The herald., 1898-02-27
THE NAME OF VANDERBILT
ENORMOUS RAILROAD INTEREST
1T REPRESENTS
It Effects Combinations That Make
the Entire Country Subject
to It

| The name of Vanderbilt is power.
In the financial world of the western
| hemisphere it stands supreme. While
| it dictates terms to thousands of In
vestors and gives laws to the entire
commercial and travelling community, 1t
can command the willing service of such
a financiering giant as j. Pier2ont Nor
gan, and by the aid of his genius effect
combinations which place the country
in abject submission at its feet. This
is precisely what has come about in the
last few months. Today the railroad
properties controlled by the Vanderbilts
figure up to mileage of over 10000
miles, or one-tenth in extent of the rail-
roads of the country.
The stock and bond valuations of these
roads is $3.50, ,929,71, sum which is about
equal to the national debt. No adequate
idea of the Importance of the Vanderbilt
lines is given by the mere statement
| that they control one-tenth of the total
mileage. In transportation it is the
amount of business which is done that
counts. The Vanderbilt roads traverse
the most thickly settled parts of the
country. They do far more than one
tenth-probably more than one-quarter
! of the railroad business of the country
And all this gigantic growth has come
about from the free gift of the Hudson
river franchise to old Commodore Van
derbilt half a century or so ago.
The Vanderbilt lines reach from the
Atlantic to the Pacific and branch out
| in all directions from the main artery.
The company has three distinct through
lines between New York and Chicago:
The Michigan Central, running through
Canada; the Lake Shore, along the
| American shore of Lake Erie, and the
Nickel Plate and West Shore. From
| Chicago westward it has the Chicago
and Northwestern, reaching to Omaha;
from Omaha to Ogden the Union Pa
cific and from point on this line east
of Ogden the Oregon Short Line, which
gives the system an outlet on the Pa
cific at Portland and San Francisco.
If natural conditions played any part
| in railroad operations the Central Pa
cifc would be the rational route to the
west. But this line is owned by c. P.
Huntington of the Southern Pacific, and
he is still king in all that territory. The
Oregon Short Line is not so direct, but
| it passes through a spledid region which
is capable of supporting vast popula-
ton, while large portion of the Central
Pecific is covered with snow sheds in
the widest passes of the Sierra Nevada
mountains.
The mileage now virtually controlled
the Vanderbilts is as follows:
| Chicago and Northwestern...... 5000
Chicago, ST. Paul. Minneapolis and
Omaha ........................ 1892
| Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati and st.
Louis ............................ 1,SO5
Chesapeake and Ohio. l, 1850
| Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri VAL
ley OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. ,S01
| Lake Shore and Michigan Southern. LAS
| Michigan Central. al........................1 1873
New York. Chicago and ST. Louis.... 5l3
New York Central. al...................... S19
Oregon Railway and Navigation....... 643
Oregon Short Line. Observation-Disclosures. LAP
| Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg.. 624
Sioux City and Pacific. 107
Union Pacific. ic......................... 1928
West Shore OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 450
~, fOl