The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-10-29
HILL and C.P. R.
MAY GO TO WAR
Several Causes of Friction Between
the Northern Securities Lines
and Canadian Pacific.
ANY One of Them or Combination
May Cause Outbreak of Open
Hostilities. =
Special to The Innrnnl

1OSJll1I1eS. ..
Special to The Journal a.4a. ..
New York, Oct 29.-Recently there
has come up a serious question wheth-
err the railroad policies of r. +. Hill
and Canadian Pacific are not certain
sooner or later. to bring these two in
tereStS into a railroad conflict between
the Great Lakes and the Pacific coast
Both Mr.. Hill and the Canadian Pa
cific people deny fatty that there has
been any serious friction in railroad
business. That there is friction Of an
other sort neither denies. That this
friction will ultimately lead to aggres-
sive tactics cannot be predicted with
certainty, but there are in the situation
all the elements of mutual hostility.
The causes of the friction are four
fold. The first and probably the most
important lies in the fact that, thru a
certain shortsightedness on the part of
Great Northern and Northern Pacific,
the foothold of these two American
lines in Manitoba was lost in 1901.
The Manitoba government in that year
leased these lines for 800 years and
has since sublet them to Canadian
Northern at an annual rental that
amounts to about 8 per cent on the
amount paid to Northern Pacific. The
Northern Securities people have come
to realize that they sold their equity
in Manitoba for a. song. The Mani
tOba government drove a shrewd bar
gain.
Northern Securities would dearly
like to get back into Manitoba. The
fact is that there are no agricultural
stations on Great Northern that pay
better returns than those on the
branches that run north from the
main line toward the Manitoba bor-
der. The northern belt Of North Da-
kota, and the southern belt of Mani
toba are about the richest agricultural
territories in the northwest. The
Manitoba government in refusing to
allow the Hill lines to invade that pro-
vince is defending the best interests of
the two great Canadian railroads. Mr..
Hill recognizes the fact that he is per-
manently closed out Of Manitoba and
the fact is not.a pleasant one for him
to contemplate.
The British Columbia Fight.
The second point at which the inter-
ests Of the two systems collide is the
borderland of British Columbia. Mr..
Hill has at present four spur lines
running into that territory and is even
now seeking a feasible route for
fifth He has his own ships on KOote-
nay lake and his own lines to all the
great coal centers of the border coun-
try. The construction of these coal
lines has not greatly excited the enmi-
ty Of Canadian Pacific, as they meet
the Canadian road at right angles and
are not competitive for local business.
When Mr.. Hill sent his surveyors into
the mountains, however, looking for a
new route toward the Fraser river,
Canadian Pacific promptly sent it's
surveyors into the same mountains,
and has. fought Mr.. Hill for every ineh-I
Lf his right aHof way. Not very long
ago the construction gangs met in
armed opposition. Neither road" has
found pass thru the mountains i'm
mediately east Of Yale and the valley
of the Fraser, and there is good reason
to believe that neither@ever will find
feasible route across those mountains
for low grade traffic.
There is also the question of a Hill
line into Vancouver and a Canadian
Pacific line into Seattle. Both plans
are mooted, but the Hill, lines bid fair
to reach the Canadian<3traffc center
before the Canadian Pacific reaches
Seattle. One of the most prominent
engineers of the Great Northern says
that Canadian Pacific survey intend
ed to lay down a right of way from
Huntingdon Junction southwark to
Seattle ran into a cul de sac in the
mountains near New Whatcom, and:
that the survey southwark has never
been completed. The Canadian Pa
cif1c has not patented it's right of way
into any Of the American. cities on the
coast, while Mr.. Hills attorneys have
fought for his right Of way into Van
couver in the courts, and have al
ready gained one important decision
over the Canadian Pacific. 1t is true
that Mr.. Hill fatty denies that he has
anything to do with this extension into
Vancouver, but his denial is taken as
purely technical. ThoseFwh have ac-
cess to official maps Of Great Northern
claim that a dotted red line runs ~on
those maps from New Westminster to
Vancouver. Dotted lines indicate con-
struction, and the construction in this
case is being carried on by an indie
pendent company, presumably in the
pay Of Mr.. Hill.
Friction ON Rates.
The third cause of friction is the
matter Of rates. Three or four recent
incidents serve to illustrate. The Ca
madam Pacific, at the moment, is max
ing rates westbound from the lakes
on flour to the Pacific coast which !
the Hill lines do not care to meet. At |
the same time the shippers of both
BRUSH COlumD1a ana washington are
clamoring for more cars to carry their
lumber eastward. There Is a vital
connection between these two facts. |
At this season there is always a short
age Of cars for the transportation Of
the low grade products of the far, west
toward the middle country. All lines
are concentrating their cars in the
wheat belt. The Canadian Pacific,
finds itself in position to make some
what better reply to the demands of
the British Columbia shippers than
Mr.. Hill can make to the demands
of the Washington shippers. Every
box car on the Hill lines is busy at
the wheat centers. BY, accident the
Canadian Pacific finds that it can af-.
ford to send a better allowance of cars
to British Columbia. Rather than send
them empty, it makes extremely low
rates on flour and other products of
the middle country, and SO avoids the
expensive expedient of moving empty
cars. lsa. t+nt.l.E f.. n
In this connection the remarks of
Freight Traffic Manager Machines Of /
Montreal puts the whole matter in a
nutshell. He says: r-.ss. 4s u
Canadian Pacific, with regard to special
ST i- tn, n