Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-01-10
. H|[L DEFENDS MERGER
President Of the Great Northern
Railway Company Speaks
at Fargo. N. D.
Biz Crowd Of Farmers and Busi.
ness Men Attend the
Meeting.
Claims That Reduction cf Rail.
way Competition Reduces
Freight Rates.

Fargo. N. D., Jan. 1o.-Presiden'
James ]. Hill, Of the Great Northern
railway this afternoon addressed the
Trt- State Association of Grain and Cat
tie Growers, which is in session here
The crowd today was very large and in
cluded farmers and business men from
all parts OF Minnesota and the Dakotas.
He opened with a few words OF praise
for the farmers. saying:
.-The nation at large has more to ex-
pect from those who cuitIyate the soil
than from all others combined" He
thought the best use for good lands as
set unsettled was serious question for
the consideration of statesmen. He be-
lieved "The future and welfare of the
country depends more upon wise dispo-
sition Of the public domain so as TO Sc
cure homes for people than upon any
He discussed the need of action ito Sc
cure more markets for our surplus pro-
ducts" Speaking of the development
of the northwest he said he thought the
one kind of community of interests
which really existed was. that between
the producer Of tonnage and the car
rier; land and its products and the rail-
roads will either prosper together or be
poor together. Much is being said about
the combination between railroads and
competition. The law of survival of the
ffttest must inevitably end such COM
petition as exists by obstruction of the
weaker by the stronger. This has al
ready been done in the east. He said:
twenty-five years ago 1t was supposed
competition was necessary to reduce
rates I think we have shown in the
northwest that without competition
rates have been reduced faster than
anywhere else in the country" After
speaking OF other sections where rates
are higher, showing the rate reductions
in the northwest he said: This, more
than anything else. has doubled the
price of your land In a compare .iyeiy
few years. There has recently been an
attempt to show we have no interest In
building UP the prosperity of the people
OF your state and of the northwest. II
we did not do everything in our power
to build you up, we would be false to
our best interests. Our object in ac-
quiring the Burlington jointly with the
Northern Pacific railway was to insure
an outlet to the best markets for grain,
livestock and lumber for your state and
increase the volume Of our traffice to
the end that we might at all times be
able to establish the lowest rates and
most favorable conditions under which
the traffic must be carried.
The capital stock of railway compa-
nfes as OF other corporations will be held
by somebody and somewhere. Railway
companies as carriers are subject to SUI
pervision and control by the public for
the purpose of insuring the perform
ance of their obligations to the public.
The question Of reasonableness of rates
and service does not depend upon
whether one man owns the capital stock
of one railway or another. whether cap
1tal stock is owned by ten men or
one thousand, by persons or by corpora
tions. The capital stock of a railway
company Is personal property to be sold,
transferred from one man to another.
and any one may purchase and hold all
he has means to buy and pay for
He called attention to former high
rates on the great lakes and how north
western interests had established new
lines and forced in rates from the east
and by means Of new elevators had COM
PEELED lower rates there also After fur
ther touching on rate reductions he said:
During part Of this time. eleven
years, the mileage of the railroads in
the United States increased Is per cent,
while the tons moved shows an increase
of 120 per cent, and earnings show an
increase of less than 40 per cent. Dur
ing this time rates have been reduced to
the extent of that difference. During
that period, Notwithstanding the enor-
nous increase in traffic, four so-called
trunk lines have, thru destructive COM
petition, failed and then reorganiZed,
and all but one of them have been alb
sorbed by stronger surviving lines. De-
structive competition has forced the
weakest lines into bankruptcy and to-
day they are owned by lines that We're
able to maintain their position and
credit, giving the ability to acquire these
bankrupt roads,
After speaking of the congested state
of transportation thruout the country,
he said:
"A careful examination of the railway
problem from national standpoint will,
] believe, show beyond question that
the business of the country has out
grown the facilities on most of the trunk
lines, and new facilities not now appar-
ent Will become necessary to relieve the
situation. Rates in the United States
are much lower than in any other coun-
try. Wages are higher, the cost of much
OF the material is much higher than in
yet the rate charged in Europe
IS fully twice as high as in America
Conditions in this country change very
rapidly and while rates have been cut
in two in twenty years all kinds of labor
and materials used by railways have
from 80 to so per cent Moth
ing but the increased volume of traffic
has made it possible to reduce rates as
they have been reduced How will these
conditions be changed, and at whose
cost? Who will Guild new lines or in
crease old ones? These are questions
which / will not undertake to answer,
farther than to say that the west must
have the facilities or suffer for the want
of them The public must bear in mind
that bankrupt road can not furnish
good service"