The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1901-05-11
A Matter of Principle.

October. I have simply stood with my rrienos
in defense vf that property and refused to
sell the control of the Northern Pacific to
its rival, the Union Pacific. No matter how
high the price of the stock rose no price
tempted u.s. It was not a matter OF price.
1t was a matter of ordinary principle. In
Mr. Morgans absence we would not allow
the railroad he reorganized to be seized by
its competitor
l and my friends had $780, 0O0, 900 Of Northern
Pacific stock Thursday and not one man
parted with q share. The control Of the
Northern Pacific road is safely in the hands
of Mr.. Morgan. That is the clear result
of the struggle. The attempt of the Union
Pacific people to secure possession Oh their
great rival has completely failed
Now, this is briefly a description of the
situation The Northern Pacific road was re-
organized by ]. Pierpont Morgan and brought
I'D to be a good, dividend-paying, substantial
property The reorganization committee got
large block of stock-about $3O,OOO,OOO l
and nv friends took this stock from them
Since then some of US have sold and some
have kept what they had, and some have
added to their holdings. We did not have
control of the road, but we had large part
Of the stock.
The Burlington Deal.
Then came the Burlington deal The Bur-
lington road was a peculiar property. Its
ownership has descended in New England
mainly from father to son. 1t had lo,OOO
shareholders, and the average STOCK owned
by one person amounted to about seventy
five shares Nobody could acquire possess
sion of the road through its directors In any
open, straightforward manner. 1t became evil
dent that the ownership of the Burlington
system was necessary to the Northern Pa
cifc and Great Northern roads. This was
a perfectly natural development growth
that did not invalidate the construction Of
any more railways, and simply involved
change in the ownership OF the Burlington.
All this talk about a transcontinentl rail-
way is nonsense. 1t is an absolute impossi-
bility. There are hundred reasons against
it. The products of the northwest are nearly
all sold at Chicago, Duluth, Minneapolis and
ST. Paul At these points the freight changes
and the new owners ship over any line they
please The business that would naturally
go through from coast to coast would amount
to less than per cent Of the whole traffic.
why an Absurdity.
Besides, the conditions under which rail-
road traffic is carried on east and west Of
Chicago, the necessarily different freight rates
depending on the differences in the density
Of traffic, make the idea of a transoontinen-
tai railroad an absurdity No one seriously
thinks of such thing. The necessity for an
extension of the Northern Pacific and Great
Northern roads by the joint purchase Of the
Burlington was obvious The growth OF our
trade with Asia and the immense prospects
Of a still greater growth, the demand for
transportation for cotton and corn, -four and
meats and provisions of all sorts from the
field covered by the Burlington to the fields
of the Pacific coast and in Asia, fed by the
Northern Pacific and Great Northern, and
the immense traffic in timber from the far
western forests to the treeless country fed
by the Burlington, these facts brought about
the deal between the Burlington and the
Northern Pacific and Great Northern. With
the Burlington road Joined to the Northern
Pacific, the Union Pacific found itself par
aileled by vigorous and growing competitor
Cause of the Raid.
That brought on the raid. The Union Pa
cifc men waited until Mr.. Morgan had gone
abroad. They did not dare to attack the
road he had reorganized and brought to
prosperity while he was here. They knew
that he would defend it. They knew him
as the head Of great and honored house,
as man whose life has been spent In saw
ing properties and putting them upon honest
footings. They knew that he would protect
every man who had invested a dollar in
Northern Pacific stock on the strength of
his reputation. The road had just emerged
resumed the power Of voting ON their stock.
The property was still under Mr.. Morgan's
protection-under the protection Of his reputa-
tion and under the protection Of his brains
and influence.
Now, what happened? The Union Pacific
interests, led by Mr.. Hartman, Mr.. Stlllman,
Kuhn, Loeb & Co., and others, made at
tempt to buy control of the Northern Pacific.
If l and my friends had sold our stock they
would have succeeded. But how could we
sell? How could we sell at any price? We
were investors. We were not SPECTATORS. Did
the Union Pacific management want to get
the Northern Pacific to impair it or to improve
it? Did the man who tried to buy control
of competitive system, whose main lines
were FIVE hundred miles apart from theirs,
for the purpose Of giving better service to
the country or for the benefit Of the minority
stockholders? Or did they want to get that
splendid property for the purpose Of restrain
ing and restricting rival?
We acted in self-defense. We refused to
sell. / see what ruin and misery have been
wrought, but i never bought or sold share
of stock for gambling purposes in my life,
and 1 don't want to own money wrung from
poor people by a corner.
0utrc nav IN WATT CTnnrrT