The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-26


pany of people called stockholders and y
smaller company called directors. WHO
will dismiss him if he is not a constant
all-round success.
SecOnd-Fe is put in charge of a vast
commercial plant which he is to protect,
maintain. run and build up. This means
taxes, insurance, repairs, improvements,
wages AMI salaries. and general cost Of
operation and extension, which he by
foresight and energy rnusu provide
Third-He is present 4 with a big bond
ed debt whose interest must be met, AM!
large block of stock, preferred and
common. on which an army Of stockhold-
ers require dividends.
Fcurth--To provide for the above re-
ouires a heavy and steady volume OF
earnings, and these are dependent upon
his energy, invention direction and fore
sight
Fifth-To provide the earnings he must
meet or develop a general public demand
In Other words, he must be an indefati
gable public catereI-anticipate wants,
DOW to customs and fads and fancie5,
study public needs. invent instrumental
tiles for administering to public comfort
end luxury.
Sixth-I1e must get in line with nature
trade and law, keep up with the march
OF progress, forecast and be in harmony
with the trend of population, civiliza-
ton and commerce. He must be thor
cugh and accurate student Of public iii
terest, Of law and government as it re-
mands. of industry and commerce, and
he must in each case bow to the right
eouS demands of the situation or go uil-
der and his corporation with him.
If he refuses to accept these terms, ne
must submit to be left high and dry on
the strand and be content to watch the
march Of progress past him and beyond
his reach and sight.
He may dream that he possesses a
monopoly of something which the world
has got to have, and that he alone has
the voice in fixing the terms But he
will discover sooner or later that there
is no one thing that the world has got
to have. and that in the end the world
will buy not at all unless the price and
the quality are satisfactory The candle
maker finds the oil company break ng
into his supposed monopoly; and the oil
trust discovers, first. that oil not in the
trust wells is breaking from the earth in
Russia. the East Indies and Texas, and
trust, the sun and the common human
proneness to invent, discover, economic
and be generally obstinate, spoils the
best laid plans and forces a gradual de-
cline of prices toward the bedrock basis
of cost of production.
1t is the same in regard to transporta-
ton. There is much talk of what this
Community Of interest" or the other
'transcontinentaI consolidation" is go
ing to do with the traffic of this or that
section of country. But after all, it is
not this or the other railway magnate,
but this or that rate and trade channel
and product which determine the freight
route. The Shipper sends his goods by
the road and the route which best suits
his requirements. The railroad does not
control traffic; it can simply run into
the territory where the freight originates
and make the shipper an offer which the
latter may take up or turn down All
the railway magnate can do is to get
access to territory and offer to haul
freight; the public has its own say as
to whether-it will ship by that magnate's
road
Out of the recent Wall street sensation
over the purchase of Northern Pacific
stock has arisen lot of theories as to
what will be done with the country's
freight and traffic in case this or that
interest should prove it's control of the
majority of stock. It is charged, on the
one hand that If the Northern interest
is triumphant the result will be loss Of
freight for the Chicago and California
roads, and, on the other, that II the
Union Pacific interest is victorious the
result will be loss of traffic to the
Northwest and the Northwest roads.
Scrutiny of bottom facts shows the folly
of this talk
The influence of railway managers in
controlling the tides of traffic is one OF
the smallest factors involved. What
would happen, for example, if the North
ern companies should undertake to say
that the Burlington and no other Chi
cage road should handle their freight
One of the results would be that five out
of six Chicago roads would do what they
could to see that the Northern roads got
no freight ir return. The law of free
and open Interchange of traffic is the
first law of railway relationship. To dis
obey is suicide. But, in the next place
what would an attempt of that kind
amount to? Could it be carried out?
What OF the voice of the shipper and the
shippee? What of the matter of rates
and destination? What of the place of
the origin of the freight and of the
facilities for handling? What of time
tables and cars and sidetracks?
What on the other hand, could the
Union Pacific interest do, if it was Sc
disposed, in diverting traffic from the
Northern roads and the Northwest? In
the first place, what could be the object?
Whichever interest secures control of ene
Northern Pacific stock is interested to
that extent in securing traffic for the
Northern Pacific road in order to make
it's investment good and it's control per-
manent In the next place, what sue
cess would follow an attempt to divert
the traffic Of the Northern roads to the
Pacific roads to the south? The products
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