The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-10-24
WASHINGTON
From our Regular Correspondent.


Commission in the fight between
Fish and Hartman for the control
of the Illinois Central railroad than
is usually displayed over an ordina-
ry court case or even a railroad
court case. The situation is this.
Mr.. Hartman on his own behalf
and in the interests of the Southern
Pacific Railroad, which he domi-
mated, bought over 600, 900 shares
of stock in the Illinois Central OF
which Mr.. Fish was a director.
When it suited the Hartman pur-
pose Mr.. Fish was legislated out of
Office. There have been various
charges and recriminations between
the two parties. T, is charged by
the Fish adherepts that the Harri-
man interests wasted the money of
the Illinois Central and that they
cut it down from its position as a
competing road 10 O mere feeder
for the Hartman system. Now
that the annual election has come
around again, the Fish interests
have enjoined Hartman from vot-
ing the Southern PaGifc block of
stock. 1t has been held by the
courts, by the President and by
the Interstate Commerce Comnis-
sion that it Is against public policy
for a road to be able to buy con-
trolling interest i'll competing
line. The natural tendency of this
would be to group aiI roads under
one management and eliminate
competition altogether. This is
avowedly Mr.. Hartman aim. If
the Fish interests win in the pres
ent fight ior the conlro, of the Ili-
nois Central, 1t will have a far
reaching effeC, on a number of the
large railroad systems that have
bought up smaller roads and either
used them as feeders or eliminated
them from competition altogether.
If Mr.. Hartman is blocked in his
scheme of railroad absorption, it
will tend to break up many of the
great railroad systems into small
competing sections. This theoreti-
cally will be good for the slipper
and should tend to reduce freights
through competition, but it will
not tend to economy OF operation.
If on the other hand Mr.. Harri-
man wins, it will rapidly tend to
place all the railroads under sim
gle management and this in turn is
likely to bring demand from the
public for closer governmental con-
troll if not for actual government
ownership. However the fight
comes out, it is likely to prove a
turning point in the transportation
development OF the United States.
As such it is being watched by the
government with the greatest inter-
est.
T,.M
A report has just been issued by |
the soil bureau of the Department
of Agriculture, showing that the
bureau has finished mapping and
classifying about IS, 500 square
miles of the soil of the United
States. This is 4 per cent. of the
available farming area. The work
of the bureau at first sight seems
rather empirical, but it has very
practical side. The soils of the
different sections are studied and
classified SO that it is possible to |
tell al glance from the soil map
what sections of the country are
available for certain crops and
where new varieties can be profta-
bly, introduced. When the work is |
completed, there will be available
as complete fertility map of the
country as there is now a geologi- |
cal map.
Along with the soil mapping, it |
IS interesting to note that the work |
of the Agricultural Department
with nitro-cultures is going on qui-
etly and benefcially. There was a |
great deal in the papers year and
a half ago about nitro-cultures and
how they would increase the fertil- |
ity of the soil SO that carnations
and cabbages could be grown on a |
brick pile. All this was yellow
paper exaggeration and did good
deal of harm to a legitimate branch
of practical scientific work. The
nitro-cultures were good for just
one class of crops, the legumes,
that is to say, peas, beans and all
the lentils. There was a great deal
of trouble in getting the cultures
put up in such form that they
could be sent through the mails
and retain their vitality. But this
had been done by the Use of an air
tight glass tube. The bureau has
oa,,t o,t taue ne +1,n,co,Jc &C %.:oI