Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-22
LANE LOOKS INTO
HARTMAN LINES
MERGER is CONSIDERED BY
COMMISSIONER
Investigation Proposes to Show That
Magnate Has Acted Contrary to
Sherman Law-Railroad
Men Testify
BY Associated Press.

BY Associated Press.
SEATTLE Wash. Jan 21.-The first
hearing on the Pacific coast into the
Hartman merger was held in Seattle
today by Interstate Commerce Com
missioner Franklin X. Lane. After
four witnesses had testified, the hear
ing was continued until 10 o'clock
Thursday morning in the federal court
room at Portland, ore.
To show that Mr. Hartman has alb
sorbed and merged parallel and COM
peting lines in violation Of the Sher-
man law is the purpose of the present
investigation.
Ben Campbell, fourth vice president
of the Great Northern railroad and
head of the traffic department of the
road, who was formerly connected with
the traffic department of the Harri-
man lines as assistant to j. G. Stubs,
was the first witness examined today.
Mr. Campbell was at the head of the
traffic department of the Oregon Rail-
road & Navigation company before the
merger with the Southern Pacific.
Mr.. Severance sought to show by Mr..
Campbell that previous to the merger
competition did exist between the
Southern Pacific on one hand and the
Oregon Railroad & Navigation, oregon
Short Line and Union Pacific, and that
after the merger competition ceased.
Operated at Loss
The affairs OF the Oregon Railroad
& Navigation's oriental service were
gone into, and it was developed that
these various lines, including a service
by contract with Dowell & Co. and the
oregon Railroad & Navigation COM
pany's own line, the Portland e Ash
attic, were operated at a loss.
'Why were the connecting lines es-
IA bli ad q Slkpd T.ONptt who
was then examining the witness in de-
fenSe
Solely for the purpose of affording
an outlet at Portland in competition
with the Northern Pacific at Puget
sound ports" said Mr.. Campbell.
To Judge Leavitt Campbell also
stated that the Portland route to At
lantic seashere was an impractical one.
Mr. Campbell admitted a mild COM
petition between the Southern Pacific
and the Oregon Railroad & Navigation
company river service on the VILLAIN
cite. w. w. Cotton of Portland at
torney for the oregon Railroad &
Navigation company, MADE the witness
state that the Willamette service
above Salem was nccnsequential.
Tells of Skmmine Dish
"Tell us about the size of that skim
ming dish we operated above Salem"
said Mr.. Cotton to the witness.
about seventy-five tons" said Mr..
Campbell.
Mr.. Severance asked the stenographer
to read the quotations "skimming
DISH" and exclaimed: DO you mean by
that that it had holes in the bottom?"
well, most of the time" said Mr..
Campbell laughing.
Mr.. Campbell stated that the river
boat in question was the Gypsy" and
IL. IL
the year and carried a little farm pro-
duce at rates which had been perman-
emily established for many years.
Again under examination by Mr. Sew
erance, Mr. Campbell admitted that the
o. r. e N. and the Southern Pacific
competed in moving wool to eastern
markets. Mr.. Campbell estimated that
of eastern competitive business the
Union Pacific brings so per cent to
Portland, the Southern Pacific 5 per
cent, the Great Northern Is per cent or
or 30 per cent.
But in Atlantic seal oo~d business
the Southern Pacific brings in much
larger percentage to Portland, does it
not?" asked Mr.. Severance.
Mr.. Campbell stated that he thought
the Southern Pacific handled about 25
per cent of the Atlantic seaboard busi-
ness 10 1OTIldllu, dCulllS lHdI MS tSlI-
mate was pure guess.
Summed up. Mr.. Campbell's evidence
showed that there was competition be-
tween the different ore lines merged
by Hartman. He belittled the extent
of this competition under examination
by attorneys for the Hartman inter-
ests.
j. D. Farrell was examined during the
afternoon as to the Pacific Coast COM
pany. Mr.. Farrell is n director of the
company and said that while Mr. Har-
riman was n director of the company
he only held a nominal amount of stock,
from ten to 100 shares.
The agent for the o. r. &, n. and the
Southern Pacific at Tacoma was the
first witness called this afternoon He
testified that it costs 81 more to go east
by way of Sacramento and $3.50 more
to go by way of El Paso than from
Portland direct He testified that prior
to the merger there was competition
between the Southern Pacific and Union
Pacific.
NJ. H. Hawkins was the last witness
examined. He said he was the assist
ant manager of the Crescent Mauufac-
turing company of this city, which
deals in spices, teas ana coffees. The
company shipped considerable freight
and some of it went by the Hartman
lines. The witness said that he never
dictated by which road it should go, but
1Aft tl,n TO .