The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-01-13
JAMES ]. HILL IN TIE EAST
OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE
GREAT NORTHERN
ALL HAVE CONFIDENCE IN HIM
Opinion of Number of New
York Bankers as to the
Cause of His
Success.

New York Herald.
There is something of the quality of
the hypnotist about James j. Hill, and
gradually that influence which induced a
man some three years ago to say, You
must either agree with Jim Hill or kill
him. is spreading over the entire rail-
road and financial world. 1t has grown
marvelously of late, and all Wall street
is passing under the spell, so much so
that simple announcement, made few
days ago, that he and. his friends had
joined one board of directors and pur-
chased stock in another corporation ran
up stock figures of these properties amaz-
ingly.
It is rare quality for a man to pos
sess to inspire confidence among thou
sands of men, to hundreds of whom he
is unknown. Mr.. Hill Possesses that
quality to a high degree. His results
with the Great Northern road were such
as to reflect in Northern Pacific when he
Joined that company, to aid Baltimore &
Ohio when he associated himself with
that property, to revivify Erie at a later
period, and to stimulate such a splendid
property as Chicago, Milwaukee & st.
Paul when 1t became known that he and
his associates had become heavily inter-
ested in the stock Of the company.
1t has been said that Queen Victoria
- d shares in the Great Northern rail-
is the case. 1t Is certainly true that I'm
til recently, if not at the present time,
there was scarcely member of the
British nobility able to own stock but
held some Great Northern. 1t is also
true that hundreds of conductors, engin-
Sers, brakemen, yardmasters and the like
connected with the Great Northern rail-
road are partners through shareholdings
in the company that employees them with
Mr. H. Il,,;4s r,J,
nobility. Between the nobility of Britain
on the one hand and the humble Great
Northern firemen on the other are the
MOrganS, Rockefellers, Kennedys and the
vast capitalistic interests of this country,
all reposing confidence in this self-made,
many-sided man, and following eagerly
where he leads
To call Mr.. Hill railroad genius would
limit his qualities within too narrow a
field. To be sure he is best known as
such, but with that dominant quality he
is a master also in many fields. He is a
judge OF paintings as we'll as of men, an
authority on gems and precious stones
as well as on lake transportation; horti-
culture and agriculture have received his
attention, and it is truly said Of him that
''he discovered the bread basket of the
world in the great Northwest. His be-
lief in good live stock has led him to
distribute large quantities throughout
Minnesota to improve the breed of cattle,
and it has often been said in that state
that Jim Hills black bulls own the
legislature of Minnesota
Not so many years ago Mr.. Hill was
regarded, by some of the Wall street con-
tmgent with whom he came in contact
in somewhat the light of charlatan.
Not that there was anything that sug-
gested the juggler or mountebank about
the somewhat short, stockily built man
whose deep chest and broad shoulders
are surmounted by grand head COW
cred with a shock of hair, and a face
framed in a tangled beard, from which
two glinting eyes peer out under bushy
brows, but then he had made the state