Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1902-10-30
fE MERGER TRIAL
j HiIl on the Witness Stand Tells of the
Taxation of the Great Northern and It's
.sncy in the Development of the Northwest
3 .sons for the Purchase of the Burlington.

a5yans.L W the coast. or else we INNS.
a the rate on the lumbe~ Must
outside or cotton. take nails W. now
cles OF tnat Kind. that business hasS, arts
- VERY large dimensions, but our rste e =
kong; II is Is cents a hUndreJ 20 70 hong
Ihose commodities. A line rescbffOOnn on
Louis and all the trunk lines 90 nLhg 81.
: vastI, Sts louis and Chicago puts rs ~
q aasIly inherent position; and that ia LII
reason why 1t was of such importa - the
US TO control the situation. We en- LOT
SontF1l IL unless We could give a ma ne rEo . ~
raised along oSr OF the line-products
OF the mine or from the farm or ont 10 o ~
forest, II the man who PRODUCED i VI Cns
hat Sen ~ ne would stop producing. And
with the Burlington we find o ~ meet,
able to meet it. 1"" ourselves
Oriental Trade.
=. MT; hin, are. you able to state the
comparative growth of that Oriental ~, ~
nc since It's inception up to this Tina
-. Inc growth has been very rapid. In
some commodities more rapid than in
isrsa LAST year the increase was very
manufactured and in machinery and In
some other commodities it fell OFF. The
III ~, ApahIEk. was considerably reduced.
ms fatouni OIL, by some arrangement
has that market largely and We 40 nn;
carry the oil we did. Wv No'
~. taking the aggregate OF the traffic
the total amount Of '
A. Well, / should saw that IN 100 tho
year endtn June 30, 19O2-the hnsiness
was more than twice as great as n wa
Lne previous year ending June, 1901. We
%ece IN better position to do the business
". can you give us the quantity of cot.
Ton. raw cotton or piece goods, that was
carried In 1901 and 1902? "' Va"
"a. l can give 1t TO you exactly by the
speaking Of. "'
A In 1901 the amount of cotton piece
RO0n2 W12 IL lIn halnn. Tnnsg n. 80
Raw cotton in 1901 was l3, 230, 600 poIIn6s
against 4l,243,O00 pounds the next wear
Continuing his testimony, Mr.. hin ex-
pts'Hs1 nat they made their ships large
Tor Lhe purpose of reducing rates. They
coItd carry a cargo equal to what ave
ordinary freight steamers could carry with
onn'y one crew instead of five crews. In
all tnctr. movements there was no inter-
ton to hinder commerce, but TO promote n
ana ~ has greatly increased m
between tn, United States and foreign
hatlons. Ihese arrangements nave only
been perfected about a year and the bust
ness has more than doubled on the Great
Northern road, He said he thought the
totai or tonnage of the Great Northern
road Will show. the increase to be about
3S per cent, and the foreign business ia
increased Yer 100 per cent. I'VE have
been able to reduce rates from 10 TO Is
per cent n a year OIL the local business
netWeeh the Pacific coast and the Twin
Cities ard Lake Superior" was his an.
sWer 10 the question as to what effect
ths increase or business had had in the
&. At the time of the purchase Of the
burlington shares. was there any purpose
or intention to restrain or hinder the
tpanle or taa burlington read itself, in
\. No. sir. rome whatever.
q What has been the effect Of that
purchase. upon the raffic of the Burling-
ton road? Has il hiadered II, restrained
1t. or has It increated it?
a. l think that the traffic of the Bur
ington road from Billings to the south
west has bean very largely increased, and
been considerable.
q What is likely to be the future eff
tect! VIII 1t be to restrain or to enlarge
the of the v0ad?
A.. IL the plan as contemplated is car
ried out, 4 should make a very large in
crease in the traffic. For instance. If the
iron ore from Minnesota can fiEd the fur
naces in Missouri or Southern Illinois or
down IN that country where they get
cheap coal, and bring back coal in the
same cars, cars adapted for moving one
moving both, that business alone SHOULD
run very soon into millions of tons. That
is che. / know Of NO place where the
business would not be Increased; / know
OF no place where it would not be in
creased and benefited, / can imagine
none.
He further explained that the reason
why they had not begun this earlier was
because II was a very large undertaking
IpE the SEedI northern ROAD alone, ana
that the Northern Pacific was just en-
merging from an embarrassment which
made 1t ineXpedient for it to join.
The question Of a holding company was
not part of the Burlington transaction. 1t
was not discussed or thought of: neither
was there any purpose at that time to
secure control Of the Northern Pacific
stock.
He said one OF the Great Northern d.
rectors raised the question that inasmuch
as the purpose of the Burlington stock
and the creation of a bond to pay for II,
involved the joint and several liability of
the entire amount OF the purchase, IT was
a matter of consequence to the Great
Northern 10 NOW hat the Northern Pa
citic would not pass into the hands Of
people who might be interested in other
directions.
He did not think that any Of the officers
OF the Northern Pacific company had any
thing TO do with tine orga "ization of the
Northern Securities company. The North
ern Securities company simply bought the
stock of the Northern Pacific from the
people who owned 1t. The corporation did
not own any stock that he was aware Of
n at any rate. II did not sell any stock
to the Northern Securities company. His
sales and those of his Immediate
friends. the eleven parties he had named.
were absolute without anv condition or
trust or implied agreement or anything
else. There was no understanding as to
how the Northern Securities company
should vote the stock-no condition OF
any kind attached TO the sale. The sale
was not the result OF any agreement with
each other.
Replying to questions as TO whether he.
Hill, solicited parties to buy the stock
Of the Northern Securities company, Mr..
pm stated that replying to inquiries. he
told them that II was a matter they must
determine for themselveS-and he had so
many Inquiries that finally he prepare a
circular letter as an answer, IN which ne
explained that the Northern secnritIes
company did not operate and could not
onarate a railroad. but could only buy
ana cell shares of railroads. and the value
~ its stock depended upon the pront
made by the railroads the stock or wnlnn
the Northern Securities company miRh'
-ie left each inquirer to act his "
plaa sure without giving advice.
The Second Day.
~ .ho second day of Mr.. Hills testi-
mopy he was c~ross-exanlneo py u a.
tnrneva for the government. IL was oe-
unnaS Nv his testimony that Hartman
~ ranresents the Union PacihcS lntsI-
VS. js the largest individual stockhoider
ya Northern Securities
4rht. Zane about by the large purchase oi
Narthern Pacific stock by the unIoh ,an,
ci6c made during the raid IN MAY; snL
Tn rssponse to questions MI, IiiI
thare was nothing TO prevent Mr. tho
NAN from buying more STOCK nns
Northarn Securities company II ne e, s,bs
Niiirg tn nav the price asked Tor IL by tHe
NIlas tJe might even buy. enough "
oWnerstro hit he, Hill, did not thihh
haNe nuars would be likely to sell ~ aHu
une ~ Enough he now has some elsnoss
~ aIasty r%nTlions OF the -FOUR nunu.,tt