The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1903-11-16
RAILROAD POLITICS
JOE SMITH COMMENTS ON EIEc-
TON OF HOWARD ELLIOTT
TO SUCCEED MELLEN.
He Believes That Jim Hill Will Make
Charley Chamberlain His Po-
ltcal Manager in This State.

Joel Smith writes as follows in the
Seattle Mail and Herald:
The recent election of Howard Ell
lott as president Of the Northern Pa
cif1c may have an important bearing
on Washington politics. Mr. Elliott
while he has never been connected
with the Great Northern railroad. is
generally recognized in railroad cir
cles as a Hill man." the term being
used in the sense that he looks with
favor upon the Hill methods, and is
inclined towards patterning after the
president Of the Great Northern. In
this respect he is the antithesis of for
mer President Mellen, who had his
own way of doing things and has never
been recognized as in sympathy with
the Great Northern'S president. In
in the politics of Washington have
been formed principally by the North
ern Pacific and the Oregon Railroad
& Navigation company, ana when
those alliances had been formed the
Great Northern was told what it had
changed. While there is still some die
cuSSiOn as to whether the Hill interests
control the Northern Pacific stock, the
election of Elliott as president may
be taken as a very reliable indication
that Hill will dictate the management
Of the road. The man on this coast
who is the closest to President Hill is
J. d. Farrell, president of the Great
Northern Steamship company. 1t is
pretty generally understood in rail-
road circles that Mr.. Farrell could
have been president of the Northern
Pacific had he desired the position,
but that he was not placed in that po-
sition for the reason that a more i'm
pOrtant place is in prospect for him.
The place in prospect is that of as
sistant to President Hill of the North
ern Securities company. That posi-
ton will not be created until the set
clement of the suits against the mer-
ger, but when it is and Mr. Farrell is
this coast of all the Hill interests.
To a man up tree it would appear
hat Mr.. Farrell has already begun to
get his force into shape to protect, in
the politics of the state, the financial
interests which he represents. The
ntimation has been permitted to creep
out from the inner circle. that the
resignation of Judge Burke and Will
H. Thompson in the legal department,
and the appointment of l.. c. Gilman
rs general western counsel for the
road, bears the significant indication
of a determination to take the legal
departments of both the Great North
ern and the Northern Pacific railroads
out of politics, and conduct the polltl-
cal bureau. The men who were closest
to Mr. Farrell in the Piper fight were
Charley Chamberlain, formerly re-
ceiver of the Central Washington rail-
road. and James F. McElroy, formerly
prosecuting attorney of King county,
but at present local counsel for the
Northern Pacific. Until quite recently
Chamberlain has maintained an once
IN Cherry street adjacent to those or
he Seattle Gas & Electric Company
IF which Samuel Hill is the president
Quite recently, however, he has chang
ed his base of operations and moved
INTO an office on the fourth floor OF
he Burke building adjacent to that
Of Nh. Farrell and having the same
general entrance. In the rank OF the
-orces which oppose the participation
in politics by the railroads or their
nenchmen this is pointed out as
signifying that Mr.. Chamberlain is to
be the head Of the neWrailroad pollu-
cal bureau.
These are mere surface indications.
The important point is not whether the
railroads are going to continue to take
part in the politics of the state, for in
the absence of very positive lntorma-
ton to the contrary We may, baslng
our surmises on the facts of the past
AXE that for granted. The import
ant matter for consideration is the d.
rection in which they are going to ex-
art their political activities In the
past the manifold activities OF the
paid railroad lobby has been very OF
eensive to the people of the state, not
so much because they were active IN
opposing legislation directed against
in