The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1910-05-27
Of VITAL IMPORT
To BUSINESS
CONTINUED nom nrst page.j

lines lie. AS the Chesapeake G Ohio
is the larger factor in the advantage
for Columbus now at stake, It is
proper to call attention to these facts
particularly:
"That through a large part of the
territory 1t already trayerses it has
a monopoly of railroad traffic. That,
nevertheless, II is held in the highest
favor by the people Of that territory.
That It has maintained a local pas
senger service in that territory far
more generous than the receipts war
ranted That fewer accidents have
occurred on its lines than upon al
most any other in the United States.
That its rolling stock has been main
tanned at the highest stage OF eff.
cheney. That It has kept out of poll
tics. That It has given financial aid
to settlers along its line and to farm
ers already established there who
sought to improve their holdings.
That, in short, it has been managed
as a railroad intelligent enough TO
perceive that its future was bound up
in the prosperity of its territory and
in maintaining relations of honest
and busipess-like fairness with the
people of that territory.
"On the announcement of the pur.
chase by this system of the Hooking
Valley, this newspaper undertook to
learn the plans of the Chesapeake &
Ohio as far as they might affect Co
lumbus and the state. The disclosure
of those plans was not made at that
time for publication. It is, however,
not improper to state now that they
provided for the retention in Colum-
bus of the operating offices of the
Hooking Valley, for the enlargement
of the local Hooking Valley shops,
for the establishment of Columbus as
the main point between the termini
of the trunk line, for the double
tracking of the Hooking Valley, for
the construction of direct lines to Co
lumbus from the mines near Ash
land, Ky, and Huntington, w. Va,
and for direct connections to Charles.
ton, s. o. The commercial import.
ance of such plans will be manifest
to every business man in Columbus.
These plans are now all suspend.
ed. The delay may not be greater
than a month. 1t may extend through
several years. The purpose of this
editorial is to point out to the people !
of Columbus and the state that the
interruption of these plans will be
costly to all the property holders f,
along the lines of the Hooking Val |
ley and the Toledo & Ohio Central, |
that such cost is out of all proportion |
to any possible danger involved to |
any stockholder in either of the |
smaller roads, and that the force Of |
public opinion should be directed to |
make the delay as short as possible. |
"The interruption has come in the |
form of suit on behalf of 24O shares
in the Hooking Valley road out of |
100000 shares and of 900 shares out |
of 10000 in the K G. NJ railway. 1t |
has been urged in court and not de-
MED that these shares were acquired |
for the chief purpose of throwing the
whole transaction into litigation.
That may or may not be true. But
these things are unquestiOnably true:
THAT the purchase of those LAO
shares out of 350,OOO has been put to
that use; that it has not even been
that either of the two great
railroad systems threatened the hold
ers of these minority interests with
any depreciation of value in their
holdings; and that the ground upon
which the action at law has been
based has been chiefly that someone
might some time charge that the
merger was a violation of the anti
trust laws and so make the holders
Of these 140 shares liable for dam
ages.
"This newspaper does not PREJUDICE
The cases now on trial. It does not