The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-12-22

! st. Paul, Mimi, Dec 21,-Presdent
j. j. Hill of the Great Northern Rail
way. and of the recently organized
Northern Securities Company, this af-
| ternoon gave the following statement
to the Associated Press
| Il have been absent from Minnesota
| more than two months and during that
| time there has arisen a wide discussion
| throughout the state of what had been
generally called a consolidation or a
merger of the Northern Pacific and
! Great Northern Railways, and in this
| discussion statements have been made
which are so widely different from the
| facts that | feel called upon to make a
| conservative statement of just what
has been done in the past and what
will be done in the future.
when the Northern Pacific failed,
and the banking house of j. p. Morgan
& Company reorganized it. myself and
| friends were holders of a large amount
| of that company's securities. After the
| reorganization was completed we
bought about $4,000, 900 of Northern Pa
cific stock, both common and preferred.
Some of this stock was afterwards sold,
but a large amount has been held from
that time to the present.
About a year ago the Union Pacific
| Company bought the Huntington and
other interests in the Northern Pacific
and at the same time made an effort
to buy the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy
with these lines in the hands of the
| Union Pacific interests, both Northern
Pacific and Great Northern would be
largely shut out of the states of Ne
braska, Kansas, Wisconsin and Missou-
! ri. except by using other lines of rail-
way, some of which were in the market
for sale, and might at any time pass
under the control of or be combined
with the Union Pacific interests. We
! then, with the Northern Pacific. made
proposals to the directors of the Bur-
lington to buy their entire property
When this transaction was about being
closed the people who represented the
Union Pacific Company and who had
previously tried to buy the Burlington
asked to be allowed to share with us in
the purchase of that company. This
proposal we refused for the reason
that 1t would defeat our effort in buy
ing the Burlington, and further 1t was
against the law of several of the states
in which the longest mileage of the
Burlington was located.
"At that time against the opposition
of the more southern lines both the
Northern Pacific and Great Northern
had put into effect low colonization
rate and were carrying daily thousands
of people into the northwest, many Of
whom were coming from Kansas and
Nebraska along the lines Of the Union
Pacific. This movement was at its
height in the month OF April and after
we had closed the purchase Of the
Burlington, the Union Pacific people
undertook the boldest effort that ever
was made In this country and bought
over go, O000 900 of the stoclt of the Nor
thern Pacific in the markets of Europe
and the United States
Il was I'm New York at the time and
after Messrs. Morgan Sc Company were
aware of the action of the Union Pa
cific, it was found that together we
held about 26,00O,00O of Northern Pa
cific common stock and inasmuch as
the common stock by a right Of
contract made with the preferred
stockholders when the company was
recognized and the stock issued, had
the privilege Of paying off the pre-
ferred stock at par on the first day of
January or any year until 1917. Messrs.
Morgan & Company then bought in
London and New York about 5000, 900
of the common stock of the Northern
Pacific at the same time the Union
Pacific interests, having already so
large an investment, bid the stock up
until there was the largest stock cor