Year: 1876

The Railroad War.


With reviving business and returning con-
fdence commercial questions become more
important than the discussions forced upon
the country by the politicians In the grand
revival of trade there must be no uncertainty
as to the position of New York. Whatever
\she has lost by neglectirg to provide the
necessary facilities and offer the proper en-
couragements, by the apathy and self-conf-
dence of her merchants by the selfshness
and temporary greed of her railroad mana
gers, ought now to be regained and retained.


While Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston
have done all that they could to increase
their trade, and their municipal authorities
and business men and railways have acted
in harmony and concert to this end, New
York has relied upon her prestige and un-
equalled natural advantages alone. This
was safe enough so long as our financial and
shipping facilities commanded the traffic;
but now rival seaports have steamship lines
connecting directly with their railroads,
they are free from the onerous harbor ex-
penses incurred here, and they possess supe-
rior terminal facilities for the cheap hand
ling of produce. Under these circumstances
a few cents hundred turns trade away
from u.s. The combinations of the trunk
lines prior to last winter, while fixing re-
munerative rates for themselves, always
conceded less price to Boston, Philadel-
phia and Baltimore than to New York.
Last fall we felt and saw the disastrous ef-
racko nf 11y hat
mercantile bodies protested against the dis
elimination in favor Of Boston, and unani-
mously declared to our railroad companies
that unless stopped both our business and
business houses would 60 to Boston. The
New York members of the combination ad-
mitted the force and justice of the demand
and partially remedied the difficulty. But
we had already permanently lost the hand
ling of many staples. In March last it was
found that the usual five cents hundred
concession to other ports was denuding
us of the grain trade. The vast COM
merce in the cereals of the West
from the opening of the Erie Canal had
been the main source Of our supremacy
and prosperity, and yet our rivals had so far
progressed that by this discrimination we
temporarily lost almost the whole Of it. Mr..
Vanderbilt then saw that the prosperity Of
New York and of the New York Central Rail-
road were identical. The growth of the
one was increased traffic for the other.
He declared the time had come to
discard mileage as an element of charge,
and to establish the just and equitable rule
of equal rates to the seaboard. The effect
upon our trade and the volume of business
by the New York Central to this port was in
stantaneous and immense. The other lines
Immediately began to reduce rates to maintain
the discrimination and to force its continu-
ance by the starvation policy. Mr.. Wander
bilt's position was undoubtedly purely sell
fish. But it was very wise for the future of
his property. 1t helps New York, and on
that account is entitled to our support If
it is ultimately successful, then, as a matter
of course, all other things being equal, the
great mass of the Western trade will seek
this port. But say the competing lines:-
The position of the New York Central is
contrary to established principles of railway
management; it must end in the ruin of
that company. If that be true what more
can they desire? Why not quietly wait until
the smash-up vindicates their action and
secures their mileage concessions? New
York is say seventy-fve to one hundred
miles further from the principal Western
points; the Baltimore and Ohio and the
Pennsylvania have shorter distances and
4. Ck; &c
the New York Central, it's low grades
and ability to draw double and treble
the number of cars to o train, more than
compensate. Railway managers have sud-
denly discovered that the volume of busi-
ness adds SO little to the cost that fair profit
can be made at very low rate if the mass
carried is sufficiently large. Mr.. Vanderbilt
assures us that he has paid his interest and
dividends from the net earnings, and from
no other source whatever, and that he has
no doubt of his ability to do so in the
future. The creditors and stockholders Of
the New York Central are protected, and we
have the right to demand on behalf of the
principle to any new combination which
does not recognize equal rates to the sea-
board. The claim of Baltimore, Philadel-
phia and Boston and of the railroads GEN.
tring ut these points for lower percentages
is plainly stated-n request that New York
shall assist in promoting their business by
voluntarily assigning her trade to them.
While we are always ready to help our sister
cities we are not yet quite prepared to retire
in their favor. Wall street is full of rumors
Of meetings between the railroad officials
and terms agreed upon by them. The New
York Central can safely assume that our
merchants will not submit to a return to the
old system, and that so long as they can do
,..:-..~ 80 ohaoplv NV that limo as INV