The Topeka state journal., 1911-09-25
Rock Island and Burlington Will
Fight Back in Rate War.
Promise No Little Excitement
in Coast Trouble.
1T is AN OLD RIVALRY.
Hartman and Hill Lines New
Battlefield.
Other Items of General Interest
in Traffic World.

Omaha, Sept. 25.-The old rivalry
between the Hill and Hartman rail-
road systems between the Missouri
river and the Pacific coast has brolx-
en- out afresh and Harrimans South
ern Pacific has just dealt Hills Bur
ilngton line staggering blow by cut
ting the latter line off from all San
francisco and California traffic Con-
dltlons are such that neither the in
terSCate commerce commission nor the
Ieoeral courts can interfere in the
1!ght and from appearances the rival
lneS Will be permitted to settle the af-
Ialr IN their own way. And this time
the tight is being Waged on the rails.
not in the stock market The entire
trans Mississippi country is the bat
1ASL1eld instead OF the narrow confines
or wan and Broad streets.
Despite the fact that this is the most
titanic struggle the western railr "a d
world has known for rs years it is
Delng Waged so silently that the pub
lie is scarcely aware that the big riva Is;
are no longer standing together and
working harmOniously, as they have
don Elm the past decade. The cause of
the fight is the ownership of a simple
$z-oO on each ticket sold by the east
ern lines to the Pacific coast, but the
effect produced is tremendous And
4 still greater effects are promised by
the generals in command of the cam
paign.
The situation is complicated by the
Iacr that Hill, in the fight, has the as
Slstance of the big Rock Island rail-
road, which is in a position similar to
burlington, while Western Pacific, the
new Gould road to the Pacific, is aid
ing Southern Pacific Union Pacific.
main trunk of the Hartman system. is.
in the present fracas, only a '1ooker
on and bystander, and is taking no
part in the struggle. However, the lat
ter road is reapfng a golden harvest
W In nf6
themselves.
The trouble begun brewing a year
ago when the interstate commerce
commission ordered Southern Pacific
ana other roads to reduce fare from
ogden to the Pacific coast from $50
to $50, but did not order a reduction
of the through fare from Missouri
river points to the coast. At that
time, and for 10 years previous there
to, through cars had been operated
over Burlington and Rock Island lines
as far as Denver, thence over Rio
Grande to Ogden, where they We're
turned over to South Pacific for the
haul to the coast At that time tho
roads east and west of Ogden simply
cut the rate in two parts, each taking
an equal portion. When the interstate
commerce commissions new rate was
ordered, Southern Pacific demanded
that the eastern lines continue to ac-
cept the same proportion as formerly
accepted, but both Burlington and
Rock Island lines refused and de-
manded higher percentage of the
cost of the ticket.
For almost twelve months the traf-
fic officials of the different systems
involved have been seeking an ad-
justment, but last week a crisis was
reached and Southern Pacific notified
both Burlington and Rock Island sys-
TENS that the cars formerly operated
over those roads would no longer be
accepted from them, and that in fu-
ture all this traffic would be handed
over to Union Pacific, which had
made no demands for an increased d
percentage of the receipts.
Accordingly, both Burlington and
Rock Island have been forced to dis
continue all through cars to California
via Denver. and Salt Lake and the
great traffic once enjoyed by these
roads is now being hauled by Union
Pacific. The two systems which have
found their coast business practically
ruined by the arbitrary action of
Southern Pacific have not vet found a
way to "come back at the latter line.
but are promising that their next
move will make the Hartman people
sit up and take notice.
Both Burlington and Rock Island
claim that, in as much as these
through car routes had been in exis-
tence 20 years, they were entitled to
more than the eight days notice
which was given them before their
them and given to another road.