THE FARMER'S WAR AGAINST MONOPOLIES. 245 



Commodore Vanderbilt, and at his death the directors 

 transferred the presidency to Vanderbilt. Their action 

 elicited considerable comment from the press at the time. 

 The editorial remarks of Harper's Weekly are signifi- 

 cant and worthy of preservation,- as showing the view 

 of the matter held by an influential portion of the 

 American people. Said that journal : 



" The election of Commodore Yanderbilt to the presi- 

 dency of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway 

 marks another step in the gradual consolidation of our 

 great railroad and financial enterprises. Starting from 

 Chicago, the metropolis of the northwest, and the 

 greatest grain depot in the world, the Lake Shore Rail- 

 way, running through a country which has been settled 

 for two generations of men, drains the rich peninsula 

 between the lakes, and connects the populous towns of 

 the south shore of Lake Erie with the railway system 

 of the east. At Buffalo it connects with the extensive 

 system of railroads which Mr. Vanderbilt has consoli- 

 dated within the past few years under the title of the 

 New York Central & Hudson River Railway, and which 

 drain the best counties of New York from Lake Erie to 

 Westchester. Adding to the Central & Hudson the 

 Harlem, which is now operated under a perpetual lease, 

 Mr. Vanderbilt thus controls 2150 miles of railway, 

 constituting the main line between the west and the 

 sea-board, and the chief outlet of such cities as Chicago, 

 Toledo, Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, 

 Lockport, Schenectady, Troy, Albany, Hudson, Pough- 

 keepsie, and the other river-side towns. The property 

 which he thus administers is represented on the Stock 

 Exchange by securities equal to $215,000,000, and its 

 gross income last year was not less than forty-five mil- 



