92 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



September, 1870, when it at one time cost far more to 

 send goods from Boston to Chicago than from New 

 York, and shortly after the New York firms had to 

 ship their goods to Boston as the cheapest way of get- 

 ting them to the West." During the year 1869, 

 freights between New York and Chicago fluctuated 

 between $5 and $37.60 per ton ; and between New 

 York and St. Louis, between $7 and $46 per ton. At 

 one time during that year, the Erie Railroad carried 

 freights from New York to Chicago for $2 per ton, and 

 soon after advanced the rate to $37 per ton. 



The year 1870 was remarkable for its fluctuations 

 of this kind, and it led to a singular warfare between 

 the rival lines connecting New York with the West. 

 Each met with considerable losses, but each undoubt- 

 edly made these good at the public expense by some 

 operation entirely within its control. 



" During that year competition was bitter in the 

 extreme ; the rates made East and West were simply 

 ruinous. On certain descriptions of freight they lite- 

 rally were reduced to nothing, and cattle were carried 

 over the Erie road at a cent a head, as against one dol- 

 lar a car, the rate charged on the Central. On other 

 articles the reduction was not so great, but, both on 

 passengers and goods, rates were purely nominal, and 

 hardly averaged a third of the usual amounts. Of 

 course this could not last. Early in September, 1870, 

 representatives of the competing lines met in New 

 York, and proceeded to put a stop to competition in 

 the one way possible among monopolists, by combi- 

 nation. The parties in interest were the Central, the 

 Erie, and the Pennsylvania railroads. The competition 

 was mainly from Illinois to New York. In both 



