Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-11-30
WITH THE
RAILROADS
Gigantic Railroad Pool Has
Been Organized.
IT Is ALL ON THE QUIET
All the Big Ones Are In twill Con-
troll Eastern Business Union
Pacific Plans.
IT IS ALL ON THE QUIET

ANSN AoIn. Nv hS ! Sd D
Quietly but surely there has been built UP
by the financial giants who control the
trunk line railroads a traffic deal which
will be able to get around the law against
| pools and yet accomplish all of the pur-
poses of a pool and enable them to secure
profitable rates to all of the interested
companies. 1t was the knowledge that
this traffic deal is about to be put into
operation and the fact that the Baltimore
& Ohio was to be operated in harmony
with the Pennsylvania & New York Gen.
trail interests that gave rise to the report
that the first named had been
acquired by the Pennsylvania railroad.
Denials are made that the Baltimore &
Ohio has been acquired by either of it's
competitors, but it is understood that the
management of the Baltimore & Ohio has
reached an understanding with the finan-
ciers who control the Pennsylvania &
New York Central to handle all traffic i'm
partially and henceforth not to permit
any rate disturbance to influence them.
! The Erie, Delaware, Lackawanna &
Western, Ontario & Western, Reading,
Lehigh Valley, New Jersey Central and
Chesapeake & Ohio are all controlled in
the interest Of Messrs. Morgan and Van
derbilt and there is no danger OF disturb
ance from these companies.
Rapid strides AVE been made in ar
ranging details Of the big traffic deal,
which to all intents and purposes is to
be a pool of the most ironclad character,
but regulated by j coterie of financiers,
not by traffic officials. On a. l more
than 80 per cent of all the commodity
traffics will be abolished and in addition
there will be some advances in freight
rates. On that date there will also be a
reimbursement of the import business
which will put an end to the disturbance
of international rates. After Jan. / the
| percentages now carried by the several
trunk lines will be lived up to more strict
ly than ever before and all agents and
traffic managers will be held to strict ac-
count for cutting rates. These rules are
to apply to Westbound freight business
and for some time agents have been
working under instructions not to deviate
from the existing traffics on any account
whatever. Among the significant ad-
vances in rates on Jan. / will be those
on sugar and coffee, the former of which
constitutes one of the largest articles of
freight shipped out of New York. For
a long time the sugar men have been
credited with ability to secure favors
from the railroads in the shape of COM
modify rates. The advances on sugar and
~ Will " = per Cell OIL the
present rate. The actual change will con-
sist sin raising the classification of these
two articles from sixth to fifth class,
making the rate 80 instead of % cents
from New York to Chicago.
AS showing how far the trunk line rail-
roads are already engaged in pooling
without being disturbed by the authors
ties, mention may be made OF the fact
tina the grain traffic coming to Buffalo
and hrnl1ohf tn thp Goa hna ri Nv, 4bn "a |;
roads has been pooled for some time past
and the Anthracite coal third is also
pooled by the several companies. The
trunk line railroads control all of the i'm
portant lines IN the great lakes and the
lake lines in turn operate canal and
lake lines.
1t is generally known that the bulk of
the westbound canal and lake business
is controlled by the lake lines and that
during the last season it has been i'm
possible for any Independent boatman 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 with whom he
dealt would charge him an exorbitant
amount as their proportion of the haul
at the western end. Many of the boat
men, rather than submit to such dicta-
ton. leased their boats to the canal and
lax dispatch lines at SO much per trip.
The result was that the canal and lake
rate was kept up to a higher figure 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 entire trunk
line situation. the way is now clear for
regulating all of the freight business of