Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1898-11-04
THE RUTLAND RAIL ROAD CHANGE.


land Herald.
THE RUTLAND RAIL ROAD CHANGE.
In speaking of the Rutland railroad
sale the United States Investor says:
A deal has been perfected within the
past week which is of great significance
to western New England and eastern
New York, and which also means that
an important step has been taken in a
scheme, formulated some time ago, to
absorb the Delaware & Hudson road.
We refer to the announcement that the
controlling interest in the Rutland
railroad has changed hands and that
those interested are p. w. Clement, w.
Seward Webb, w. X. Vanderbilt,
Chauncey NJ. Depew and II. Mex
TwOmbly of New York and W. III. Ball
and Edgar Harding of Boston, the two
latter being representatives of the
Fltchburg road.
Behind this announcement lie some
important facts, which will shortly come
to light, and before very long-in other
words, when the fruit is ready to pluck
and the price shall be right, we shall see
the Delaware & Hudson drop into the
lap of the New York Central. But an
earlier move will be the construction of a
new line extending north from Burling-
ton, Vt, through Grand Isle county via
St. Adams to Alburgh, Vt, to connect
with the Canada Atlantic aud Ogdens-
burg & Lake Champlain; the purchase
of the Bennington & Rutland, extend
ing from Rutland, Vt, to Bennington,
VT. also the purchase of the Lebanon
Springs road, extending from Benning-
ton, Vt, to Chatham, n. Y, where direct
connection is made with the Harlem
division of the New York Central.
In the acquisition of the Rutland road
and the adjoining properties, DR.. Webb
and his associates place themselves in an
independent position in dealing with the
New York Central, for if the Central are
not disposed to take the line at DR..
Webb's figure, he has only to build six
miles of new road from State Line on the
Lebanon Springs railway to a connection
with the Housatonic division of the New
Haven line, which will also give the Yer
mont lines direct line into New York.
With this prospect in view, it is easy to
see how the Central would not be slow in
dealing with DR.. Webb
The report of DR.. Webb's purchase
means that the Delaware 81 Hudson has
disposed of its holdings of 10000 shares
of Rutland stock, that the opportunity
for building up trunk route over the
line in question has plainly impressed it.
G D,.N
land road will inevitably become an i'm
portant factor In the traffic in Western
freight 1t means that with both the
Canada Atlantic and the Ogdensburg &
Lake Champlain as feeders and with the
possibility of making favorable working
connections with one or the other of the
great Canadian systems, the Grand
Trunk or the Canadian Pacific, the Rut.
land road will hold position of marked
strategical advantage and it can not fail
to secure large and profitable business.
What will be the effect of this new en-.
terprise on the Delware & Hudson? II
can scarcely be favorable since 1t means
that most of the through business which
the New York and Canada division of the
Delaware & Hudson derives from its
northern connections will be diverted to
the Vermont line.
To-day Delaware & Hudson stock is sag
cling under its own weight. From ia
in February, the shares have declined tC
within one point of par this week, while
the report is current that at the next
meeting of the directors, soon after the
opening of the new year, the dividend
rate will be further reduced. In fact
we get it from sources which we consider
reliable that Delaware 81 Hudson will
show much less than per cent. earned
on its stock, and we are assured that, il
the exact truth were stated, no earnings
applicable to dividends exist. The very
bad condition of the anthracite coal trade
is, of course, partly the trouble, but the
man cause lies even deeper.