The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-11-26
THE GREAT COMBINATION OF RAIL
WAYS IN THE NORTHWEST.

A year ago Mr.. j. j. Hill, Presi
dent of the Great Northern Railway,
endeavored so acquire a road to be
a link between his own and certain
Eastern roads in which he was in
terested. For such a link he chose
the Chicago, Milwaukee, and st.
Paul, and quietly accumulated large
blocks of it's stock The consequent
advance in price of St. Paul's securi-
ties aroused the interest of other
Northwestern railway men. Mr..
Hills plan became known, and was
nulliied by those who controlled st
Paul. He then turned his attention
TO the Chicago, Burlington, and
Quincy. The same OPERATE rs we're
carried on here, and Mr.. Hill OBJ
tanned control. The Burlington is "a
competitor of the Union Pacific. The
owners of the latter road became
alarmed. They demanded d share in
Burlington's control. This was re
fused. The only way 80 get the
share seemed to be in obtaining con
troll of the Northern Pacific, which,
with the Great Northern, through
Mr.. Hills endeavOrs, now owned
Burlington jointly. Buying Northern
Pacific stock IN such small amounts
as not to arouse suspicion, the Union
Pacific people shortly succeeded in
securing u majority of Northern
Pacific stock. Last May they offered
to surrender what they had acquired
for q one third share in Burlington
Mr.. Hill again declined to accede.
Then followed a remarkable episode.
Both sides began buying Northern
Pacific at a rate which sent up its
securities by leaps and bounds. More
stock was bought than was in exist
ence, and at one time the failure to
deliver sent the price of the common
stock to no less than Il thousand dol
lars d share. The necessity of OBJ
tanning penalty money involved the
sacrifice of other stock holdings.
The result was a panic on May 8.
RAILWAY COMBINATION.
An armistice was then concluded,
followed by many conferences and
at length an agreement, the results
of which have now been made pub
lie. The most striking feature of
this lies in the Incorporation, in the
State of New Jersey, of the Northern
Securities Company controlled by
MIR. Hill as its President. It's charter
provides for $500, 900, 900 capital.
Thus this is the second largest cor
pOratiOn ever formed, and it may
easily become the largest. Its char
ter provides for taking over the
stocks of the Great Northern and of
the Northern Pacific, but it also pro
vides for the requirement of other
roads, hence no limit has been set to
the increase of capital. Consequently
some we'll. informed men fOIesee an
important enlargement of the pub
lished plan. The general public may
not care which financial side is vic
tOrious in d particular contest, but
the public is most concerned in the
fact that the most important step
yet proposed in combining railway
properties has now passed from
prophecy 80 ful6llment. Instead of
war, peaceful and close relations will
now exist between the Union Pacific
(the owner also of another transcOn
tlnental road, the Southern PaCifio)
and the two transcontinental roads
further north. Their treaty would
seem to foreshadow more conserva-
tive and settled conditions in the
American railway world than have
hitherto obtained. 1t remains TO be
seen, however, whether this forecast
will be justified if prosperity shall
become less evident than at present.
GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF RAILWAYS.
The Governor of Minnesota de-
clares that this practical consolida-
ton If the Great Northern and the
Northern Pacific is in open viola
t1on of the plain intent OF the Min
nesota law t~orbidding union of par
allel lines. This is certainly true
but it is also true that the only way
to meet the difficulty is by Federal,
not by State, action. We think it
is equally true that the Federal ac-
tlUn should regulate, not forbid,
combination. Legislative enactment
can eve successfully counterfeit u
natural law or resist Il great historic
tendency. The tendenov tn oOm-