Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-01-10
RumOr That James j. Hill Pro-
poses to Start One.
NORTHERN ROW
Differences Between Management and
Men Not Yet Settled-Situ-
alton Sized Up.

An Associated Press dispatch receiv-
ed by the Inter Mountain to-day an
nounces that 1T is. reported that James
j. Hill, president Of the Great Northern
railroad is about to add a mammoth
steel plant to his other properties. This
plant is to be located at Great Falls,
Mont. Its primary purpose is to manu.
facture steel rails, bridge steel and other
articles, especially required in railroad
construction, maintenance n operation,
but to what extent it may branch out be-
yond these lines cannot be guessed"
The dispatch is from st. Paul. Major
Dawson, general agent Of the Great
Northern for Butte, told a reporter for the
Inter Mountain who called on him this
morning that he knew nothing of the
project. Archibald Gray. assistant gen.
eral freight agent is out of the city. Other
Great Northern employees confessed ig-
norance as ia President Hills plans.
1t is by no means certain that the diff
culties on the Great Northern are ended,
says the Minneapolis Journal. Since
President Hill took under advisement the
complaints Of the grievance committee
and the committee took under Amusement
his very unsatisfactory answers, there
has been a sort of armed truce, so to
speak. The management OF the road
has taken advantage of this situation to
make two conciliatory moves-the Offer
Of new stock in the company at par value
to e~mployes-a gift Of SIS a hare at pres
ent Q~uotatiOns-and the PRONUNCIATION Of
a new schedule for the firemen, granting
all they asked for, and, possibly, a little
more.
These are very pleasant things for the
rom ma w RI do h11f Cnnoo IF tho ornn1OvaS
are not very well satisfied with the 'situa-
ton yet. The main cause of the talk,
Which was quite general to-day among
the men, is the issue yesterday Of a new
trainmen's schedule, which is not at all
satisfactory to the men and did not re-
ceive the signatures of the trainmen's
committee.
Putting the two moves together, the
trainmen figure that the company is try
ing to make itself solid with the engineers
and firemen, counting on their support
in case of trouble with the trainmen. The
men argue that the stock offer means
nothing, as few if any of the men in the
operating force of the road car take adj
vantage o f it outside the engineers. Fire
men and the great mass of trainmen and
yardmen do not get enough salary to war
ant their investment In stocks. Most
engineers, however, have a chance to lay
up a little money. By giving the engi-
neers a chance to invest at low rates and
granting the firemen's requests, the road
has. the trainmen figure, put itself in a
position to count on the support of these
two classes of employees in case Of trouble
and with loyal men or the engines the
company woul have less trouble in OPP
Grating in case of a strike.
So the talk goes. On the other side, it
Is said that the Great Northern. like any
other road in these days, is not likely to
p%recipitate a strike. Business is boom-
ing, rates have advanced and few, if any,
of the lines of the road are not making
money. A strike would mean a loss of
profits to the road. and that is not what
President Hill wants. OF course he wants
to operate as economically as possible,
but it is not at all likely that he contem-
plates going so far as to allow a strike
actually to occur-unless his employees
should go be"ond all reason. If they
contine themselves to requests for similar
pay and conditions to those employees on
other large roads there is likely to be no
question of the nnal outcome of the con-
test