Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1899-07-18
gan are the Southern. Reading. Erie,
Lehigh Valley. New Haven, Northern

circle of influence are the Baltimore and
Ohio. Louisville and Nashville, Illinois
Central and Wabash. All of them.
however, are controlled by banking in
terests which are regarded as friendly
to Messrs. Morgan and Vanderbilt.
August Belmont is the chief factor in
the Louisville and Nashville, and Spey-
er & Co. are behind the Baltimore and
Ohio.
The knowing ones of Wall street have
parcelled out the roads in this gigantic
combine into five groups-the idea be-
| ing that those now outside the charmed
circle will be forced to take sides as
soon as the division is made-as fol-
| lows:
l. Vanderbilt and Morgan alliedsIines
-New England roads, New York Cen
tral, Delaware and Hudson, Ontario
| and Western, Lake Shore, Michigan
| Central. Wabash, Big Four. Chicago
ana Northwestern and Union Pacific.
| = Pennsylvania and Morgan anthra-
cite coal MISUNDERSTANDING; Read
ing. Lehigh Valley. Jersey Central.
Erie. Lackawanna. BALTIMORE and Ohio
and Ohio coal RAILROADS.&C.
| 81 Morgans Southern system-South-
ern and Chesapeake and Ohio, with pos
sibly the Norfolk and Western and
Louisville and Nashville.
4. Chicago. Milwaukee and St. Paul,
Huntington. Wisconsin Central. North
| ern Pacific and Great Northern
| .. Missouri Pacific. Missouri. Kansas
and Texas and Southern Pacific.
These great lines. of course, do not
include the innumerable smaller roads
| tributary to them. Once the gigantic
| combine was formed however, the lit
| tie fellows would be ut their mercy
| completely. 1t IS said that there are
various roads In Ohio. Indiana and
Michigan possibly slated to become
branches of one of the two great sys-
fnN,s 4 ti,o al, ,,,,l~.,
Hooking Valley and Toledo. which Mr.
Morgan is reorganizing; Toledo and
Ohio Central. Wheeling and Lake Erie.
Cleveland. I.orain and Wheeling: Lake
Erie and Western. Ann Arbor. Cincin-
natl. Hamilton and Dayton and Chi
cago and Eastern Illinois. However. at
present, there are no signs of negotia-
| tons OH foot to acquire any of these
properties.
One purpose of getting control of the
principal Ohio roads is said to be to
place the bituminous coal situation on
Il more profitable basis. And in this
phase Of the situation West Virginia
| is especially interested. With the rail-
roads OF Pennsylvania West Virginia.
Ohio ana Indiana under the control of az
few men. most Of the cutting of soft
coal prices could be eliminated. so far
as this particular territory is con-
| ccrned. a
THE RAILROADS WOULD THEN
BE ABLE TO GEORGE COAL OPER-
ATOKS GENERALLY AND SEE
THAT THEY DID NOT UNDERSELL
THE RAILROADS THAT NINE
COAL ON THEIR OWN ACCOUNT.
Mir. Morgan is said to besanxious to
place the bituminous roads on Il better
footing because of the beneficial effect
that ii would have on the anthracite
trade, in which he Is still more largely
| He rinf oc l,nl
the anthracite business in their grasp.
and now the only weak point about the
anthracite trade is the difficulty of
competing with soft coal: which is de-
livered at what the anthracite people
call ridiculous prices" The idea of
this gigantic combine is, Of course, to
boost coal prices as we'll as to establish
a general pooling system that will ens-
ily eNadc the Inter State Commerce law
and bring all traffic in the various ter
ritories covered by these allied groups
of railroads under the absolute control
of the gigantic combine.
All this, however. is as yet merely
IN paper. although it is said the work
OF absorption of the several roads nee
esshry To round out the project is 60
ing on ION the quiet" as it must, OF
course. since publicity would give the
stock Of these roads tremendous
boost and cost the combine a pretty
penny 10 puN.
Il is hardly likely. moreover. that the
various Stale Legislatures will be
asleep during the formation of this ri
gantc railroad trust. A general con-
solidation of railroads will not be re-
garded as a very good thing sfor the
people by many old-fashioned folks.
ana there may be decided veto placed
by the States on the proposed railroad
| consolidat ton 10 regulate rates
In
course, have their side of the question
to present. They point out with con-
siderable truth that at present all Is
chaos regarding railroad rates. which
| the Interstate Commerce law is power
less to remedy, the result being demor-
allzation and suicidal rate cutting.
Still. it will strike the keen observer
mat the railroads have remedy in
their own hands other than consolida-
tion-a remedy that the big fellows in
| the railroad world have already taken
advantage of to considerable extent.
namely. by the lodging OF stock control
| in the hands of a few powerful mon.
who. without need of the flashing or
| merging of lines. are able to control all
the companies in their grasp. Such has
been me tendency the last five years,
and William I[9Vanderbilt J. Plerpont
Morgan. William Rockefeller and A. J.
Cassatt now have more power through
| Their numerous stock interests and the
| shareholders of the men they repre-
sent than any other industrial leaders
| in the world.
10 get some idea of the power these
financial giants WELD, look at these
figures:
The Vanderbilt railroads proper-in-
| cluding the New York Central, Lake
SHORE. Michigan Central, Big Four,
Boston and Albany and Chicago and
| " IN