-
pie and the temper of the Legislature are
certainly hostile to Huntington's svs-
TEN, and the opportunity to strike a
killing blow to the octopus will hardly be
allowed to slip. 1t will soon pass and will
probably never come again. The LegisIa-
ture is full of new men pledged to reform
existing abuses, and their disposition is to
do so.
But Huntingdon lobby is on the ground,
and its mem bers know how to use "argu-
ments" to advantage. 1t is possible that
in a few days more they might have
enough of the new men committed to
them to give them, with the old standbys
whom the late election tioal wave left, a
safe majority.
0oeDeI Is strong man anu an energetic
one, but he has other matters to look after
besides this, and even if he had not he,
with such volunteer assistance as he may
have from other members, can hardly hold
his own against the powerful influences
that Huntington is bringing TO bear in
Frankfort.
With the proper support Goebel can
pass his repeal bill; without it Hunting
ton will win.
BOWERS ELOQUENT PLEA.