Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1902-10-30
THE MERGER TRIAL
PRESIDENT Till on the Witness Stand Tells of the
Organization of the Great Northern and Its
Agency in the Development of the Northwest
Reasons for the Purchase of the Burlington.

svN,rin,"e't'hl The Consolidation. or so.called
mN"nr. If the Great Northern with the
pae n ta aad of large amount
ii tyst in np NSw York R some little time ago.
anS WAS continued in st. Pau Int TINS speeia
i l"iorr Frederick ,,i in sss the chief witness
tNamni''fp.,, ui and his testimony tells the
in -, s,nry of the so-called merger IN
w ''nr connected way than mas !, ne renured
been , s,:stt TO complete it. it was very VOL
Nv? nas' We append a sufficient portion 81
u i lll'i''Ji.uce to give a connecteo s.o.S W
,hr transaction ana the feaso'' Ava
MIR. Hill told in a general ars WaS E ~ the
Of s the tIaae Of the e county
s s1 ! " liza largely told his story In his own
MI ' None Of the learned counsel havMins
way way ,,siion to throw out mint tnat NV, M'
m might better ten II hr s1.a the organi
lie Lev pe y the s St. Paul, Minneapolis q
cation 1,h u, road. and later its reorganiza,
,ion into the Great Northern r9nn + Iq
a i h'd very largely determined the poicy
ne , Inv, roads. especially the policy OF en-
ending :he lines This was ,b aoM fact tha:
eyplainc,l. largely que ,r 10 ors had been
,,iny of che other olreclo's "N
Noh-'es'eIS uilt for Keeps.
r,xplaining how the Cheat Mortimer; 81, a nas
been pushed throusase d 10 d tne mad E been ex
. .,ln,. .,''' for surveying alone, as ne ae
" .,'I 70 be certain that he was Duiiaims
his road on thu best 21ss a,r rIe at This
III 1nn n'I BY saying that while riding along p
he he Pennsylvania system once once ne ,,o n
s.rv,d n portion of that system pents
luil, on the fourth rtsnt o. w t,ot snrt Of
sI,l. II wanted to avoid all that soft u
''! !rhs. traffic of the Western country con-
sisted mostly Of lumber, ana II VIZ" bs,G de
tbis lumber il it was to do business IN =, y.
,m The rate at that time was " cents t!1
y hundred pounds which was pro9nlptliiSS;
eSnierT3sd w,th that a@n f they rad rate
~ - crrts they could send lumber East.
! knew they couldn't do 1t Win a - ta "a
higher than ~ cents, SO we .ll'ue IL ="
canls. and the lumber trade began TO oe-
>. I'm order to make low rate on East y
crn lumber shipm ents 1t was essent aa ~ ~
first have Western mo ot hrns, rs empty
ears West to ship the lumber M W nad II
four Years we had SO developed th1s tta a.,t,
and trade with Alaska and the - E ascure
Eastern goods for the markets OF tne or l.
ent, and thus to keep. a movement u
cars which meant shipment OF iulllo os,t
East again at rate EN- making 'ie s1'f'''e'
p. ..What STEPS did you take to- secure
transportation across the Pacllic. anu
what relation did that have to your pu l ;,
chase has. of the Burlington road Stock
I'VE found that the lumber supply Of
the United States east of the Rockies ana q
more mo, e dependent upon the washington and
oregon forests, and that the time was
rapidly approaching when the states
which were furnishing lumper mb te for
their own needs (Michigan, for instance,
now consumes more than she can manu-
facture). was especially Interested IN
no lumber for us to carry from the west
there was nothing at all for us to carry
on our road. | saw that it was only q
oregon would supply all the lumber of
to have a low rate we must have large
tonnage, and have markets to which we
and thus have a continual Eastern traffic
westward. l influenced the japanese to
purchase a trial lot of American rails in
stead of the Belgian and English rails.
cotton. on Il guarantee that if it was not
satisfactory | would pay for. it.
THE cotton trade has been growing
ships to take this cotton and these rails
TO Japan. We can make a rate to Hong
kong which will enable the Minneapolis
can get the Chinese trade
Coal supply.
O. What advantage If any. did you eX-
poet to derive and have you derived from
tn" Burlington purchase in regard to the
supply of coal for the country traversed
by Your line?
Replying to the above question Mr.. Hill
thought that on the west end they had
coal in the past has come from Pennsyl-
Nania and West Virginia and some from
ONO; but now 1t was apparent that they
could no longer rely on the previous re-
~ OF vital interest to use the supply they
can obtain not only for themselves but for
thr public as we'll from the Illinois coal
1elds The grades of the Burlington road
enabled them to carry an enormous tor
mage and the public would soon be COM
PEELED to rely upon the bituminous coal
supply instead of on the anthracite from
me east, This coal is a necessity to the
people of the northwest. which would
have to abandon the country for five
months in the year If they could not get
coal at reasonable prices. and they can
not, not get it from the east at a reasonable
price He did not claim that this was
due to the strike and the local situation
thls year. but this was the permanent
s sn4 the northwest had got to face.
coal from the western end of their line
because the haul was too far to furnish
1t at moderate prices.
Ore Trade With st. Louis.
Within the last week we had advices of
1000 or 100000 tons Of iron ore to go
Through the winter from the iron mines
OF Northern Minnesota to st. Louis to load
me coal cars back. The fact that the
coal has to come north or that there is
coal to come north makes It possible to
make lower rate on the iron ore. and
together the iron ore rates and the coal
alced to the extent that we can load the
cars both ways. This Is a matter we
nave under considerations this iron mat
yer W" have had under consideration may
b" for Il couple of months. but it has cul-
minated within the last week. We hope
mat it will reach 100000 tons before
spring.
y. In reference to shipments of cot
ION especially, and other articles, what
disadvantage was there in it's being car
RED over separate lines under a joint tar
III which you did not have, where it is
carried where both roads are under the
same control for instance, in the matter
~ breaking bulk or anything of that kind,
shifting from cars?
y: Well. it Is almost a necessity. If
oiSh IS is to be at all permanent. TO be
i,'nl" TO control a rate. The rates on the
'l!SA seas vary according to the supply
,u'I demand for ships, and we. in order
=" AK" this business west must be in a
''S'tion to compete to take the traffic,
",n d'iN with another. 1t may be that
,H"''l"r ruad-t may be the line between
mere and st. Louis. If the Burlington was
tt''' IN Il position to work with us and
IN I"n'ihue to work With us. they might
,'''' some other connection that would
RI sNptr Nt,l.