Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/282

* POOLING. 242 POONA. cago and Milwaukee to Saiut Paul arranged a money pool for both froiglit and passenger traf- fic in 1874. During the next few years numer- ous pools were organized, until they covered nearly even,- part of the country. Kailway freight pooling was forbidden and niade a m'isdcmoanor by the Interstate Commerce Act passed in 1887, biit tlie wisdom of tliis pro- hibition was and lias continued to be a much mooted question. (See In"tebst.te Co.m.merce Act.) Most students of the subject, both prac- tical and theoretical, favor the legalization of pooling under governmental supervision. Pool- ing prevents discrimination and is conducive to stability of rates, whidi is generally considered more important than absolute lower rates. It is argued that when the division of competitive tralVic is as certain as that of noncompetitive trallic both will be treated without discrimina- tion, for there will be no reason for favoring competitive points; thnnigh traffic will then be made to bear its just share of the cost of trans- portation. Ipon the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act existing pooling contracts -nerc annulled, but the attempt to i)rcvent pooling lias not been al- together successful. Traftic associations have endeavored to continue the division of traffic without resorting to the usual pooling machin- ery. There is almndant evidence of a pliysical division of cotton freight from Memphis and other interior points to the seaboard; indeed, this pool has been sustained by the Supreme Court of Tennessee. It does not fix rates, but all the roads concerned accept the lowest rate to Liverpool prevailing on any given day. There is said to he a somewhat similar division of the fruit traffic from southern California. The so- called Buffalo grain pool, which was investi- gated by the Interstate Conimerce Commission in inOO, was intended to divide the grain traffic from Buffalo to Xew York and to maintain a rate of 4 cents a bushel. .t common law, the American courts have usually held pooling agreements to be contracts in restraint of trade, and against public policy. Pools have therefore been extra-legal agreements not enforceable by the courts, but dependent upon the good faith of the parties, and hence lacking in permanence. In England the courts look upon ])Ooling with much less disfavor than in the United States; while on the Continent pooling is regarded with such favor that the Government railways of Prussia, Austria, and other countries maintain pooling arrangements with competing water routes. Pooling is not confined to transportation lines. The Western Elevating Association is an organ- ization of grain elevators at Buffalo which estab- lishes uniform rates for elevating and storing grain, collects the earnings, and after deducting expenses, distributes the remainder to the par- ticipating elevators in certain specified propor- tions, based upon their working capacity and the business they control. Manufacturing con- cerns sometimes form pools for the purpose of keeping up prices by limiting production. The term pool, or pooling, is applied also to various other forms of combination for concerted action. In a Wall Street or stock pool stockhold- ers of a company assign their stock to a firm of bankers or brokers to be sold within a given time, usually at not less than a stated price, otherwise the stock is to be returned to tlie holders, the profits, if any, being shared by all alike. Receivers of farm produce in the Cincinnati market have formed "pools' for econ- omy ill handling the goods, fewer salesmen being required by this method. Consult : Cooley, Poinihir and Legal Views of Trafjic I'uoUiir/ (Chicago, 1884) ; lladley, A*ai7- road Traiixportalion (Xew York, 1885); Sclig- man, "Kailway Tariffs and the Interstate Com- merce Law," PoUtical .S'cioicc Quarterly (1887) j Hadley, "Prohibition of Railway Pools," Quar- terly Journal of Economics (January, 1800) ; Xeweomb, liailuay Economics (Philadelpliia, 1808) ; Re^iort of the Industrial Commission, es- pecially vol. xix. POOL-SELLING. A method of distributing clianccs in a common 'jioor or combination of stakes on some uncertain event, as a horse race. For example, in a pool on a horse race, each bettor pays in a certain amount, naming the horse he desires to 'back' and receiving a ticket as a receipt, and on the determination of the race the winner is paid the total anioimt wagered by all the bettors on the race, less a commission, usually 10 per cent., which is re- tained by the manager or person selling the pools. The term is also sometimes inaccurately applied to the mctliod of betting with book- makers in places at a distance from the race- track. Pool-selling and the keeping of pool- rooms are prohibited in most States. POONA, poo'na. The capital of a district in Bombay. British India, on the river Jlutha, near its confiuence with the Mula on an almost tree- less plateau, about 74 miles southeast of Bom- bay (110 miles by rail) (ilap; India, B 5). Poona is about 1700 feet above the sea level; its climate is licaltbful and jdeasant. and it is very much resorted to. particularly in the rainy season. The city, the former capital of the Jlahrattas, is divided into seven quarters, named after the days of the week, and contains the ruins of a palatial structure, formerly the residence of the pesliwa. It is the headiiuarters of the Bombay army and the seat of the Bombay Government froni July tc Xovembcr. The cantonment for the infantry and horse artillery is two miles east of the city. The cantonment for the cavalry is at the village of Kirkee, about two miles to the northeast. The Deccan College, founded in 1S21, has a staff of European professors with native assistants, and is, a liigh class institution for the study of English, Marathi, and Sanskrit. There are numerous other educational institu- tions, including the Government College of Sci- ence, the Maharasthra College, and the Fergiisson College. One of the most interesting objects in the neighborhood of Poona is a large hund, or embankment, solidly built of hewn stone over the Mutha-Mula River for the purpose of providing a supply of water for the cantonment, and cspe- cially the bazaar or native town connected with it. It was built by Sir .Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, distinguished for his charities. Poona was for- merly a great mart for jewelry and precious stones, but this trade has quite ceased. The na- tive manufactures have also been supplanted by the introduction of European piece-goods, and the principal commerce is in connection with grain and other agricultural produce. In recent year=