Griggs courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., Dak. [N.D.]) 1885-1902, 1902-05-15
O RIGIN
OF THE
RAILWAY
MERGER
Answer Filed In U. s. Circuit Court Gives
Purpose for Which Company Was Formed
and What 1t Was Expected to Accom-.
piish-The Answer.

In the suit in the circuit court of the
United States for the district of Min
nesota against the Northern Securities
company, the Great Northern Railway
company, the Northern Pacific Rail-
way company, defendants, the North
ern Securities company, through its
attorneys, John w. Griggs and George
B. Young, fled it's answer on the 5th
inst. After the usual Introductory legal
verbiage, the answer goes on to say:
When projecting the line Of the Great
Northern company to the Pacific Coast,
that company and Its directors contem-
plated the necessity Of creating for the
an International commerce. Nearly all
the country traversed or reached by the
line was then but sparsely settled or not
settled at all. It was principally agricul-
tural. grazing or timber land, with min
eral deposits in the mountain ranges be-
lieved to be large and valuable. but not
developed or explored. Whatever COM
modities the region might furnish for car
rage would be raw material. of great
weight and bulk in proportion to Its
value, which would not bear transporta-
ton to market except at low mileage
rate, such as could be made possible only
by every practicable reduction in the cost
of transportation. The available market
for all such products was far from the
places of production.
In Washington and Oregon are the
largest and finest bodies Of standing tim
Der in the United States, the best market
for which is in the prairie states OF the
Mississippi Valley east Of the Rocky
Mountains; but the lumber and shingles
from the Pacific Coast would not bear
the cost of transportation to those states
II the cars carrying them had to be hauled
back empty, or nearly so. for distance
of from 1900 to 1000 miles. And the
same is true of the other products. On
the other hand, the unoccupied or sparse
iy populated country along the line, or
reached by it, could not furnish a market
for commodities enough to load the re-
turning cars; the result being that unless
the company could secure traffic for car
riage beyond the Pacific Coast no great
traffic either way could exist or be Gre
ated.
To meet these conditions the Great
Northern company not only went to great
additional expense in the construction OF
its line to obtain gradients lower than
those Of any other line to the Pacific
Coast, but also made great efforts to Gre
ate and increase in the countries OF east.
ern Asia demand for the products OF
this country; and soon after the compile
ton Of its railway in 1893 it induced
Japanese company to run line OF steam
ships, connecting with its railway, on the
route between Seattle and ports of ia
Pan, China and Russian Siberia, and sue
ceeded in creating and has since been
actively engaged in building up COM
merce in which the flour manufactured
along it's line, cotton Cloth raw and man
ufacture1l), iron and steel Especially steel
rails and plates), machinery, and such
other manufactures of this country as a
market could be found or made for in
eastern Asia, have been carried to Orien-
tai ports and return cargoes OF such
Oriental products as are consumed In
this country have been brought back. A
large westbound, as we'll as an increased
eastbound, traffic has thus been secured
by the company, enabling 1t to make
such rates on lumber and other products
of the country served by it as permit
them to be shipped to eastern markets
with profit to the shippers.
One year before the Burlington pur-
chase, this Oriental traffic had reached
such proportions that the Great Northern
company caused to be begun the con-
struction Of steamships to run from Sc
attic to ports in Japan. China and the
Philippines, which, from their great car
rying capacity (being the largest in the
world) will be able to carry at very low
rates (if full cargoes can be securely,
and thus enable the company to move the
largest volume of westbound traffic (and
also Of eaStbound traffic. at the lowest
cost.
In the interstate and international COM
merce which the Great Northern COM
pany has thus built up, 1t completes both
in this country and On the ocean with
the other transcontinental lines includ-
ing the Canadian Pacific) and at the ORR
entail ports it completes for commerce
Nf ho must
be made in competition with the rates of
ocean carriers and by way Of the Suez
canal.
The. policy thus followed by the Great
Northern company in building up an in
ternational, and thereby interstate. COM
Pacific company, since its reorganization
In 1896.
Competitive Commerce..
In creating and maintaining this COM
petitive interstate and international COM
merce both the Great Northern company
and the Northern Pacific company were
hampered and placed at disadvantage
as well as with European competitors, by
the want Of sufficient direct connection
with the territory offering the best mar
kets for the products of the country along
their lines. and with the places Of pro-
duction and great centers Of distribution
from Wn1cn their traulc must pc supplied.
For many months before the purchase OF
the Burlington shares. they had consid-
cred the best means Of getting closer to
such markets and sources Of supply. The
lines Of the Burlington, better than those
of any other company, fulfilled the re-
quirements Of both the Great Northern
company and the Northern Pacific COM
pany in respect Of markets for eastbound
and freight for westbound traffic. The
Burlington lines traverse the treeless
states Of Illinois. Iowa, Missouri, Nebras-
ka, Wyoming, Kansas and Colorado,
which afford the best markets for the
lumber of the Pacific Coast. They reach
Denver, Kansas City, Omaha and Aurora,
where are located the principal smelters
of silver-lead ores. such as are mined
near the lines Of the defendant railway
companies.
They reach Omaha, Kansas City and
Chicago. where are the great packing
houses and the great markets for the
cattle and sheep Of the ranges Of North
Dakota. Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Ore
gon and Washington.
They reach st. Louis and Kansas City,
connecting there with lines traversing the
Cotton States, from which comes raw
and manufactured cotton required for
shipment to China and Japan.
At Chicago and st. Louis they connect
with the lines which reach the points of