The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-06-03
Orr ON 4 DIVORCE
AtchtsOn Attorney Digging
Into Southern Pacific Case.
Interesting History of Old Rail-
way Manipulation.

James w. Orr Of Atchison, special
assistant to the attorney general OF the
United States. appointed to look after
the governments interest in the South
ern Pacific case, is putting in most nf
his time digging into old records in
search Of additional information which
has bearing on the controversy.
1t is one Of the most interesting
cases with which have ever been con-
nected," Mr.. Orr said to g. reporter for
the State Journal who saw him in Chi
cago last week. 1.-The suit is to divorce
the Southern Pacific railway from the
Central Pacific, on the ground, as al
legged by the government. that they are
competitive properties. and that their
operation by the Southern Pacific con-
stitutes combination in restraint of
interstate and foreign trade. The lines
OF the two companies are known as the
Sunset Route.
Historically, the facts are that prior
to 1862. great many propositions were
made to congress for a railroad from
the Missouri river to the Pacific coast,
eliminating in the act Of 1862 whereby
the Union Pacific, the Central Pacific
and the Western Pacific compa MES
were chartered, all authorized to build
from Omaha to San Francisco. The
Union Pacific built from Omaha to Og-
den. the Central Pacific from Ogden to
Sacramento, and the Western Pacific
sacramento TO san FRANCISCO. In
1870 the Central Pacific and Western
Pacific formed a combination which
held till 1899 when the Central Pacific
bought the property of the Western
Pacific with some affiliated short lines.
River to Pacific Coast.
by the terms of the acts of 1862 and
1864, and subsequent acts of congress,
it was provided that the Union Pacific,
Central Pacific and Western Pacific
were to be operated as a connected,
continuous line from the Missouri river
to San Francisco without prejudice to
either of the constituent lines, and the
companies were given a rich land grant,
and bonds of from $4,000 to $4,000 a
mile, for construction. About the time
of the completion of the line Leland
Stanford, G. P. Huntington. Mark
Hopkins and a man named Croker,
who controlled the Central Pacific, and
owned the construction company which
built the Central Pacific, organized the
Southern Pacific for a rail line south
from San Francisco to Los Angeles,
thence to New Orleans. and to New
York by water, which finally was ac-
complished.
can investigation by congress result
ed in Stanford and his associates dis
posing Of much of their Central Pacific
stock. but they retained control of the
property. AS rapidly as the Southern
Pacific was constructed, the mileage
was leased to the Central Pacific at
rentals sufficient to pay interest on the
Southern Pacific bonds and dividends
on the stock. In 1885. when the South
ern Pacific was chartered in Kentucky,
the lease and equipment of the Central
Pacific were transferred to the South
ern Pacific, which company took a 80
year lease on the Central Pacific lines.
The Southern Pacific has ever since
operated both its lines and those Of the
Central Pacific.
1.-The Hartman. interests, 1T will be
remembered, effected a consolidation
between the Union Pacific and the
Southern Pacific but in 1913 the United
States supreme court dissolved the re-
latfonship between the two lines on the
ground that they were competing prop
critics, and now the government asks
that the relationship between the
Southern Pacific land Central Pacific
be dissolved on the same ground"