The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1904-04-08
SEEKS TO CONTROL THE TRANS
PORTATlON SYSTEMS OF
THE COUNTRY.
SERIOUS BLOW AT NORTHWEST
If HARTMAN WINS SUIT RUSl-
NESS WILL BE DIVERTED TO
SOUTHWEST.

81. raul, April D. n real reason
for the petition which will befled in
the Northern Securities case, we'll in
formed people say. is John D.. Rookie
Teller. The head of the Standard Oil
trust is the real power behind E. H.
Hartman and Winslow S.. Pierce.
who will ask the United States courts
to return the stock of the Northern
Securities company in such a way
that they may get control of the
Northern Pacific railroad. Rockefeller
needs the Northern Pacific railway in
his great scheme to control the trans
portation systems of the country. and
in the game in which Hartman and
Pierce appear as players. he hopes TO
play his trump card and take the
trick.
The oil business of the country,
even of the world. is not the only in
dustry Rockefeller has by the throat.
The oil business naturally got him
into transportation, and as the profits
of the oil trust have kept piling UP
he has invested more and more of his
oil trust gains squeezed out of the
| people in railroads. until he is n OF
the most powerful railroad magnates
in the United States. n he is APP
| plying to his transportation interests
| the same methods that gave him the
monopoly of the oil business. 1t is
the policy of crushing rivals, and "the
| public be id"
Effect Of the Suit.
1t is easy to see what the effect will
be il the Rockefeller railroad trust
gets control of the Northern Pacific.
which it seeks by the petition which
will be made in the United States
| court. The railroad trust owns the
| Union Pacific and the Southern Pa
| cific. and their subsidiary lines. One
| crosses the continent in the South and
the other runs through the center of
the continent. They have worked to-
| gether for years, for the benefit of the
trust that OWNS them, and the terri
tory they serve they have held by the
throat with a grip that all but choked
to death. 1t is a grip which the peo-
pie of California have tried to shake
loose for years.
This great railroad trust sees the
possibilities of Oriental trade. 1t
wants that trade, and it wants it on
it's own terms. But in the North there
sprang up a rival. In the Northern
Securities company, which permitted
harmonious action among the Great
Northern. the Northern Pacific II
the Burlington, there was a rival that
was worth considering. The supreme
court decision hit that rival. and now
is the time that Rockefeller sees his
chance to get
His Iron Grip
on the Northwest as we'll as the
Southwest. Rockefeller does not
want the Northern Pacific for the
good III may do with it to the North
west That is not the Rockefeller
way. He wants it because through it
he will be able to use the Burlington
also. and with the use of both lines to
divert business from the Northwest to
the Southwest, where his gigantic in
~terests lie. Mr.. Rockefeller hopes to
get his grip through the petition he
will have Mr.. Hartman and Mr..
Pierce file in the United States court.
Blow at Northwest.
Almost the sole topic of converse
ton. as it related to the filing of the
Hartman petition to intervene, in
railway circles yesterday was the
probable effect of the success of the
petition upon traffic routes and rail
way conditions in the territory from
St. Paul west to the Pacific coast. The
opinion generally expressed was that
there is danger to the Northwest in
the possible shifting of control of the
Northern Pacific to the Union Pacific.