Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1905-11-01
CHAPTER Kill. !.
THE WRECKERs. !.

THE WRECISERs
Just why Receiver Guilford, aA~ st.
deer Of the court who was supposed
to be nursing an insolvent railroad
to the end that its creditors might
not lose all. should begin by declaring
war on the roads revenue, was 4
question which the managers Of cons
petins lines str0ye yainly to answer.
But when, in defiance Of all precedent,
he made the cut rates effective to and
from all local stations on the Trans
Western, giving the shippers at In
termediate and homeopathic points
the full benefit Of the reductions, the
railroad colony denounced him as q
mailman and gave him month In
which to find tho bottom Of a presum,.
ably empty treasury. -
But tho event proved that the ma
1or's madness was not altogether with
out method. It Is an axiom in the
carrying trade that low rates make
business; create it, SO to. speak, out
OF nothing. Given an abundant crop,
low prices, and high freight rates in
the great cereal belt, and, be the farm
ers never so poor, much of the grain
will b stored and held against the
chance Of better condition. -
So it came about that Major Gull
ford's relief measure was timed to
a nicely, and the blanket cut In rates
opened q veritable dO0d-gate for buSi-
ness in Western territory.
From the day of it's announcement
the traffic Of the road increased by
leaps and bounds. Stored grain came
out of it's hiding places ut every
country crossroads to beg for cars;
stock feeders drove their market cattle
unheard-of distances, across the tracks
OF competing lines, over and around
obstacles Of every sort, to pour them
into the loading corrals of the Trans
Western.
Nor was the traffic all outgoing.
With the easing of the money burden,
the merchants in the tributary towns
began thriftily to take advantage of
the low rates to renew their stocks;
long-deferred visits and business trips
suddenly became possible; and the
saying that it was cheaper to travel
than to stay at home gained instant
and grateful currency.
In short time the rolling stock
OF the road was taxed to its utmost
capacity, and the newly appointed
purchasing agent was buying cars and
locomotives right and left. Also, to
keep pace with the ever-increasing
procession of trains, 4 doubled con-
struction force wrought night and day
Installing new side tracks ard passing
points.
Under the fructifying influence of
such q golden shower of prosperity,
land values began to rise again, slow
ly at first, as buyers intrusted the,
continuance of the golden shower;
more rapidly little later, as the
Guilford policy defined itself in terms
or apparent permanence. y
Towns along the line-hamlets long
since fallen into the way-station rut
of acknowledgements with start. be-
stirring themselves toyfully to meet
the inspiriting conditions. At Midland
City, Stephen Hawk, the new .right-of-'
way agent, ventured to ask municipal
help to construct a ten-mile branch
to Lavabee: it was forthcoming
promptly; and the mass meeting, at
which the bond loan was anticipated
by public subscription shouted itself
hoarse in enthusiasm. -
At CASTOR, where Hawk asked for
donation of land waereon the company
might build the Compromised divis:
ion repair-shops, people fought with
one another to be first among the
donors. And at Juniberg, where the
company proposed to establish the
first of a ceries of grain subtreasuries
in which the farmers of
the surrounding country could store
their products and borrow money on
them from the railroad company at the
rate of three per cent. per annum-at
Juniberg enough money was subscribed
to erect three such depots as the heavi-
est crop could possibly I'LL. >4@ -
1t was while the pendulum of pros
perity was in full swing that David
Kent took day of from sweating
over his problem of ousting the re.
ceiver and ran. down to CASTOR. Sim
gle-eyed as he was in the pursuit of
justice, he was not unmindful of the:
six lots standing in his name in the
CASTOR suburb, and from all accounts:
the time was come to dispose of them.
He was smoking his after-dinner'
cigar in the lobby of the hotel and
trying as he might to orient himself
when Blashfield Hunnicott drifted in.
Kent gave the sometime local attorney
a cigar, made room for him on the
plush-coyered settee, and proceeded to
pump him dry Of CASTOR news.
Summed up, the inquiries pointed
themselves thus: was there any basis
for the CASTOR revival other than the
lately changed attitude of the railroad?
In other words, II the cut rates should
be withdrawn and the railroad activi-
ties cease. would there not be second
and still more disastrous collapse Of
the CASTOR bubble? I: &. ..... 2:
Pressed hardly, Hunnicott admitted
the probability; given another turn,
the screw Of inquiry 1 squeezed out
an admission of the fact, slurred over
by the revivalist, that the railway
.company's treasury was really the
almsbox into which all hands were
dipping. s a5S 45: 81. " 5s.
One more question and III let up
on you" said Kent. 1T used to be.
said Of you in the flush times that
you kept tab on the real estate trans-
fers when everybody else was too
busy to read the record. Do you still