The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1902-09-18
MERGER IN EAST
PENNSYLVANIA cYSTEM AND THE
VANDERBILT INTERESTS DI.
VIDE TERRITORY.
ALL -.....7cTITlON KILLED

Combination Controls Capitalization
of 100000 900 and Has Thirty
Thousand Miles of Railroads. in
Absolute Control Of the Transporta.
ton Facilities of Large Section Of
the Country.
Cleveland, Sept. 15.-The Leader
prints the following:
A financial alliance has been formed
by the two great factors in the Eastern
railroad field, the Vanderbilt interests
and those of the Pennsylvania system.
The working agreement has been close
in the past, but it has never come te
an audacious allotment of territory
and division of property between two
big houses such as the new arrange
ment entails.
The new combination grew out of a
competitive movement of several
months ago. The two big interests
were mutually interested in the btu
minous coal fields and in the hard coal
fields as we'll. The Pennsylvania sys-
TEN predominated in the former and
the Vanderbilts in the latter. By an
understanding the Vanderbiits yielded
the soft coal fields to = Pennsylvania
in return for simila4 )ncCssion on
the hard coal from tae = ennsylvania.
The Eastern field was threatened by
an invasion. ieSst by the Goulds and
later by the Grand Trunk railroad,
and these big financial interests want
ed to preserve the territory for them
selves and the ties that had been
formed by the coal deal were
strengthened in the endeavor to pro-
tect the Eastern field. The interests
of the two big houses were growing
gradually. together and soon resulted
in an understanding such as has'been
now reached. = &C.
A short time ago-just before w. K.
Vanderbilt went abroad-Mr. Cassatt,
the president of the Pennsylvania rail.
road, went to New York to call upon
him. This is the meeting of which so
much was conjectured at the time, but
so little known definitely. At that
time it was agreed to form an offensive
and defensive alliance in the East to
Completely Control the Situation
and exclude all others from that field
except the favored members of the al
lance.
The combination of interests makes
one of the biggest deals that has ever
been seen. To consider the vested
rights of the two big houses east of
Chicago, to say nothing of their prop
erty west of that point, gives them :.
capitalization of over $4,000, 100000
and mileage of over 10000.
The organization promises to be the
most domineering that has ever been
formed. 1t will absolutely control the
transportation facilities in the terri.
tory between Chicago and st. Louis,
the Great Lakes and the Ohio river and
the Canadian boundary and the Poto.
mac river. through to the Atlantic
coast. In that territory they will leg
islate rates and conditions and do
about as they please, subject only to
the interference of the interstate COM
merce commission, and it is their aim
to block the progress of every other
road which tries to invade that terri
tory. They are not content with the
establishment of supervision and
oversight of transportation facilities
of that territory but also control the
coal mines, many of the steel mills,
and all of the elevators for the export
and transshipment of grain. The roads
included in the combination are the
New York Central, Pennsylvania, Bal.
timore and Ohio, Chesapeake and Ohio,
Norfolk and Western, Philadelphia
and Reading, Lake Shore, Big Four,
Michigan Central, Nickel Plate, Bos-
ton and Albany, Baltimore and Ohio
Southwestern, Pere Marquette, Hook.
ing Valley and Lake Erie and Western.