The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1902-10-31

ly, absolutely owned any railroad mileage
but that 1t operated somewhere from five
to six thousand miles OF road under
p lsasfo a Of the isss stock as si Of t 3wn oid Ma is1ss
road and some other corporations.
He also testified relative to the reduc.
e e11n s III aa' the mare pTreb on the Of i ibe BH MGras.
ton system. In r~esponse to the question
who directed the reduction on the Great
conference between the officers and him.
sell He ssid the reduction Of rates on
a number Of years. He said the reduc-
ton amounted to 10 or Is per cent. On
E Elain from it val al % Dia pss ssnt the Il ar xss H 1e1FIy
some places more: He thought the re:
the Northern Pacific. but was not abso-
lutely informed O that point. He dis
changss IL ha aSi personally made the
he had been consulted and advised in
rates had been reduced on lumber, pig
iron or coal since the purchase of the
burlington, because those rates were
than were charged by the Eastern roads.
Ihe gross earnings of the Great North
e sla per pnd ton on per Hsr mile 1s " we're re- stated to To- be b.
the United States was .729. He thought
that the the Northern Pacific was higher
the Atchison it was .9ss. Mr.. Hill said
higher than On the Great Northern and
they charged the average rate Of the
Atchison it would increase their earnings
Referring to the purchase OF a large
amount Of coal land in Illinois, Mr.. Hfli
said the Northern Securities company did
en q SUIT SUIT WAS WAS 1 basun at He He n made 'a this PRES ss.
PLANTATION on the coal question
Coal supply.
Witness: / do not want to be m%isunder-
nave been. The Great Northern Railway
company and the Northern Pacific Rail
way company have an interest in this
country and the people living here, and,
inasmuch as our winters are cold, il
would be difficult for them to live here
without fuel. and it is a very serious mat
tern u is a very serious matter for the
would be able to run our trains to the
frst day OF February. with the lack Of
supply of coal. without bringing coal
would have to give up a portion of our
supply of steam coal to keep people from
freezing before ~spring-and it is not due
and | tried to make it plain yesterday
that it was not; but it is due to the in
ability sn Of the railroads between Lake
Pennsylvania and Ohio to move the coal.
They are unable TO move the coal up to
Lake Erie ports. and We are unable to
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
to the coal mines of Illinois, which are
the nearest coal mines to this country.
and the Importance OF that will be appa-
rent more and more as time goes on. |
Mr.. Hill further testified that when the
Union Pacific desired to get control of
the b, Bi%urlington road Mr.; Hartman came
proposition was declined. The purchase
cihc, he said would have left the Great
Northern. in a helpless condition because
the Great Northern was jointly and sew
1innsy res hesp 6n;n6 -, for two hundred mil.
burlington stock. and if the Northern
Pacific owned a Joint interest in the deal,
tfeX would be responsible for one-hslf
cihc was in the hands Of a rival trans
continental line with its interest in San
FRANCISCO and from Omaha through the
Platte Valley to San Francisco they could
influence the Burlington to help their
southern interests and would be in a
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
%curfties company was in no sense a re-
striction to trade. That the Great North
ern and Northern Pacific and Burlington
were operated separately and independ-
emily. That there was no actual merger.
bur that their working together was OF
vital interest to the Northwest. Tina
rates had been reduced as the result OF
this cooperation, and could and would
be still further reduced as tariff increases.
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 it 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 It 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
been incurred, the great increase Of tom
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-
"a rr nrinp and AGRICULTURAL interests