River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1902-10-30
MERGER IN COURT.
Government Suit Against Northern
Securities Company.
Testimony Taken In ST. Paul, Mimi, Before
Commissioner Appointed for that
Purpose by Court--Mr. Hill
the Stand.

The fact that the government of the
United States has instituted a suit
under the Sherman antitrust law
against the Northern Securities COM
pany, to prevent that company from
doing business and carry out the So
called merger of the Great Northern
| and Northern Pacific, is well known.
Testimony has been taken in New
York, and is now to be taken in st.
Paul before Mr.. f. G. Ingersoll, COM
missioner appointed by court for that
purpose. Naturally, Mr. J. J. Hill
was prominent and important wit
ness. His testimony was very voluni-
nous, giving many details of the great
deal not heretofore made public. He
was on the stand for two days, but
space permits only fragment of his
evidence. He was followed by Mr..
Harris, president of the Burlington
system, and Mr.. Weyerhaeuser, the
great lumber dealer, who is a director
in the Great Northern, and others.
There was a great array of eminent
attorneys present as participators or
listeners.
Mr.. Hill told in general way of the
building Of a great railway system of the
development of the trade in the Orient
and of the coal situation of the country.
Mr.. Hill largely told his story in his own
way, none of the learned counsel having
disposition to throw out hint that Mr..
Hill might better tell it some other way
He began by relating briefly the organi-
cation of the ST. Paul, Minneapolis &
Manitoba road, and later it's reorganiza-
ton into the Great Northern road, and
admitted without very much pressing that
he had very largely determined the policy
of the roads, especially the policy of ex-
tending the lines. This was, however, he
explained, largely due to the fact that
many of the other directors had been
non-reSidentS.
Built for Keeps,
Explaining how the Great Northern had
been pushed through to the coast in 1898,
Mr.. Hill said that $500, 900 had been ex-
pended for surveying alone, as he de-
sired to be certain that he was building
his road on the best possible locations.
He dropped in little side remark at this
point by saying that while riding along
the Pennsylvania system once he OBJ
served a portion of that system being
built the fourth right of way, and, he
said, Il wanted to avoid all that sort of
thing
The traffic of the western country con-
sisted mostly of lumber, and it was es-
sential for the Great Northern to handle
this lumber if it was to do business at
all. The rate at that time was 80 cents
hundred pounds, which was prohibitive.
II conferred with lumber manufacturers
and they thought that if they had a rate
of SIS cents they could send lumber east.
l knew they couldn't do it with a rate
higher than SO cents, so we made it 40
cents, and the lumber trade began to de-
velop rapidly.
I'm order to make low rate on east
ern lumber shipments it was essential to
first have a western movement of cars to
prevent the necessity of bringing empty
cars west to ship the lumber in. Within
four years we had so developed this trade
and trade with Alaska and the eastern
islands that we were enabled to secure
eastern goods for the markets of the ORR
ent and thus to keep a movement of
cars which meant a shipment of lumber
east again at a rate making the shipment
possible and profitable.
What steps did you take to secure
transportation across the Pacific, and
what relation did that have to your pur-
chase of the Burlington road stock?'
asked Mr.. Young
I'VE found that the lumber supply Of
the United States east of the Rockies and
north of the Ohio river was more and
more dependent upon the Washington and
Oregon forests, and that the time was
rapidly approaching when the states
which were furnishing lumber to the
east would not have enough lumber for
their own needs (Michigan, for instance,
now consumes more than she can manu-
facture) 1 was especially interested in
the lumber traffic, because if there was
no lumber for us to carry from the west
there was nothing at all for us to carry
on our road. | saw that it was only q
question of time when Washington and
JVTNlNy oil -
the country. 1t Is soon to be so. In order
to have a low rate we must have large
tonnage, and have markets to which we
could send anything made in the east,
and thus have a continual eastern traffic
westward. I influenced the Japanese to
purchase a trial lot of American rails in
stead of the Belgian and English rails.
and later induced them to buy American
cotton, on a guarantee that if it was not
satisfactory 1 would pay for it.
1.-The cotton trade has been growing
very rapidly ever since We Chartered
ships to take this cotton and these rails
to Japan. We can make a rate to Hong
kong which will enable the MINNEAPOLIS
millers to ship their flour to China if
they can get the Chinese trade
Coal Supply.
O. What advantage, if any, did Won ex-
pect to derive and have you derived from
the Burlington purchase in regard to the
ITdV6rSeQ
by your line?
Replying to the above question, Mr.. Hill
thought that on the west end they had
a local supply of coal and on the east end
coal in the past has come from Pennsyl-
vania and West Virginia and some from
Ohio, but now it was apparent that they
could no longer rely on the previous re-
sources in the east, and it is consequent
ly of vital interest to use the supply they
can obtain not only for themselves but for
the public as well from the Illinois coal
fields. The grades of the Burlington road
enabled them to carry an enormous ton
mage and the public would soon be COM
PEELED to rely upon the bituminous coal
supply instead of on the anthracite from
the east. This coal is necessity to the
people of the northwest, which would
have to abandon the country for five
months in the year if they could not get
coal at reasonable prices, and they can
not get it from the east at a reasonable
price He did not claim that this was
due to the strike and the local situation
this year. but this was the permanent
situat ton the northwest had got to face
and in the future they could not bring
coal from the western end of their line
because the haul was too far to furnish
it at moderate prices.
Ore Trade With St. Louis.
Within the last week we had advices of
rs, 900 or 100 900 tons of iron ore to go
through the winter from the iron mines
of northern Minnesota to st. Louis to load
the coal cars back. The fact that the
coal has To come north or that there is
coal to come north makes it possible to
make lower rate ON the iron ore, and
together the iron ore rates and the coal
rate are both affected and are both re-
duced to the extent that we can load the
cars both ways. This is a matter we
have under consideration; this iron mat