The Washington times., 1913-08-30
CONGRESS ENTERS
INTO FREIGHT WAR

City which on through traffic is virtual
ly part of the port Of Galveston. The
acquisition of this line was preceded by
severe rate war.
The principal local lines on Chesapeake
bay and its numerous tributaries are
owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company. through railroad subsidiaries.
while the three through lines between
Baltimore and Norfolk are also under
railroad control.
Again, nearly all the important an
thracite coal fleets engaged ins the North
Atlantic coastwise trade are owned by
the few great anthracite railroads.
Comment On Monopoly.
Commenting on the extent andscha
acter of this railroad monopoly of wa
ter traffic, the commissioner of cor
porations says:>
Considering only water lines directly
operated, or In which railroads own a
majority of. the stock and excluding
twenty railroads control steam vessels
engaged exclusively In domestic trade
OF approximately $4,000 gross tonnage
and line barges. with about 10000 gross
tons. or grand total of $4,000 gross
tons. The6 tonnage of the New Haven
system is the largest, aggregatng a hit
tie over 100000 gross tons, of which
155,5OO tons Is in steam vessels and
fo,0UU TONS IN DdTBeS ana MISCELLANEOUS
craft. Next in Importance Is the Union
Pacific-Southern Pacific, with a grand
total excluding tonnage = engaged in
foreign trade) of over 10000 gross tons.
The Pennsylvania Railroad CompaHy's
water lines have $500 gross tons in
! New. York Central, over 5000 gross
tons; the Central of Georgia Railway,
over 4oooo gross tons.
THE total capitalization of water
Hr-o 1AI 4 . u fC
not covering holding companies and
several important uninco-porated serv-
ices) aggregates SIS, 33e. .S75 in stock and
81, ,26S,SS IN bonded debt OF the stock
$40, %. 500 and of the bonds sl9sAl, 1a arc
owned by eighteen railroads or their
subsidiaries. In most instances rail-
roads own practically all the stock of
tie separately Incorporated water lines
which they control. Important excep-
ticns are the Pacific Mail, in which the
one-half the $50. .000.0 900 stock. and the
Merchants and Miners Transportation
Company, in which the New York, New
Haven and hartford Railroad owns
only a bare majority interest. dn-
stances where railroads own stock IN
water line, but less than a majority in
terest, are comparatively few.
.Of the regular line traffic on the At
lantic and Gulf coasts not controlled by
stated, is controlled by two important
consultations. the Atlantic, Gulf and
West Indies Steamship Lines and the
Eastern Steamship Corporation. With
few exceptions the constituent compa-
Eies of these consultations had been
subsidiaries of an earlier merger, the
Consolidated Steamship Lines, which
eellapsed shortly after its formation in
1901"
The commissioner of corporations
foresaw exactly such conditions as
have arisen in Washington and Bal
timore. He learned that control of
ship lines was wanted in order to
suppress competition. suppressing
competition of this kind is the pre-
liminary 10 raising rates; and that is
what has been done to Washington
and Baltimore. EOn this point the
commissioner reported:
in acquiring their extensive control
over domestic water carriers railroads
have had in general three purposes;
First, to eliminate the competition of
water carriers; second, to obtain an
entrance into territory not open to
their rail lines: and, third, to secure
valuable feeders, mainly local lines.
"In the case of the New Haven sys-
tenn all these purposes are apparent
For some time past the New Haven
system has pursued a determined pol
icy of suppressing any effective COM
petition on Long Island Sound; sew
eral, at least, of its recent acquisi-
tions must be regarded as due to this
policy. On the other hand. some of its
earlier acquisitions came about large
ly as an incident to the merger of
different railroad properties into the
present system Control of the Mer-
chants & Miners Transportation Co. /
is claimed by New Haven interests to
have been sought in order to secure
direct access to Southern territory;
however, elimination Of competition
was also an important factor"
eNw Havens Interest
The present vessel interests of the
New Haven system embrace the New
England Steamship Company, the
Hartford and New York Transporta-
ton Company, and the New Bedford,
Martha's Vineyard. and Nantucket
Steamboat Company, all operating on
Long Island sound and adjacent wa
tiers and controlled through the New