The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-10-25
To Pool Ocean TraHc.

4 well informed shipping correspon- dent makes an interesting communi- cation with reference to the proposal of Herr BalIin, head of the Hamburg American Line, to pool the North At- lantie traffic.
 The great Atlantic shipping compa- nies are face to face with hard times. due mainly to the practical disappear ance of the European emigrant. the backbone of their business. Cabin traffic has not heen at all bad, but cabin traffic alone does not pay. It is the masses rather than the classes who yield the revenue.
 The financial panic in United States has cost the steamship lines dear, and more especially those which laid down extensive shipbuilding programs in the belief that the volume of Atlantic trav- ell could never shrink. Then the Ham burg American and Norddeutscher- Lloyd companies have far more steam ships than they can profitably employ.
 Confronting them is the prospect of the delivery of new tonnage which they have to pay. None of the Eng- fish companies is in this position.
 Herr Ballin. tile master mind of Ger. man shipping, has prepared a scheme, which, in his opinion, will favorably meet the situation. He proposes what is nothing more or less than work ing agreement between the White Star, Cunard, American, Norddeutsche er- Lloyd and Hamburg American lines, whereby they shall regulate both their sailing and their shipbuilding pro- grams and contribute to a fund for the breaking up of their older and slower boats.
 The prospects of saving of $12, 2,50O,- 900 a year to the companies by some such scheme Is dangled before their eyes. Moreover. the reconstruction of the North Atlantic conference. which broke up during the recent rate war, has provided a base for a further working agreement. If the minimum rates chargeable by each boat of each of the North Atlantic companies can be graded. 1t will not be impossible to arrange a reduced sailing plan, regulated shipbuilding program, and sort of levy to pay for the selling at breaking-up prices of tho older and slower tonnage.
 Ballins scheme was brought to the attention of the companies concerned two months ago but 1t is still in embryo.
 Railway Crisis Imminent.
 4 new railway crisis is imminent. owing to what the railwaymen con- slider the unjust interpretation of the agreement made with the companies last November. It is claimed that as far as the men are concerned the agreement, in view of/recent develop ments, Is little better than a farce. The immediate cause of the trouble Is the dismissal of 109 guards of the Midland Railway during September.
 MT. Richard Bell, M. F., the secre- tary of the mems union, has written to the Board of Trade declaring that certain actions of the Midland Com pany are direct violation of the agreement, and that the men must be liberated from 1t as much as the com- panies MT. Bell sent 10 the newspa- pers copies of letters which he has for- warded to Sir Ernest Paget, chairman of the Midland Railway. and the Board of Trade. alleging that the dismissals are regarded as acts of intimidation. and SAmanding, on the part of the Board of Trade, immediate Inquiry into the real facts of the case.
 Mir. Bell declared in a speech at Derby that 1t Is the function of the State to remind these great corpora lions of the serious nature of projects Tor stopping a fall in dividends by bringing starvation to thousand Of men, women and children. The scheme Df the great combine between the rail- way companies is proceeding stage by stage. Following the pooling arrange ments of companies engaged in the Scottish and Irish traffic comes one for regulating the running OG trains be- tween Plymouth and London.
 A cessation of the competition for the passenger traf4c between the Southwestern and the Great Western Railways may be expected shortly. An end is to be put to the duplication of trains on the two routes. Up to the present time there has been the keen est rivalry between. the two lines for the heavy traffic between London and the great naval port. The practical effect will be a train service free from duplication on the Great Western and Southwestern routes.
 Said a prominent railroad man the