Show CONSOLIDATION IN BONDS OF PEACE Big Bg Eastorn Lines Absorbing Small Ones to Promote I ENT Deliver 1111 Vt Ne ui Lillo for or An ImPortant conference ben n In In New York Cor or th iho last two to days nt 81 the tho f J S tho th Now Nes York Tribune M E EI I rt II a hent Of r the BIg Four anI anIh h 31 8 i Ohio henry Fink president ot or the tho Norfolk West Wester Westen er en and A J nt or of tho ho hao all been In attendance John I Cowan ot of th Ohio Ig h also saId to been n Ono One ot WaS the tho rate tr for coal for tor the tho coming year but buthIs hIs 19 18 to havo been only an dent o the tho meeting For somo It hll lis been n known that the Vand In control ot the DIg Big Four lna anI tho h Ohio Then Thero have b been n persistent rumors too regarding a 11 the und th Ohio system ot of the tWI roads with the tho Vander bill A man usually well In setd that ho he had hod been gIven to that In near futuna a great giest would bo 00 effected and that th the following roods roads would lie 16 In It t The Maine whIch as It owns the road olEO alro tito tho Maine north ot of IJ ton the tho Nt York New Haven Haen Hartford which on oil account or of 1114 It ultimate trot raf Ik relationship with the Iho Pennsylvania L ud not well stand aloof and the tho Bos Bost t tn Albany now controlled b by the thew 1 w York roads rac t ti all illy covering the field ot Now Eng England land BesIdes these the speaker named the Pl Baltimore Ohio tho ho ht Ohio the I Four ou the ta anti and the Ne Central lie tho and Southern amid the tho OM as well as a the i i Plate and W West st Shore ho added that he was not as to what the tho eX cx eXact act form of at the combination would b bu whether It IL would amount to actual con I or It would certain certainly ly Iy bo 00 or of such fouch n a naturu as to prevent future futuro competition und u a consequent cutting ot of freight and rates his JI ho thouGht however waa only the th begInning an and It was hIs convictIon that other ma may bo be taken In later I h th In the tho South and West WestFor For two or three days there have 1110 persistent rumors In street that I a raIlroad combination of the magnitude WAs ImpendIng but there thore I lies has been much mystery iw as idea Iden thy of oC the roads concerned the stories printed from time to tIme or of n a consolIdation ot of all the railroads or of the and Eastern States may be dismissed as Impossible the trend or of ortho the tho times Is toward unificatIon and harmonIous agreement The Tho last two or three years have witnessed the util ot of tho New York Central It has for tor a good while boeti beell the belIef beller ot of the tho best informed railroad that mat In III time the neat near future the tho railroads of New ew EnglAnd would be operated under single ownership or control A year ear n ago o the New York Central In Interests secured control or of the railroad The Tho roa road 1 Is InU mu connected with the tho Fitchburg and later the New York Central made overtures toward obtaining a lea lease ot of the tho latter property properly These tUrns were sero not lIot successful and tho Cen tr tm l made an arrangement whereby It control or of the tho Boston Doston Al AI ban on a long lease Advices Advice from rom quote the tho president ot of the Boston Joston as admitting that his rad was In for tor the thO leasing ot of the Iho Fitchburg With the tho I Fitchburg the Boston oston Maine would have a aw w stern m outlet from Boston Hoston But Wall Tall street opInion has coIn coIncIded coincided with the vIew ot of the Tribunes Tribune Informant that the Boston Haston MaIne Maino Ire soon to pass under the control of the New York Central There remains tn In New England time tho big Now York Nw iw Haen and Hartford road which It may not be taken over oer b by nl arty other company Is stilt not lIkely to toL toI L I 1 disturber ot of harmony for tor J Morgan and Senator D Depew pc ar 11 among Its directors and another Is William who rho recently en ent t rJ the N New York Central board I r the New road Is III In bUsiness relations with the tho Penn Ienn between which systems and till York Central n a compact ot of unit unity eXIsts A month ago ogo It became known that an Important hall had been en entered Into he between tween the Pennsylvania and the agree meat IS as Q a result or of which It Is gen hollered believed the two roads will bo be boo o operated Crated all as friendly South of 01 the Ohio runs the tho Ohio and south or of the tho Ohio the For two or three weeks there baa hns been beena IL a marked movement In Chesapeake Ohio on the toek tk exchange and ru mu rumors mors have hae been frequent that the con control trot ot of this system would be apportioned among tIme the Penn PennsylvanIa sylvanIa and Baltimore Ohio Inter Interests ests thus bringing the tho Chesapeake Ohio Into the sphere ot of trunk line ence The Tho enco of 01 President Fink nt at the conference leads to 10 the tho conclusion that the tho Norfolk k Western may like ilkI tIme the Ohio bo be brought within the MOlle or Of th the working agreement now between t te c New ew York I Central and the Pennsylvania And o the railways 0 of New England controlled by on one or both or of these theM great grent systems stems the BIg IlIg Four already a Vanderbilt property the tho Jo ErIe 1 a Mor Morgan can gan property the tho Lackawanna domn mated by the with the tho Chesapeake Ohio the tho Baltimore Ohio and th the Norfolk Vestern act lag lit In and all parties to time tile New corn cem pad pact with the Southern railway con comi trolled by Morgan Interest the Iuis vilie Nashville controlled hy by Mr Ir Belmont and the Illinois Central b by Mr Ir Harriman It would appear that the days of rate War demoralization In tIme the the 8 South and the tho Cent Central Stat tn may be considered past gone gon |