The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-04-18
HILL HARTMAN
BATTLE ROYAL
Property Worth Four Millions
at Stake.
CAREER OF PRESIDENT HILL
-
HOW he FOUGHT TO BUILD UP
TIE WEST.
CAREER OF PRESIDENT Hill

St Paul, Mimi, April 16.-Hill
against Hartmann; the north against
the south; Puget sound against San
/ Francisco.
-Four hundred millions Of dollars and
the control of two great transconti-
mental railroad systems and their
connections tied up in the Northern
Did the Supreme court of the United
States mean, when it declared the
Northern Securities company an il
legal combination, that the pot should
| be split up evenly among the players,
or did it mean that each player should
take out exactly the stake he originally
put in?
Battle of Railway Giants.
James J. Hill and Pierpont Morgan
on one side; Hartman and his allied
interest on the other: half dozen of
the greatest corporation lawyers in the
! country, headed by Elihu Root. J. G.
johnson of Philadelphia and Francis
! Lynde StCtson as counsel for Hill and
Morgan, and w. d. Guthrie Of New
! York for the Hartman party: four
judges of the circuit court Of the
. United States listening in a packed
courtroom for two days TO sarcasm.
! inveCtive, logic, and law, delivered by
men the fee of each of whom in this
! single case would probably double the
yearly salaries of the four judges on
the bench.
Their decision is yet to come. It Will
| certainly decide the control of the
! Northern Pacific railroad company.
And if that control goes into the hands
Of interests hostile to James J. Hill
and the Great Northern railroad sys-
tenn ii may ultimately mean also the
! retirement of Mr.. Hill from his pres
ent position as one of the railroad
kings of the country.
May Mean Hills Retirement.
That threatened retirement is the
one great dramatic possibility i'm the
| whole situation, for il Hill retires it
] will only be because he is forced to do
so. He has been the uncrowned en-
! perOr of the northwest for a quarter
OF a century. II has been an empire in
the making. and Hill feels. with APP
| parent justice. that he has been. in a
large part, its creator. If he lays
| down the scepter now il will be in bit
! terness. He viii feel that he has been
the victim Of party of scheming
! politicians who have betrayed at the
same time the best interests OF that
/ great section of the country stretching
| westward from Lake Superior across
| the continent to Puget sound.
Fights For the Northwest.
! It is Hills position that in forming
! the Northern Securities company. he
was acting not only for the protection
/ of his own great railroad system but
| even more directly for the protection
! OF the vast territory which ii serves.
/ He feels, too, that the successful at
/ rl oil
pany was the outgrowth OF the agita-
/ ton begun by leading politicians in the
/ states through which the Great North
! ern railroad runs. He denounces such
agitatOrs as idle persons who insist
on dragging business into politics.
He has no charge OF ingratitude TO
/ bring against the people Of the great
! northwest He feels that in the mass
| they are his loyal friends. In confir-
nation OF this feeling there lay on his
desk yesterday a sheaf of letters just
received, coming from as far west as
Washington and from the states be-
tween. Each letter announced the sur
prise and shock OF the reader i'm hear
ing even the rumor that in certain
contingencies Mr.. Hill might retire.
Would Like to Retire.
81 have reached that period of life"
said Mr.. Hill today. as he stood by his
( desk in the general offices Of the Great
Northern Railroad company. when 1
must naturally wish to lift from my
shoulders some of the load l have been
carrying, ana 10 turn over to younger
men for execution some of the plans
which 1 have outlined. 1 should not
| wish to do so unless I could leave
! things in good condition. And l feel
they are in splendid condition just
now"
He picked up from his desk a little
red bound book K was the tabulated
statement of expenses and earnings OF
I the Great Northern railroad system for
the last four years. The book contained
, a list Of every station on the Great
Northern line, and after each name was
written the amount Of freight and pas
senger earnings which that station
had turned into the Golfers of the Great
Northern for each of the last four
years. This book is the railroad mans
book of results. 1t is his business
bible. 1t is the thermometer which
shows the rising and falling of the
tide Of prosperity.
How West Has Grown.
Mr.. Hill ran a stubby forefinger down
the closely written pages Of this book
1t stopped at Anita, n. d.
In 1899 Anita contributed $1,000 In
1903 it had jumped to $4,000"
The finger moved on to Minot. y D.
In 1899. $l24 0G0; in 1908 1891. COO
Mr.. Hin stopped and smiled. IL is a
trick he has to drive home and empha-
size the points he is making.
"SOuris, n. ID. In 1902. SIG, 0G0: in
1903, $2S9,000. You see, that town is
only two years old
He ran rapidly through the book.
thumbing the pages and stopping now
and then as the name Of some partic-
ular station coUght his eye.
Odessa, Wash. In 1899 the freight
and passenger receipts at this station
We're $4,000. In 1903 they were 1922, COO"
1t was the same all through At hum
dreds of stations the increase in freight
and passenger receipts had doubled
within the four years. In many cases
the increase was tenfold.
What does it mean2" he asked. "It
means that the country is prosperous,
that it Il growing. that people are NOV
ing back and forth. and that the prod
ucts of the country are increasing en-
oTmOusly.
And yet ne added scornfully. they
say we are restraining trade and chok-
ing off competition
Mr.. Hill is So years old. He is likely,
in any event. TO retire before many
years from his present position of ac-
tive director of the Great Northern sys-
TEN.
But such a retirement would not
mean that ne would sever all cOnnec-
ton with the great railway system he
has built up. II would mean only that
he would stand i'm an advisory capacity
TO such directors as ne might select.
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