Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-28

Hudson Bay Company. / met him first in
his offices back OF the great Hudson Bay
stores in Winnipeg, and afterward spent an
evening with him at his house here. MI.
Chapman is quiet and unassuming. Like
all Hudson Bay men. he is rather reticent
In speaking about the company. and 1t was
only repeated questions that brought out
the informa ton that follows. He is a man
of great organizing ability and is notably
successful in the handling of men. Said he:
"The Hudson Bay Company has had an
active business existence of more than 80
years. Its history is well known. 1t started
in the times of Charles II and has practi-
cally managed the greater part of British
North America from then until the
taking over of the government of the north
ern wilds by the Canadian DOMINION II
would take a book to tell It's history, anu
indeed several books have been published
concerning ii.
What is the capital of the company, Mr..
Chapman, and who are it's stockholders?n
The capital stock Is f1 100000 or $o,eto, :
600 The corporation is an English one ana
the most of the shares are held in England,
and especially in London. The stock is not
a speculative one and the company does
not encourage dealing in it we would
rather not have it rise and fall Indeed,
the shares are not listed anywhere eX-
cept on the London stock exchange. Most
of the holders do not care to sell, and much
of the stock has not changed hands for
generations 1t is what might be called
stronghold Securlty-SOneInlnS lnal is SUI {
to pay It's dividends year after year.
Hudson Bay Posts.
."What is the present field of the Hudson
Bay Company? l suppose 1t has been great
Iy restricted within recent years."
mo. that is not so,'' replied the Hudson
Raw commissioner; "our field is practically
the same that it has always been. We have
about go trading posts scattered here and
there throughout British North America.
They extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific
and from the United States boundary to
the mouth of the Mackenzie river"
s'But how can the company control such
vast territory Mr.. Chipman?" 1 asked.
1--WE have the country as carefully or
eanized as any wholesale dealer organizes
the territory of his trade. The wilds of
British America are divided up into dis
tricts and subdistricts. Each district has
it's chief trader, with subordinate traders
under him. The under traders report to
. their chiefs and the chiefs report to me
and I report to the directors at London.
Everything is controlled from London and
the directors there know just as well as
do what is going on all over the country. We
give detailed reports of the conditions at
every post. Our system is thorough and at
the same time II is so simple that we can
tell lust what the trade is, what goods are
needed and waht skins we may expect We
can estimate the demands and supplies from
year to year.
Nevertheless, the posts must be widely
scatteredT
''They are" replied the commissioner.
Some are hundreds of miles apart and
some are thousands of miles from our head
quarters here at Winnipeg. We have in
spectors who VISIT the posts every year or
so, and we know exactly what is going on
In them
but, has not your business changed
greatly within recent years.?
I'm some respects, yes replied the COM