The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-12-10
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From the Chicaso chronicle: : ) p s 5A$z1
j. by the incorporation in Trenton, N.
r, OF the Chicago Subway company,y1
with a capital stock Of $50, 100000, a
group Ct men most powerful in finance
gains control Of the tunnels which have
been dug underline streets Of Chicago
and will enlarge the scope of the |
work 80 that the little bores designed"
originally for the wires of a telephone,
company, will become the receiving I
and distributing arteries of every great /
railroad system entering Chicago
The incorporators of the new COM
pany are clerks of the Corporation |
Trust company of Jersey City, but |
they are mere lay figures behind which |
the Intentions Of the capitalists are I
masked. I
The New Jersey corporation is the |
successor of the Illinois Tunnel COM |
pany. Sixty three and a. third per
cent Of the stock Of the Illinois Tun-
mel company has been acquired by the |
Chicago Subway company.
The transfer means the entrance Of
the thirty-fye railways which con-
verge at Chicago into the heart Of the
city: means the grasp Of the railways
freight Of the city; means distribution
by the railways of merchandise to the
easements Of the up-to-date sky
scrapers and the manufacturing plants
of Chicago; means relief for the en-
| barrassed terminals of great systems,
| which now are only able to connect
| through crowded streets by primitive
wheeled vehicles drawn by horses.
| Powerful Men In Control.
| The control newly acquired of the
subways under Chicago now rests in
men of enormous capitalistic strength.
-Four can be named and what they
stand for Is even more than their indi-
! vidual strength. These men will en-
| ter the directory of the new corpora
| ton:
James Stillman, president of the
City National bank of New York, in
f1uential In the control Of many great
eastern and western railway systems.
| Jacob II. Schiff, Of New York, a
member of the firm of Kohn, Loeb &
Co., one of the great factors In high
finance.
Edward H. Hartman, who controls
the Union Pacific, the Southern Pa
cific and is supposed to control the
| Chicago & Alton.
P. A. Valentine, member of the
firm Of Armour & CO.
The men behind the new corporation
control directly or indirectly at least
10 per cent of the steam railways hav-
! thirty-f1ve great systems entering
y in Chicago have combined to settle at
a. stroke the great problem of how to
: get around, through and under Chi
cago, and how to distribute and gather
, the immense freight consigned to and
, drawn from the city.
Strong Hands at the Helm.
President Albert G. Wheeler of the
Illinois Tunnel company said yester-
day: 1.-The transfer will place the
tunnel property in strong hands anc
tie officers will be practical railway
, ! men. 1t has been the desire of the
men who financed the tunnel project
to put it into operation and extend its
use as swiftly as possible. 1t seemed
: wise to them to make the transfer tt
4 the new corporation representing the
: great railway systems entering Chi
e cago because it would insure the i'm
: mediate transfer Of their tonnage tt
the underground system.
But. Of greater importance to tn
citizens Of the city Of Chicago is tn
e fact that by the immediate extension
r, Of the freight-haddling system tn
n merchants Of the city will be placed il
il ! a position whereby the cost of cartag
~ will be. reduced, time will be save
: and sour merchants will be able to com
iii pete with the merchants Of other, cen
ez tiers, who BIZ he loss Of tin: tim
lsfreight ongestio On Chicag o.GsS haV
- been liable TO- nderbid@7 in - many gin
le. stances ~: ~ .: *: -. = =:
'e .::, Great Tonnage Possible.
n :"At present We are handling 2,QO
n tons of freight through these tunnel
~ every day, but it is all dirt from me-
- downtown buildings. In thirty day
more we shall be delivering concret
- already mixed, to new buildings.
j. "The transfer will not interfere wit
l. the plans and undertakings of the II
al linois Tunnel company. The. tele
IS phone interests will be conserved an
y, the subways still serve to carry tn
:, wires, to transport local freight fro1
- building to building, as well as to al
It ford the great railway systems cor
is nectiOn across town."
at Wheeler to Retain Post.
The reorganization of the subway
as vested in the new corporation wi
take place in a few days. Albert c
Wheeler, president of the Illinois Tu1
mel company, the man whose energ
, has built the tunnels, retains his pres
ent interest and will be put In chare
by the new corporation. -
IN Jacob H. Schiff, with company
g. European financiers, was In the eli
Of Chicago yesterday. Sir Ernest Ca
49, sell, the directing factor Of the Londt
i'll *'tuppenny tube" one Of the leadi1
f1nanciers of England, and Sir Robe
ed Fleming, financially powerful En-
lish banker, were members OF
er. Schiff's party. They: all made an Il
~ spection Of the tunnels. The part
representing; European Investments
American railways, is on a tour Of 1
spection through the west.
THE AMAz0N's LONG CABLE.
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