The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1884-01-04
THE n. r. PRESIDENCY.

The kilograms state Henry Willard Is TO
resign the presidency Of the Northern Pa.
cifc Railroad, ct the Directors meeting to-
day. The reason assigned Is illuess. That
be 10 suffering from nervous prostrAiion Is
perhaps true; but II Is just as true that he Is
retiring from the position under irresistible
pressure, and that the sequence Of resigna-
lions, Of which this Is the last one, was pre-
dicted and asserted in New York two months
ago, Is the inevitable result Of the deprcs-
sion In Willard stocks and the investigation
that had been made by capitalists interested,
or sought TO be interested, In those secu-
rifles.
Henry Clews, the eminent banker, alleges
Is his incentive TO bear the stocks that In
quiry showed the Northern Pacific road had
not commerce or people enough tributary to
It 10 maintain IL as q fair dividend.p paying
road as the stocks had rated. The proba-
bility Is that this Is a pretext, and that be
represents the Billings interest, which has
always been at heart opposed to the Willard
control and management. While II Is as
serted there are only one and one-half mil.
lion people on the line OF the road tributary
10 1t, and that IL cannot be made TO pay dvi.
dends with such limited support, 1t is Ap.
parent that this Is the merest sophistry, the
road being actually entitled by geographical
and commercial conditions to at least one
fourth of the transcontinental traffic of the
entire United States, aside from It's local
business. Whether It has acquired It may
be made manifest In the annual reports; but
If 1t has not, the fact Is fairly attributable to
gross Encouragement IN the operating de-
psrtment and the extravagant spasm Of in-
dustrisl retrenchment that followed an era
of reckless general expenditure and exclu-
sive personal Qualification. The road GER
tainly could not be worse operated and MAN.
aged than II has been In Montana since COM
pleted. 1t deserves better handling and If
It's finances, IS 1t appears, are In still more
deplorable condition, it is high time for
change.
II Is predicted that A. J. Cassatt, of the
Pennsylvania Railway Company, one of the
best railroad men in the country, is to sue
coed Willard as President. He Is put for
ward by president Wright and the Drex.
els ss the man best qualified for the place
and his succession Is believed to foreshadow
close relations between the Northern Pacific
and Pennsylvania Companies. 1t Is more
than probable there will be many other
changes In the personnel Of the Company in
the near future, and we venture to say there
will be q restoration of better wages than
now prevail, and of fuller work shops.
Whether, as Is alleged, Mr.. Willard is seri-
ously crippled, and many Of his associates
ruined by the decline In Willard
stocks, Is an undetermined question. 1t Is
one that does not particularly concern or
interest Montana. But that the road shall
be successfully, safely and economically
and that the policy of the Com
pany shall be liberal and fair toward com.
munities and individuals having direct rela-
tions with 1t, are matters Of concern and
proper solicitude. We await, therefore, with
interest, not only the announcement of who
the new President shall be, but the develop
ment Of the new policy to be pursued by the
greatest corporation and the largest property
owner In Montana. Aside from those who
are directly making money out of 1t, the
Company, rs at present managed and manip-
ulsted, does not appear to have friend In
The Territory, or to deserve one. This con-
dition should be changed, and we trust the
In Its affairs will not be confined
10 Wall street.