The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-17
THE GREAT L.& N. DEAL
WoFK OF ROAD IN DEVELOPING
 ALABAMA.
Gates Who Controls the Stock is a Plunger-Efects of Consolida-
 tion of "old Reliable"
 and Southern.

1t is possible that nothing that ever happened before has stunned not only lhe lccal railroad people but the busi- ness men of Montgomery as well as the Gates Louisville and Nashville affair has. In Montgomery as we'll as this section of Alabama and all the country through which the Old Reliable operates the people have for years looked on it in the light of local institution and A result ant pride is taken in it. The Ellen N." has possibly done more toward develop ing and opening up the resources of Ala hama and this section of the South than any other commercial enterprise. and anything hurtful to it would be taken by thousands of people ns personal loss No matter low the present muddle turns cut it looks if the community of interest plan is being rapidly develop. ed. When this is done there will be lit tie if any competition and shipments of goods will of course be forced over the lires of the combination. This will knock out a small army of soliciting freight and passenger men all over the country.
 Montgomery business man said yeS- terday: Y T know this man Gates and a bigger gambler or plunger never lived. The big gest poker games played on some of the ocean liners have been those in which Gates took part l remember one trip I made from Liverpool to New York, Gates being passenger on the same steamer and l was lost in admiration at the cool, methodical nerve of the man. 1 firmly believe that when he started in with l.. ohu StOCh IL was more On tfle SDeCu- lation or investment order. Finding his hands full he is now trying to unload
 The statement made by President Spen- cer of the Southern in The Advertiser yesterday morning would seem to effect- ually kill the Southern phase of the case, but in the possible event of the South ern's getting control of the l.. and N, the following from an exchange shows the enormous scope of the aaffir: The control of the Louisville and Nash vile and it's allied lines of the Nashville, md fa 6srtxVa southern the largest mileage of apyl railroad system in. North America. not Gfh sxsudins lin 10 the as nas grsat Canadian arfas The Louisville and Nashville has "a mileage of 3.S93 miles. the Nayhvine. Chattanooga and St. Louis has M9 aid the, the southern total of e.7sl miles. The control of the two aforementioned sys- tems by the Southern would give a total Of ll.Sl3 miles. 1,002 miles more than the Canadian Pacific
 Largest Railroad Systems.
 At the present time the largest system entirely within the United States is the Chicago and Northwestern, with S.S3S miles of tracks. The second system is the southern Pacific, with total of S,l74 miles. The third system is the Burling- ton with s225. The fourth place belongs to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, with Gsl6 miles; and the fifth place is neid by the Chicago. Lake Shore and Eastern, with e.75s miles. The Southern holds sixth place. In this list is not given InG n,i,o pennsyivania, which has a total mileage or lines, both east and west of Pitts5urg. of S,l4 miles, which would en- tltie It to fourth place in point Of total mileage and throw the systems of the number lower
 With the Louisville and Nashville and the Nashville. Chattanooga and St. Louis the Southern would nave 2 4S0 miles more thar the Chicago and Northwestern, and py these figures De the largest system in the United States.
 Magnitude of the Deal.
 To give some idea of the magnitude of stated that the mileage of the larger sys- tems in the United States other than those mentioned are as follows: Missouri Iaisn1 tIas,,ie' G,s9; a Great Northern 52s3; Rock 4,365; Frisco 3,332
 The Southern. with the two lines added would control the traffic of the entire Southeast It's feeders and main lines would reach from Washington to St Louis and from the Ohio River to the lines and competing lines crossed and recrossed lines and vcritable network or railways distributed over twelve South east of the Mississippi River All Of the principal cities in this great ter ritory would be on the lines of the Southern and the traffic of the entire ter ritory would almost of necessity be han dled by the Southern.
 Small Competition Left.
 In this territory there would be practi- cally no competition over a great part of 1t and the other lines that would figure in the competitive business where they had competing lines, would he the Frisco line from Memphis to Birmingham and Jackson. Tenn. and Fulton. Louisville and Cincinnati and St Louis to New Or leans and points in Mississippi in the western part of, the territory. In the rf nf f1n fnrr t0r.xy fha tition would be between the Southern and the larger lines along the coast, five . fin number. with mileage each of more than 1000 miles. and a total combined mileage of 10.160 These lines are fol- lows: Seaboard Air Line. 2,611: Plant System. 2.235; Central of Georgia 1.S45 Atlantic Coast Line. 179o, and the Norfolk and Western. 1879.
 Small Independent Lines
 Of course there would be a number of smaller independent systems in the ter ritorv with mileage ranging from twenty to thirty. up to several hundred miles each. They would cut little figure except where they would connect with some of the seven lines that have been mentioned Many of them under the new arrange ment would have no other connection than with the Southern.
 The New York dispatches, not satisfied win completely staggering the railroad men with the magnitude of the Southern Louisville and Nashville deal hint that the sale of the Choctaw Is merely part of a scheme more gigantic. and that II was purchased to give the Southern and the Rock Island a connecting line so that they could enter into close traffic arrangements and form combination that would even stand a comparison With inc Northern Securities Company.
 Mir s. F. Holt. chief local inspector of the Southern Weighing and Inspection Bureau left last night for Mobile. where he accents the same position in that city. MT. J. 1T. Marion. Chief Inspector of the bureau in Mobile. will take MT. HoIt's place in Montgomery.
 General Manager Evans of the Louis vile and Nashville passed through the rItv last night en route to Louisville.
 The Harvard ohser$atory has received an anonymous gift of S2caooo half of which will be applied to the enlargement of the present building in order to provide for a proper ar ranzement of the loo. 900 photographs of the -.sl La.- he