Evening star., 1899-12-01

company had been acquired by the Penn
sylvania railroad
Deniels are made of the report that the
Baltimore and Ohio has been acquired by
either of its competitors, but 1t is under
stood that the management of the Balti-
more and Ohio have reached an under
standing with the fnanciers who control
the pennsylvania and Central to handle all
traffic impartially, and henceforth not to
permit any rate disturbances to influence
them.
The Erie Delaware Lackawanna and
western, Ontario and Western Reading,
Lehish Valley, New Jersey Central and
Chesapeake and Ohio are all controlled in
the interests of Messrs Morgan and Van
aefeilt, and there is no danger of disturb
hnce from these companies.
An tronclad Pool.
Rapid strides have been made in arrang
ing details Of the big traffic deal, which to
ali 1ntents and purposes is to be a pool of
the most ironclad character, but regulated
py the coterie of financiers, not by traffic
officials
On January 1 more than ninety per cent
or all of the commodity tariffs will be abol-
ished, and in addition there will be some
significant advances in freight rates On
that GATE there will also be readjustment
or the import business. which will put
an END to the disturbance of international
rates, and prevent steamship companies
from demoralizing the railroad rates
AIter January the percentages now carried
by the several trunk lines will be lived up
TO more strictly than ever before and all
agents and traffic managers will be held
TO strict account for cutting rates These
rules apply to westbound freight business
am. anu LOT some time agents have been work.
ing under instructions not to deviate from
the existing tariffs on any account what
ever.
Among the significant advances in rates
IL will hn No.,
coffee, the former of which constitutes one
of the largest articles of freight shipped
out of New York. For long time the
sugar men have been credited with ahiIitv
to secure favors from the railroads in the
shape of commodity rates
Ihe advances on sugar and coffee will
amount to 20 per cent of the present rate
The actual change will consist in raising
the classification of these two articles from
sixth to fifth class, making the rate 30 in
stead of % cents from New York to Chi
cago.
Coal and Grain Trade.
AS showing how far the trunk line rail-
roads are already engaged in pooling with
out being disturbed by the authorities men
ton may be made of the fact that the
grain traffic coming to Buffalo and brought
to the seaboard by the railroads has been
pooled for some time past, and the anthra-
cite coal trade is also pooled by the several
companies. The trunk line railroads con-
troll all of the important lines of steamers
on the great lakes, and the lake lines in
turn operate canal and lake lines
1t is not generally known that the bulk of
the westbound canal and lake business is
controlled by the lake lines, and that dur
ing the last season 1t has been impossibe
for any independent hoatmen to cut rates
and make anything out of the business.
The reason of this is that if an independent
boatman reduced the through rate the lake
lines would charge him an exorbitant
amount an as their proportion Of the haul at
Many of the boatmen, rather than sub
NIT to such dictatiOn leased their boats to
the canal and dispatch lines at so much
per trip. The result was that the canal
and lake rate was kept up to a higher fig
ure than the railroads quoted in connection
with the lake steamers. This gave the rail-
roads the control of the entire lake traffic
The canal rate was kept at about So cents
throughout the season.
With the grain traffic, anthracite coal
traffic and canal and lake traffic under the
domination of the trunk lines. and with
three or four financiers in control of the en-
tire trunk line situation, the way is now
clear for regulating all of the freight busi-
ness of the eastern railroads.
The men who have this scheme in hand
foresee possibly efforts on the part of the
authorities to make trouble and to charge
them with violating the antitrust law on
the ground of running pool They will be
prepared for this in more ways than one,
In the first place, they will hold that no
traffic association exists among the trunk
lines, and they Will defy the authorities to
find one.
No Outward Signs.
Hence, they will say, there is no outward
sign of a pool. The steps which have Just
been taken to destroy signs of pooling are
significant. The committee of the Joint
Traffic Association which had in hand the
duty of winding up the affairs of the asso-
citation after it was declared to be Illegal
by the United States Supreme Court have
Just taken the last steps to eXtingush the
remains of that organization.
Notices were sent out two days ago that
all of the furniture in the rooms of the
Joint Traffic Association, at No. 143 Liberty
street, would be sold, and the lease Of the
rooms, which runs until May l, will be dis
posed Of. After December 81 all of the en-
ployes Of the association will have been
dismissed.
AS for the Trunk Line Association, the
president OF one of the railroads said last
night that 1t had ceased to act as an asso-
ciatiOn and handle any traffic matters and
it is now nothing more than a bureau. 1t
keeps its rooms at No. 143 Liberty street
but 1t does not legislate in regard to rate
matters concerning the various railroads.
IN a word, 1t does nothing. Henceforth the
traffic officials will not take any united ac-