Union Pacific is Master

Carrying on his crusade against the railroads in politics, Republican editor Edward Rosewater criticizes the appointment of receivers for the Union Pacific and the Oregon Short Line. He argues that the judges are in the service of the Union Pacific and the result will be continued monopoly power over rates and service in the region.

UNION PACIFIC IS MASTER

Short Line Receivership Puts it in Control of Puget Sound Business

RESULT OF GREAT BENEFIT TO THE SYSTEM

What Might Have Happened Had the Court Made a Different Appointment When the Matter Was First Brought Up

Simultaneously with the announcement of the appointment of separate receivers for the Oregon Short Line, who, by the way, happened to be the receivers of the Union Pacific, as in the case of the Kansas Pacific. President S. H. H. Clark quietly slipped into Omaha yesterday, leaving his special car on the Council Bluffs side. Mr. Clark is accompanied by Mrs. Clark and his son, Hoxie Clark, who graduated in June from Princeton.

There can be no particular import attached to President Clark's visit at this time, for he has been expected for days. Instead, however, of going to St. Louis from We-que-ton-Sing, where he spent several days during last week with Judge Henry Caldwell, he came direct to this city from Chicago via the Northwestern.

The appointment of separate receivers for the Oregon Short Line on original instead of ancillary bill shows that Judge Riner has evidently received his instructions from his superior officer, Judge Caldwell, as to this appointment, and may be directly traceable to the visit of President Clark to the man who gave the veteran railroad director a leave of absence for six months.

The appointment of the Union Pacific receivers over the Oregon Short Line considerably strengthens the "Overland" situation, and gives the key to the Sound country in the hands of the Union Pacific. Should the road have broken away from the fold, as in the case of the Oregon Railway & Navigation company and the Union Pacific, Denver & Gulf company, it would have seriously embarrassed the main line, and earnings would have fallen off in consequence. Had things been different the Burlington, Rio Grande, and even the Rock Island might have gone into the Sound country on a traffic basis, but now the Union Pacific is in a position to fight the boycott inaugurated in 1892 against the road because it demanded the long haul one way. This appointment of Judge Riner of Wyoming closes the Ogden gateway in the interest of the Union Pacific, and it will continue to entrench itself in consequence.

There was a time when it was seriously thought the Oregon Railway & Navigation company might absorb the Short Line, in which event the whole railroad situation of the west would undoubtedly undergo a change. However, Judge Riner has come to the rescue, and the Short Line [[unreadable]] in the Union Pacific camp to continue a decided factor in Sound business.

FILLMORE HAS BACKED DOWN

Huntington's Protest Induced Him to Relax His Persecution of Strikers

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 29—Superintendent F. J. Fillmore of the Southern Pacific has modified his attitude toward those engaged in the recent strike. Just after the strike he was quoted as saying that none of the leading strikers should ever obtain work in California if he could help it and if any secured positions he would try to have them discharged. These threats caused much indignation and President C. P. Huntington wrote a sharp reprimand to him from New York. This letter caused Mr. Fillmore to make a supplementary statement in which he denies he said he would hunt down the ex-strikers and drive them out of their positions.

"I am not interfering with anybody," explained Mr. Fillmore. "The men who destroyed our property, stole our trains and killed our employes (sic) are on our blacklist. This list goes to other roads. It is a custom which has been in vogue for years."