Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1907-03-06
HARR1MAN's POINT OF VIEW.

Mir. Hartman makes an extremely interesting witness, although there are limits of candor, beyond which hc re- fuses to go, unfortunately, son advice of counscl' For instance, when qucs' toned about the famous delayed divi- dend suppression last August, at which time, it k said. Hartman cleaned upl the bears in Wall street to the tune of eight millions, he refused to deny that he had taken advantage of the delay to purchase stocks before thel news reached the market. Yet NIT. Hartman says. of the man hc busted from the presidency of road he want eel: "Thc trouble with Fish was that he looked upon the Illinois Central as his personal propcrty.'
 With Mr, Hartman, it seems. q great deal depends upon the point of view. There Is a general impression. through out the country. that Mir. Fish is not the only railroad president who has looked upon railroad as his personal property. For example. we might men ton MT. Hartman himself But the king of all the captains of high finance, who sees the faults of others so clearly, regards these same faults as virtues. when associated with the imperial plans and policies of Edward II. Hartman.
 He frankly confesscs to imperial dreams of conquest, even beyond the widest imaginings of those who knew there were scarcely any limits to his ambitions. Commissioner Lane, in i'm prcssivc tones. rccitcd inc wondcrfu. list of Hartman x achievements, fait sccompi. and then asked the witness: "Wbcrc is this thing going to stopl' Mir. Hartman rather thought it had stopped. but added: "I would like to' go on, and buy some more. v
 IIa would like to have line of his own, from san Francisco to New York. He would gobblc up the santa Fc to- morrow, he said, if the law would per init him. Then, would he take the Northern Pacific and the Great North crnf "lf you would lei me- he rr. piled. Nor does his dream end there. After combining everything in inc west in one giant monopoly-undcr Edward iI. Hartman 's direction. of course this Napoleon would pursue his cam paign of conquest to the furthcrmost east.
 When that time comes grateful country should elect Edward II. lIarri. man President, and abolish Congress and the supreme court What need have We of other institutions, while we have Emperor Hartman
 At no part of his remarkable tcsti. mouy was iIa"rimonism moro accent. cd, the point of divergence between the Hartman view and sound principles of justice and public policy more sharply defined, than when he declared that, so long as a road gave "proper facilities nt "po higher rates than was charged hy any other road it was entitled to it's earnings, whatever they might bc. "Onr hundred per cent, if you like. he added, indiflcrcntly. liut his theory of railroad x rights admits of no such limitation, even at loo per cent.
 In other words, there should he no cheek on the rapacity of railroad, except the necessity to furnish adc' 1uatc facilities which. ny inc way, Mir. Hartman $ roads do not do. The second check he mentions are rates fixed by "anothcr road s no cheek at all, in his schcmc of thinking, because he would combine all competing roads and he. Edward IT,, would fix the rates for "thc other road" also.
 Hartman views are utterly un. sound. Railroads are not private con ccrns. They derive their heinz, their license io do business, their right of way, their prosperity, from the people as privileges, in return for services which they are hound to render One of these services is the carrying of commerce. and passengers, not at cx-