Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1902-10-30

y; absolutely owned any railroad miles,
20 SIX thousand miles Of road nrnds,
nor3Ia s ana that II also owned the Iare,
road "a the stock OF the old Manitobs
He also also some teat other corporations.
ton of rates MADE relative eS to the reeuc.
tom systar the purchase Of the Burling
who Sfraa. IN resDonse TO the question
Northern ha the reduction on the Great
confarann, ne said 1t was a matter of
Seit between the officers and him.
fbn ne said the reduction OF rates on
but was Morthern was not a new thing
a NUMBER of years. He said The rediIc.
eraii, to 10 or Is per cent On
hat from was a1 10 per cent; It was nearly
ern which al places on the. Great North.
snr,s ~ ~ sere grain shipping points ans
SI THtG places more. He Thought the re.
The WWnr Was substantially the same on
lutely infNrmn faclnc. but was not abso-
cISirSS INFORMED on that point. He dis.
CidlIheu having personally mada tbe
S SiEu u IN the traffic rates Of freight hui
he had re- were a matter of great moment
ia - Oteh consulted and advised in
rae matter; He did not think thai the
iates mad been reduced on lumber pie
B]Url,SetHTnO a4 since the purchase of The
aphorNnaily lower before and Tnucb Ina,as
nan were charged by the Eastern roads,
me sross earnings of the Great North.
;sH9 and the average of the railroads ot
the United states was .729, He thought
that me Northern Pacific was higher,
p ne a3cg IN inc neighbo2rhood Of 800. on
that the rates on the Atchison were
nlsher than on the Great Northern and
t TSerteeFEn Pacific. and thought that If
s., 900, 600. ~ "A
Referring to the purchase OF a large
amount OF coal land in Illinois, Mr.. Hin
said the Northern Securities compan do
not own this land at the time the pres
ent suit was begun. He made this ex-
piahation on the coal question
Coal supply.
Witness; do not to be mIsunder-
nave been. The Great Northern Railway
company and the Northern Pacific Rail.
way company AVE an interest In this
country and the people living here. and.
lnasmuch as our winters are cold, il
would be difficult for them to live here
without fuel, n it is a very serious mat
ter-lt Is a very serious matter for the
We don't know now that we
first day of February. with the lack Of
supply of coal. without bringing coal
from Illinois. and We don't know but we
would have to give up a portion of our
supply or steam Goa to keep people from
freezing before s~pring-and II is not due
by any means 20 the anthracite strike,
and | tried to make 1t plain yesterday
mat 1t was not; but it is due to the in
abllty OF the railroads between Lake
Erie and the mines in West Virginia,
pennsylvania and Ohio to move the coal.
They are unable to o the coal up to
Lake Erie ports, n We are unable 10
get a supply. At this time we have not
been able TO get one-half Of our purchase
for the year., and navigation will close
some time next month. That Is the i'm
p%ortance of the control for us of access
m fhA nnll ninnu nf TI1irnfu uyhtnh -.
the nearest coal mines to this country,
n the Importance OF that will be appa-
rent more and more as time goes on.
Mr.. Hill further testified that when the
Union Pacific desiI ed to get control of
the Burlington road Mr.. Hartman came
TO him while they were negotiating and
wanted to take a half interest, but the
proposition was declined. The purchase
of the Northern Pacific by the Union Pa
ctic, he said would have left the Great
Northern in a helpless condition because
the Great Northern was jointly and sew
orally responsible for two hundred mil
lions, that being the purchase price of the
burlington stock. and IL the Northern
Pacific owned a joint interest in the deal.
they would be responsible for one-half
Of that amount, but II the Northern Pa
ci1c was in the hands Of a rival rams
continental line with its interest in San
Francisco n from Omaha through the
Platte Valley to San Francisco they could
influence the Burlington to help their
y AltANAN HIS hAltA bA bS Ai ii
position to prevent the building up or aid
ing the development of the Northwest
that the Great Northern had worked so
long and hard to establish.
The gist of Mr.. Hills testimony during
the two days he was on the stand was
that the organization of the Northern Sc
curities company vas in no sense a re-
striction to trade. That the Great North
ern n Northern Pacific ant Burlington
were operated separately and independ.
emily. That there was no actual merger,
buI that their working together was OF
vital interest to the Northwest. That
rates had been reduced as the result OF
this cooperation. and could and would
That the whole proposition was within the
law In every respect. That the purchase
OF the stock Of the Northern Securities
company was open to any one who had
the money to pay for 1t and could agree
with the owners as to the price. That
there was no combination or agreement
expressed or implied. but that the cor,
poration was simply a holding company,
really for the purpose of making the
property II holds have greater stability
and not likely TO be purchased by parties
to use to destroy other property; In fact,
that the whole movement would prove
most advantageous to the Northwest. Cost
of the railroad and equipment having
mage and business growing out of the
burlington purchase and protecting II
against adverse interests would increase
earnings. make lower rates possible and
thus induce settlement OF the country,
and thu building up of commercial manu-
featuring and agricultural interests.