The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-11-13

Railway Trade Journals DeplOre
Illinois Central SquabbIe.
Believe Display OF Greed and
Power Inadvisable at This Time.
SET PEOPLE THINKING.
May Precipitate Legislation Not
Desired BY Railway Managers.
Gossip and Matters of Interest
in Railroad Circles.
SET PEOPLE THINKING.
The Railway Age says editoriaIly:


meeting of the directors was called
for Wednesday. There ensued three
days of excited newspaper, comment
and prophecy, and at the appointed
time Mr. j. T. Harahan was elected
TO succeed Mr.. StuyyeSant Fish as
president of the company Thus the
Illinois Central railroad is supposed to
be added to the already great Harri-
man system.
We consider this an unfortunate
event. It was SO spectacular and has
attracted so much attention in a sea-
son of political unrest that we fear it
is fraught with possibilities for harm .
to railway and large corporate inter
ests. We say this, not merely because
We are sorry to see Mr. Fish sum- |
marily deposed from a position which 1
he has SO we'll and faithfully filled for |
many years. the wishes or the for
tunes of one man count for little in the I
affairs of. Institutions. M because we |
have any doubt that Mr. Harahan is |
amply qualified to administer success
fully the great trust placed in his /
care; his quality is esta blished; he |
needs neither econOmium nor defense.
Not because there is any danger that |
under a Hartman regime; the Illinois |
Central will be despoiled or inefficient |
ly managed; Hartman roads are al
ways good roads, serving the public |
cheaply and WELL and Hartman
stockholders receive large profits. We
believe It to be- unfortunate because
the public mind at this juncture.
| CommendabIe and defensible as it may
eventually prove to be in the matter
] OF efficiency and profits, the voters
and the legislators of the country are
/ likely to look upon 1t as an addition to
1 those manifestations of personal am
billions for great business accomplish.
ment. and of ability of large interests
to do big things just because they have
the will and the power to do them
manifestations which the demagogue
uses to heat the yellow mob to frenzy.
and which cause many sane and hon
est men to pause in wonder and mis-
| giving. 1t is possible for even bene-
hcent industrial movements to go too
fast. It is not always best to be in
advance of the times.
The ordinary man will not believe
that there was an urgent physical or
economic demand for the absorption
| of the Illinois Central into the Harri-
man system. We Will admit that EIar-
i riFnan constructive and a administrative
methods applied 70 thes illinois, Cen
i tral, may worlx- improvements and iesE-s
/ pansion and economies No one. can
gainsay the wonderful success that
has attended Mr.. Harrirnan's work as
a developer and upbuilder OF his rail-
ways But in the public view the Hi
nois Central was doing very well as it
was. It was not IN financial straits,
nor was it a monument of lax and in
efficient administration. There was
some hope for even that Omaha ex-
tension about the building of which
some pusiIlanimous nonsense has ap-
peared in the daily press. The Illinois
Central was not crying out for a re-
deemer. On the other hand, it was
not needed to save the Union Pacific
from peril or distress. The Hartman
properties also have been doing fairly
we'll; they are not bottled up, and
they enjoy reasonably promising
traffic prospects. furthermore the
! from the great north and south line in
connection with the Panama canal
was not very dark.
OF the personal differences between
Mr.. Fish and Mr.. Hartman, which
started this trouble, the public will
probably never be fully advised. The
paIpabe fact which no amount of soph-
istry can remove is that Mr. Fish en-
deavored to maintain. for the Illinois
Central, the Independent position which
it has held. The road was big enough
to stand alone. Its large traffic, it's ex-
cellent credit, and the condition of its
treasury, all were powerful arguments
in support of this view Mr.. Hartman
was credited with desire to bring
the property more directly within his
81 sphere of influence. The issue was
simply and clearly whether or not the
Illinois Central should be known and
administered as a Hartman property.
On that issue Mr. Fish was beaten and
power, and a disposition to punish and
humiliate a man highly esteemed, thai
it is good in these days for the public to
see.
Purely as a matter of public policy,
there is a point beyond which it is not
wise that consolidation and amalgama-
: ton of railways should go. 1t is best
that there should be some Independent
railways and the Illinois Central is ad-
mirably situated to be one of them.
, faoJ 4 In, FOO
much bigness. Whatever may be the
advantages in some respects-and it Is
J easy for an ambitious man to mistake
his personal aspirations for economic
sanction-there are pronounced disad-
vantages of a public and political ma
ture that more than offset them when
consolidation and an1algamation go too
far. It is futile to say that the people
: do not understand, that they cry be-
fore thew are hurt. that their OppOsi-
ton is wrong-headed or malicious. The
facts are that they are afraid and that
men cannot be quoted by telling them
2 they are fools. It would be well for
. J some of our great men to spend more
time in studying human nature and the
history Of politics. AS matters now
stand at time when we most need
careful attention from great business
> men to the mental condition OF the
Y body polite, many Of them are treating
9 that condition with the greatest dis
regard. some u OAA SAOAtSSe PA~~ ti~e
i individualists are our greatest poten-
0 tial socialists. Some Of the deadliesi
: ammunition in the hands Of the enc
;. mics Of social order has been placed
u there by some of our captains Of in
dustry.
The Railway Gazette says:
- S.uyvesant Fish is no longer presi
. dent Of the Illinois Central railroad 4
a a meeting of the board held in Ney
York city on November 7, his long an
S44oeessf1lI service in. that position wa
:. brought to an end by the votes Of eign
+ of the Is directors the vice president 2
:. charge of operation. being elected 1
: succeed him. The reason for his as