The San Francisco call., 1901-12-22

siderable amount of Great Northern and other
The Northern Securities Company is or
ganized to deal in high-class securities, to hold
the same for the benefit Of its shareholders ana
whose securities il Its powers DO not
include the operation OF railway. oanklng,
or properties for others on commission 1t is
purely an investment company and the oD-
ject of its creation was simply to enable those
who hold its stock to continue their respecllNe
interests in association together ana 10 pre-
vent such interests from being scattered by
death or otherwise; to provide against such at
tacks as have been made upon the northern
Pacific by a rival and competing interests
whose main investment was hundreds OF miles
from the Northwest and whose only opJect IN
buying control Of the Northern racine was a-s 70
the growth Of the country between Lake Su-
perior and Puget Sound.
The foregoing is brief and absolutely cor
rect statement Of the whole subject, and its
truth can easily be verified by the State of
ing sTfcient interest to fnvestisats the facts
which are all matters Of record
Hill Asks Some Questions.
Now, as to the effect of what has been done
upon the public interests let me ask few
est man to answer for himself:
Did the Union Pacific people with their rail-
way lines extending from Omaha and New
Orleans to California and Oregon, through the
several States in the Middle West and South,
purchase majority of the stock of the North
ern Pacific Company for the purpose OF aiding
that company and increasing the growth and
prosperity Of the northern country, was 1t
for the purpose of restricting such growth and
aiding the DEVELOPMENT Of their enormous in
terests hundreds OF miles to the south?
In defeating their control of the Northern
Pacific and retaining it in the hands of those
who had built it up and with it the entire
Northwest did injure benefit the people
OF the Northwest?
Did L by inducing my friends to hold their
Northern Pacific common stock and act Jointly
with Morgan & Co. when this stock selling
at $500 and $1,000 share thus preventing the
Union Pacific from controlling the Northwest,
injure or benefit every interest, agriculture,
business and otherwise Of the entire country
between Lake Superior and the Pacific Ocean?
Had we sold 20, 600. .0o0 Of Northern Pa
cihc even at $500 a share, amounting to $780,
600, 600 nearly $4,000. 900 more than its
present value and transferred to the Union
Pacific the country between Canada and Mex
violated? Could we not legally have put the
money in our pockets and let the country
learn what II to be dominated by a parallel
and competing railroad?
The public is interested in having a good
railway service and fair and reasonable rates.
The past is gone and speaks for itself; I can
speak for the future and have hesitation
whatever IN saying that the increased volume
Of traffic, both through and local, will enable
the companies to reduce their rates in proper
ton to the volume OF such traffic and that in
the near future the public will have a chance
to for itself this feature Of what have
said The development of the country will
increase with greater increase in population
between Minnesota and the Pacific. No mer-
ger or consolidation Of the Northern Pacific
and the Great Northern is contemplated. Each
company will be operated separately in the
future in the Dast