The Semi-weekly leader. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1905-1941, 1906-11-10
President Fish to Walk the Plank.

| ssSSsSSMe sSh W WUsh sttS bubtns
At the meeting of the board of
directors of the Illinois Central in
New York on Wednesday, J. L.
Harahan was elected President of
the road by vote of s to nothing,
Mr.. Fish and three other mem
bers of the board present not vot-
ing. No other change of officers
was made.
At the October struggle be-
tween President Fish and the
Standard Oil Hartman billion dol
lar combine, there was a report
that J. I. Harahan had been Sc
duced from the former with the
promise of the presidency. He
was quoted as denying it with
resentment. 1t is now shown to
have been true all the same.
And at the directors meeting in
New York tomorrow, Mr.. Fish is
to be retired and succeeded by
Mr.. Harahan. There is said to
have been "a dramatic scene" be-
tween the two when the Harahan
candidacy was avowed. What
ever may be the opinion of what
appears as an act of bad faith,
the outcome is according to the
rule. In the strife for control
and precedence in the big corpo-
rations of the times, the motto is
every man for himself, and the
devil take the hindmost.
On more than one account the
swallowing up of the chief road in
Mississippi by one of the great
transcontinental Anacondas is to
be looked on with disfavor. One
train of regret is indicated in the
following from a lengthy Times
Democrat special:
Fort Wayne, Ind, Nov. f.
| (On Board the Pennsylvania Spe-
cial, Nov. 4)-Betrayed by some
friends, and apparently hopelessly
beaten in his spectacular fight to
prevent the Illinois Central Rail
way from falling into the grasp of
Edward H. Hartman, President
Stuyvesant Fish is speeding to
New York, grittily refusing to
show the white feather. .
Mr.. Fish was then asked what be
thought the real purpose was in
Mr.. Harriman's struggle for the
property. He turned to his law
yer and said: ASK him."
Mr.. Dill replied: ''Do you re-
member that Mr.. Fish was a di-
rector in the Nicaraugan Canal,
and that he has always been in
favor of the Panama Canal
What is the main gateway of this
country for imports of China and
Japan and the Orient? Is it not
San Francisco? And does not the
Hartman system lead from San
Francisco east across the CONT
nent? When the canal is dug, did
you ever stop to think what a tre-
mendous feeder it will be for the
north and south lines! The Him
ois Central is the shortest north
and-south line from New Orleans
to the great lakes. With the
greater water haul to the Gulf
ports through the Panama Canal,
the water haul being much cheap
er than the land transportation,
and with a thousand mile haul by
rail from the Gulf ports, as
against two thousand mile haul
from San Francisco across two
mountain ranges and a rate from
New Orleans to Chicago of one.
third of that from San Francisco
to Chicago, what will be done
with the transcontinental lines
when the Panama Canal is opened
This is what Fish desires ano
what Hartman fears"
"HOw do you account for the
precipitous haste which Mr.. Har
riman is exhibiting in the matter
What is the Immediate motive"g
"We would like to know. We
are Offering $4,000 for brilliant
ideas on that very point. L
you've got any you can cash righ
here on this train"
Much significance is attached
by the Fish interest in the visit O
Mr.. Harahan to New York, las
week. Prior to that time, it il
stated, Hartman had a plan tt
put an outside man in Charge Q
the property. This plan is SAT-
to have been changed while Mr.
Hartman was in New York. :
Vicksburg Herald, 9th.