The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-06-09
HIS EARLY HISTORY
A Graphic Description of J. J.
HiIps Life.
NOT THE SORT OF MAN
To Sail on Broken Promises on a
Sea of Blood Success Due to
Frugal Start.


Chicago Times-Herald
In discussing the apparently well au-
thenticated report that Jim Hill has ac-
quired the control of the Northern Pa
cihc railroad in addition to that Of the
Great Northern, have noticed that the
newspapers are giving him such titles as
1.-The Jay Gould of the west" and "the
Napoleon of railway managers" These
titles are not only unc uncomplimentary, how
ever good the intention behind them,"
said one of his admirers, "but they are
unfair and anything but descriptive of
James j. Hill. OF Napoleon it Is said
that he made his conquest Of Europe by
sailing on broken promises on a sea Of
blood. Hill is not that sort of man.
Neither is me Jay Gould, for he has not
destroyed the property of others to
build his own, nor corrupted the courts,
nor used the printing press to water
stock or pervert public opinion"
Jim Hin went to st. Paul soon after its
incorporation and began life in the capac-
ity of a mud clerk on the levee. A mud
clerk, you must know, was the man who
stood at the outer end of the gang
plank as a steamboat came up to the
levee and checked the goods as
they came ashore. It was
often necessary to jump into the mud
In the hurry of being at his post on the
minute-hence the title. Before he le1t
the levee Hill filled every position on 1t,
ending that chapter In his career by be-
ing clerk in the warehouse under MIL
Ter, an agent of the steamboat line.
Then he married-and that is an interest,"
ing story with strong tinge of romance,
but it can be told another time.
When the first railroad in Minnesota
was built Hill found employment as clerk
In the freight house. His duties were
not only to keep the account of freight
received, but to roll barrels of salt and
sugar and handle the freight generally
with his own hands. 1t was a tradition
Of those days somewhere between 1863
and 1871, THAT Jim Hill could roll more
barrels of salt and pile them higher than
any other hand about the place. Soon
he became the local agent of the st. Paul
and Pacific railway, and In that capacity
became familiar with and impressed with
the resources and possibilities of the
country then traversed or to be reached
by the charter OF the company Meanwhile
he displayed his ability as an economizer
Of time and money, and he soon made
proposition to Superintendent Delano of
the st. Paul & Pacific to run the st. Paul
station on contract for about half what
1t was then costing the company. This
proposition and his being visionary gen,
orally led to his being called Crazy Jim
Hill. However, the company accepted his
offer and he made good his promise and
developed the business so much that
ridicule quickly gave way to respect.
49,
They say that in those days, boss as
he was, Hill carried a dinner pail while
the MerchaN.s' hotel; moreover ne
worked early and late and never looked
at the clock, He saved money and made
his first little investment In a transporta-
tion scheme on the Red River of the
North. This and his railway connection
led to an acquaintance with Norman
Kitson, agent Of the st. Paul & Hudson
Bay company, the principal shipper of
freight to the new northwest. AS the
country developed In spite of the depres-
sion of 1873 he Interested Kitson in a
scheme to acquire the control of the St.
Paul G. Pacific road, which was then
bankrupt and In the hands of foreign
holders, chief of whom was Donald Smith
Of Fort Gerry nov Winnipeg ex-officio
director of the banks of Montreal, of
which George Stephen now Lord Mount
was the president. Through
Smith and Stephen money was raised to
carry out a plan of organization and in
this deal the good offices of John s.
Kennedy of New York were enlisted
The result was the formation of the st.
Paul, Minneapolis g. Manitoba Railroad
company, then owning about 700 miles of
road, including valuable terminals at ST.
Paul and Minneapolis and a land grant
Of about 100000 acres in Minnesota. Or
iginally the Northern Pacific owned a
large majority of the stock in this COM
pany, but being thoroughly Infatuated
with magnificent transcontinental
and taking no interest in
local business they surrendered this stock
to Hill and his associates OF the new COM
pany.
The Great Northern thus came into ex-
stence with jim Hill as the guiding
star of its destiny From the time that
he and his associates came into posses
sion of the property 1t has been managed
Dy HILL individually from st. Paul as head
quarters, instead of maintaining an ex-
oensiye organization in New York. He
las gradually extended his lines of the
lew company through districts we'll select
ID for local business until ii reaches
through the business centers of Mime
;ota, Dakota, Montana, Idaho and WASH
ngton to the Pacific coast His success
has been so phenomenal as to falsify all
and he has, to the surprise of
his own following, regularly paid interest
IN bonds and dividends to the sitockhold-
rs. This, too. in a time of great busl-
hess depression, when one company after
mother in rapid succession has gone to
he wall.
Hills principal, and 1 might say only
competitor from the beginning, has been
he Northern Pacific, company endowed |
With land grant which embraces an en-
lire of 10000, 900 acres, but which through |
is entire eMstance has suffered from |
Vail street manipulation. 1t is what re-
Mains of this splendid property that !
,eems about to pass into the hands OF |
lm Hill. the mud clerk of twenty-five or
hirty years ago, who was for years the |
ubject of the ridicule of so-called e8>
,erts in finance and railway manages I
nent. With such a combination In his !
lands Hill will control and dominate |
he transportation business Of a section |
4 the republic unequaled in resources
md easily capable of sustaining
hrifty population OF 100000 people.
go
l think you viii agree with me that a |
nan who has made such a record OF ad> I
ON his merits and of mag
Iificent achievement by national and !
ogicsl methods. can be compared with
Napoleon and Gould only in respect to
he magnificence Of his conquest.
HARVEY NOT A BIMETALLIsT.
lis Book Shows that Free Silver Means
the Silver Standard.