The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-05-27
AMERICAN RAILROAD POOLS.
Eiucidation OF ~ business Factor Of
Vast Importance to Whole Country.
SEVENTH PAPER.

vsstImportance to Whole Country.
SEVENTH PAPER.
English public railway policy was best
stated by the Royal Commission OF 1867,
which inquired iuto the charges rates
and tolls OF British railways thus:
1--WE are of the opinion that sound
principle 60 act on, In tho matter OF work
ing ana traffic agreements betwcon rail-
way companies, Is to allow any companies
90 enter into them without reference 10
any tribunal. upon the sole condition that
the particulars should he made pupio In
the locality and that they should DO
terminable 10y either party at the ex-
piration of limited periods. III any such
agreement contained anything contrary
10 the rights of the public, the court OF
common pleas should have power OF set
ting IL aside at tho instance OF the Board
of Trade. "
Railway Rates, English and Foreign"
by j. Grierseil, manager OF the oreat
Western Railway (London lSJo), said:
"Agreements for the division OF traiiic,
or for pooling, as they arc termed In
the United States and Canada, are not
unknown In this country. some have
been sanctioned by Parliament others
have been made between companies with
out any express parliamentary authority,
ard have been carried out Mr.. Gladstone
made in 1851, an award apportioning Tor
five years the receipts for traihc carried
between London, York, Leeds, Sheffield,
etc, between the Great Northern ana
London and Northwestern ana Midland
Railways In 1857 no mado further
award determining for fourteen years, tho
proportions In which the proceeds from
passenger and goods traffic between the
same and other places, w'rr 20 10 diylceu
between those companies and the Man
chester Company.
Tine Working and management OF
an English Railway" GS9l), by George
Findlay, manager OF tn, london ana
Northwestern Company, said
There is another plln which railways
sometimes adopt, w.i.oh u known as pcr-
centage vision OF traffic, and which Is
carried out in the following manners
"Supposing that there is certain traffic
Co he conveyed between two towns or dis
tricts and that there are two or more rail-
way companies, each having route OF It's
own by which it is enabled TO compete
for the traffic. An agreement Is come 10
and the receipts derived from the whole
of the traffic carried by all routes shall be
thrown into common fund, ana that
each company shall be entitled TO GER
tain percentage of the whole.
The percentages arc usually adjusted
on tho basis OF past actual carryings.
1.-The Railways and Traders, by w. Nj.
Acworth (London, 1917, said:
Companies have combined and do
com bine every day, but for all that they
have competed, do compete, and, as far
as we can see at present, are likely TO con-
tinue TO compete to the end OF the chap
ter Will any Lancashire trader go into
the witness box and declare that the Ian
cashire and Yorkshire and the Northwest
ern never make any attempt to get hold OF
each others traffic? And yet all the
world knows that, from time whereof
Il mot m IN "A
contrary, these two companies have agreed
TO divide the traffic at competitive points.
Fight the Hardest.
He further said "The much discussed
Continental agreement between the South
Eastern and the Chatham and Dover,
which settles the proportions in which the
two companies arc TO share the receipts Tor
all traffic to the continent passing over
their lines is solemnly scheduled TO an act
OF parliament and has been Judicially
considered by every court in the country
up to and including the House of Lords.
Yet is it not mater of common knOwl-
edge that the South Eastern and the
Chatham each fight their hardest TO divert
the suroam of traffic from che rival hne9
A prominent case of Hare VS.. L. a
N. w. Railway Company, grew out of
the fact that independent conterminous
routes agreed to divide the profits OF the
whole traffic in certain fixed proportions
calculated on the experience OF past
course of traffic. 1t was held that such
an agreement being bona fide, was not
ultra wires.
Wood, on Railroad OLondon, 1S94),
said of this case IA shareholder applied,
though after several years of acquiescence.
for an Injunction to restrain the conf
panies from carrying out the agreement
The appl ication was refused. The vice
chancellor considered not only that on
principle such an arrangement was legal,
there being nothing preJudicial TO either
the shareholders or the public, but also
that he was concluded by the Judgment OF
Lord Cottenham, of the Court of the
Queens Bench, in the Shrewsbury case.
The same authority said generally
"In England it IS held that pooling con-
tracts or arrangements between competing
roads by which they agree to divide their
Joint earnings upon certain classes OF busi-
ness, or even their entire earnings are
legal and valid, where 1t does not appear
that the interests of the shareholders or
the public are prejudiced thereby.
The "Mogul Steamship Company
CLimited) VS. McGregor, Cow q Co.,
OF al. -" grew out of IA contract limiting
the numDe of ships to be run in a certain
service. Lord Bramwell SAID OF thls In
1892:
1T does seem strange that to enforce free
dom of trade, of action, tho law should
punish those who make perfectly honest
agreement with n belief that 1t Is fairly
required for their protection.
Hon. Thomas NJ. Cooley. the first chair
man of the Interstate Commission, said,
January 3, 1887;
Pooling arrangements have been sus.
tained In Great Britain. One OF the cases
passed upon was pooling arrangement
between stevedores another was be-
tween competing railroads Vice Chan
cellor w. Page Wood said. among other
things: 1t Is mistaken notion that the
public Is benefited by putting two rail
road companies against each other until
one Is ruined.
European Pools.
Prof Hadley of Yale College testified in