Evening star., 1898-10-28
Railroads Want Pooling Privilege as
a Preventive.
JOINT TRAFFIC ASSOCIATION PROJECT
Effects of Rate Cutting on Various
Transportation Lines.
SHIPS AGAINST RAILWAYS

IL is understood that great effort will be
! made by the railroad companies comprising
the Joint Traffic Association to induce Con-
sress tn pass early in its coming session a
oii permitting them to establish a pool and
thus maintain rates. Some railroad men ex-
press the opinion that there will soon break
out fierce rate war, but others who have
given the matter careful consideration do not
think there will be any open cutting-at
least. of existing tariffs
There are but few persons abreast of the
times in the matter of railway transporta-
t1on VINO are not aware that a great deal
OF secret rate cutting has been done by vari-
Gus roads in different parts of the country
Ecr months past, but this has, 1t Is general
~ believed. teen confined to lines which
were IN the hands of receivers and with
whom 1t was entirely optional whether or
not they paid the fixed charges.
1t is hardly probable that there will be
any serious decentralization as the result of
the Joint Traffic Association, for the day
mas passed 1t is believed when the owners
or railroads can afford to let rate cutting
go on for any considerable period. There
was time when, for instance, the Balti-
more and Ohio was owned by one set of
capitalists, the Richmond and Danville by
another. the Atlantic Coast Line by still
another, and so on, but the time has ar
rived when there is hardly a big system
IN any part of the United States in which
the great banking houses of J. P. Morgan
q Co, August Belmont, the Browns the
Rothschilds and other leading capitalists of
the United States and Europe are not
unitedly interested to a greater or less ex-
tent.
Reduced to u Science.
These men have reduced the transporta-
ton business to a science, and they expect
those to whom they intrust the details of
management to meet the fixed charges and
pay some interest the investment if the
road possesses good earning capacity. Cut
ting of rates will not make roads earn more
money in the long run, and the manager
who cannot show good returns to the pres
ent owners of the railroads of this country
is not apt to find favor in the eyes of his
employer.
The operations of the board of control of
the Joint Traffic Association, to which all
the lines north of the Potomac and east
of the Mississippi river belong, and which
has its headquarters in New York, have
practically come to Standstill. The board
consists of the presidents and chief execu-
tive officers of the railroads making up the
association. 1t has been suggested that the
association might be turned into bureau
OF information. or something similar the
joint traffic agreement being abandoned,
course which for a time adopted in
the west after the transmissouri decision.
George r. Blanchard, chairman of the
Joint Traffic Association, said in New York
yesterday that a meeting of the association
will be held soon to consider the decision
of the Supreme Court. when their legal
counsel would advise them and perhaps
make a statement.
We have already asked Congress to pass
a pooling law" said Mr.. Blanchard, "and
that remedy has been denied us. Our posi-
ton has long been that uniformity of rail-
road rates is essential to commercial pros
perity. If, for instance, there were sixty
different rates into New York the stability
of New York's commerce would be at an
end What we desire from Congress is
thorMy to contract among ourselves for
maintaining uniformity of rates do rot
think there is any need of providing by law
a penalty for disregard of uniform rates
by railroad companies or their agents."
How Organized.
The traffic associations are organized ao-
cording to the territory that the railroads
occupy. The Joint Traffic Association for
instance, embraces every railroad in the
district between ST. Louis and Chicago, and
the Atlantic seaboard, between Norfolk and
New York. and in measure controls all
the lines In New England territory al
though there is also a New England as
sociation that regulates the traffic local to
the territory. Besides the nine or ten So
called through trunk lines in Joint Traffic
territory, there are numerous smaller lines
and the total membership of the associa-
ton includes more than sixty railroads
In the territory Immediately south of the
JOINT Irafhc Association there is the South
embracing all of the southern lines east of
the Mississippi river. In the territory west
and northwest of the Joint Traffic Asso-
cfatfon there is the Western Traffic Asso-
ciation, embracing all the granger roads.
and until recently there has been also q
Transcontinental Association embracing all
or the Pacific roads, well as another as
soclation including the southern lines
The TranSmiSSouri ASsociat ton was for
merly division of the Western Traffic As
sooiadon, and survived the latter when IT
went to pieces. A the time this associa-
ton was organized, January l. 1896. a de-
cisfon was daily expected from the United
states Supreme Court dealing a deathblow
to the Transmfssour Association Tt was
a general understanding among railroad
men that the joint traffic case which was
expected to be challenged by the United
States courts, would be the last rally A nd
II this should be declared impossible of ex-
fstence under the antitrust law the con-
clusion was reached that all associations
would have to go by the board
Prevented by Law.
This result has now come about Lead
ing attorneys of the country have been un-
able to devise any agreement that would
be OF any use to the transportation lines
which could not be construed as a combi-
nation in restraint of trade by the Su-
preme Court. In the opinion of many
lawyers the day of associations under ex-
listing laws is now past. The decision, they
say, wipes out every rate-making organiZa-
a Init Ctat