The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-05-06
WHY THE LINES
WERE MERGED
Answer of the Northern Securi
ties Company and AuxiIiaries.
IN AID OF COMPETITION
MANY THINGS REQUIRED TO Sc
CURE THE TRAFFIC.

/ CT. PAUL, MINI, May 5.-An en-
y terprise in aid Of a great COM
petitive interstate and information
al commerce is the description of the
Northern Securities company, given in
the answer fled by the attorneys for
that corporation in the suit brought by
Attorney General Knox on behalf of
the United States to enjoin the So
called merger Of the Northern Pacific
and the Great Northern railways.
| This answer was filed late this after
( noon in the United States circuit court
/ IN this city, and at the same time in
/ dividual answers were filed nv lanes
J. Hlll, ". +. ClOugh, d. Willis James
John 5. Kennedy. George F. Baker and
I the Great Northern railway. and b1r 7
r. Morgan, Robert Bacon. Daniel s
Lamont and the Northern Pacific rail-
way.
The various papers follow the same
llnes-the answer Of the securities. COM
pany is divided into two parts. The
nrst is largely a denial Of the petition
as respecting any charge Of conspiracy
ana as respecting the purposes of the
organization Of the securities com
pany. Instead Of owning a majority Of
the shares Of the Great Northern or
Northern Pacific companies. il is stated
mat those who are interested in the
reorganization company do not own
within S26.O00,000 Of a majority of the
Great Northern shares. and little more
tnan one-quarter Of the Northern Pa
cific.
This part Of the answer states that
the securities company has acquired bv
or h..
about hye-twelfths Of that companv's
stock, has negotiated for about four
twelfths Of the total of such stool,
which has not been transferred. and
as 70 which it has at present no voting
power, and had paid on account of
Great Northern and Northern Pacific
shares purchased over $4,000. 600 in
cash; that many stockholders have not
ana may not sell shares. and that nej-
ther company by any act or suggestion
has solicited shareholders to sell to the
securities company.
The Burlington Deal.
In the second part Of the answer tho
purchase of the Chicago. Burlington e
Quincy Railroad company is taken mn
the reasons for such purchase having
been, it is alleged, enormously stated
IN the petition" Attention is called 10
the sparsely settled or unsettled nature
Of the country through which the
Great Northern lines pass. the abuud-
ance OF raw materials 10 be hauled at
a low mileage rate: the great timber
wealth in the Pacific northwest. and
the necessity Of a return load for the
cars taking this timber to the prairie
states; the development of trade with
eastern Asia as a means Of securing
such return loads. and the establish
ment Of a connecting steamship line
for that purpose.
IL IS stated that in the interstate and
national commerce which the Great
Northern company has thus built up
1t completes both IN this country and on
the ocean with other transcontinental
lines including the Canadian Pacific. /
and at the Oriental ports il completes
for the commerce Of the world.
1t rates are. and 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 /
international and thereby an inter I
state commerce has been followed by i
the Northern Pacific company since its I
ton i'm 1895
II is said that both roads were placed /
at a disadvantage with other trans(I
continental roads. as well as with Eu-
ropean competitors. by the want of
sufficient direct connection with the
territory offering the best markets for
the products Of the country along their
lines and with the places Of production
and great centers Of distribution from
which their traffic must be supplied.
Why the Read Was Bought.
The lines Of the Burlington. better
than those Of any other company. ful-
nlled the requirements OF both roads in
respect of markets for eastbound and
freight for westbound traffic. The an
swer recites these various markets and
their products, and says:
The price paid for said Burlington
stock was lower per mile of main track
covered by the stock than that for
which the stock OF any other large and
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