The Topeka state journal., 1905-05-02
NO BUILDING CONTEST.
Chicago Authority says It Would B
Disastrous to All Roads


Disastrous to All Roads.
The Chicago Post says on railroad
Reports that E. H. Hartman viii
preclpltate railroad building contest
IN the northwest, particularly in the
territory IN Which J. J. Hill is interest
ed, are diScredited. Those who ought
to know say he wants peace. 1t is fur
ther claimed that he could not obtain
the slneWS of war were he disposed
to wage one It is not conceiva BILE that
the community of interests in that ter
rttory would permit it. It is equally
inconceiVable that the various inter
ests hitherto united behind E. H Har-
rtTnan would remain united behind
him in any such contingency.
The reason is plain. If the Union
Pacific and the Great Northern went
to war they might, in time. destroy
each other. Long before that time the
Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul and
Chicago & Northwestern would be
bankrupts, begging aid at receivers
hands. The Southern Pacific and
Santa Fe could fare no better. The
Great Northern holds the key to the
northwestern situation. OF this fact
there can be no shadow of a doubt
The Great Northern could cut down its
freight receipts II per cent. and con-
tinue to pay its full dividend A SINH
lar reduction on the Chicago &
Northwestern would cut the earnings
u AlldL LdltIOdu 10 per Cent Oh us
common stock; while on the St. Paul
1t would also leave but 8 per cent. on
the common after full preferred divi-
dends. It would leave the Union Pa
cific common dividend barely intact.
Let the Great Northern go farther.
Let Mr.. Hill decide, at the last, to
forego his dividends and cut his reve-
nues to the actual fixed charges The
Great Northern has only to earn about
$b,00O,0 900 to meet charges. He could
4 hi afrrI7A
ceipts and still make money. A sim
liar cut on the Union Pacific would
mean a deficit after charges of over
100000 per annum. On the St.
S5,000,000. On the Northwestern it
would mean a deficit of over $1,000
600 It would wreck both the last two
roads within three years, and leave the
Union Pacific a crippled giant to take
care of its half dozen affiliated COM
panies, all of which would almost GER
tainly be bankrupt
The reason is plain. The Great
Northern was built to carry freight;
some other roads were built to carry
bonds. The Great Northern cannot
be broken, or even threatened, by any
other northwestern railroad, because
the bonded debt of the Great Northern
is almost IudicrOusly low The road
was built by the men that own it.
There was no graft" no huge COM
mission, no stock market jugglery in
its creation. It was laid down as a
business proposition by business men
It's engineers were ordered to make
the cheapest freight route across the
continent They did it. That is the
reason the Great Northern holds the
key to the great northwest, and that is
the reason it will keep 1t.
That also is the reason why neither
Mr. Hartman nor anyone else really
wants to invite war with the Great
Northern. There is no one who can
manage it. Mr.. Harriman's pining for
railroad empire does not carry him sc
far. Neither do the faith and patience
of the great bankers who have stood
behind him in all his conquests.