Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1902-01-25
RAILROAD MERGER.
Investigation by the Interstate Com
merce Commission.

Investigation by the Interstate Com
merce Commission.
Chicago, Jan. 25.-When the second
days inquiry by the interstate COM
merce commission into the "commu-
nifty interest" combination Of the great /
railways of the northwest opened to- |
day, great interest was manifested in
James ]. Hills testimony. The United
States court room, where the investi-
CATION is held, was crowded with well
known railway men. Possibly as much
interest centered around E. H. Harri-
man, who organized the Southern Pa
cifie and Union Pacific combination,
and yho was Hills opponent in the
struggle for the Northern Pacific-B
lington control Hartman was sched-
uled to follow Hill on the stand. Other
prominent railway men present were
c. S. Mellen, president of the Northern
Pacific, and George B. Harris, presi-
dent of the Burlington.
Mr.. Hartman was the first witness,
The line of questioning by w. A. Day,
counsel for the commission, led up to
a statement of the great Wall street
panic last May, when Northern Pacific
stock went up to 81 900 per share. 1t
was developed that all this Northern
names of e. H. Hartman and Winslow
Pierce, was sold last summer. An
effort was made to learn why the pur-
chase had been made only to sell
again, and this brought from Hartman
a statement that he was glad to ex-
plain the so-called contest" in the
New York stock exchange which re-
suited in the famous BLACK Thurs
day" Il don't think there was any
contest" said Hartman. Some of us
Oregon Short Line people thought it
would be advantageous to have an in
terest in the Northern Pacific and pur-
chased stock lying loose all over this
country and Europe-held by 5000 to
1000 persons. We made no contest for
control of the Northern Pacific; we
purchased a majority of the capital
stock. We purchased prior to the sup
posed contest and no stock was ac-
quired during the panic in May.
Day tried to show that the contest
for the Northern Pacific stock was the
forerunner of the panic, but Hartman
insisted such was not the case. An
attempt was made by the commission
TO draw out statements to the effect
that the final sale of the Northern Pa
cific stock by the Oregon Snort Line
(as controlled by the Union Pacific
Southern Pacific syndicate) was only
TO inn xxrft ~
Hill and supposed interests that com
batted for the Northern Pacific in the
panic. Hartman said that after the
purchase was made he and his col
leagues thought the matter over again
and concluded to sell again. He i'm
piled that it made no difference, really,
who owned the Northern Pacific He
said he did not know of any gain made
except that his interests found out
that they were strong enough to hold
their own in Pacific traffic. He said
his impression was that the Oregon
Short Line had not lost by the trans
fer. He said that Hill mad been given
no assurances of any division of traffic
and the motive of the original pur-
chase had been that of preserving to
the Union Pacific system avenues of
traffic open to it,
"You wish TO represent that no one
of the other half of the Northern Pa
cific interests made any promise in
control?"
Hartman replied: There is com
mon>interest among us all, and We be-
lieve the common interest will be sery-
ed regardless of the holdings. That
common interest can be served by nat