The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-07-15

gress for several months. The report,
which was written by Commissioner
Franklin K. Lane, is the unanimous
expression of the commission on the
subject. Copies of the report have
been transmitted to President Roose-
welt and the department of justice. 1t
is expected by the commission it will
be determined by the president and
Attorney General Bonaparte from the
statement set out in the report wheth-
er the government will institute any
sort of proceedings against Mr.. Har-
riman or the corporations involved in
the inquiry. No recommendations are
made by the commission that either
criminal or civil prosecutions be in
stituted as result of its inquiry.
The report is an exhaustive sum-
mary of the evidence adduced at the
several hearings held by the commits
sion in the course of it's inquiry. It
enters fully into a discussion of the
policy pursued by Mr.. Hartman in
obtaining and maintaining control of
the various lines of railway in the
Hartman system and presents a fairly
complete history of the operations of
the various lines. Excerpts from the
verbatim testimony of Mr.. Hartman
are given to show, as stated in the re-
port that it is only the law which
prevents the concentrating in Mr..
Harriman'S hands of every railroad
line lying between Canada and Mexico
is the frank admission of Mr.. Harri-
man himself, made at the hearing"
ITO gather under one head all ex-
listing transcontinental lines or as
many as possible and to exclude the
incoming of all competitors became
manifestly the Hartman policy which
was inaugurated in 1901 by the is
suance of $1OO,O0O,O0O of convertible
bonds by the Union Pacific"
The report of the commission fol-
lows:
The Hartman Policy.
Within three years after the reor-,
ganization of the Union Pacific Rail-
road company in 1897 Mr.. Edward H.
Hartman became the dominating
spirit in that corporation. AS chair
man of the executive committee he ex-
ercises powers that are we'll nigh alb
solute. The directors have delegated
their power to manage and direct all
the business and affairs of the COM
pany to an executive committee of
five members who shall act 'tin such
manner as such committee shall deem
best for the company's interest in all
cases in which specific direction shall
not have been given by the board"
and in turn the chairman of the ex-
ecutive committee is authorized to
session. Accordingly we find that in
1902 Mr.. Hartman was "authorized
to borrow such sums of money as may
be required for the uses of this COM
pany, and to execute in the name and
on behalf of this committee note or
notes of the amounts so borrowed"
The investigation showed that in prac-
tically all the great transactions of this
Mr.. Hartman, as chairman
of the executive committee. acted upon
mis- own initiative and his acts were
ratified and approved by
the executive committee.
1t may fairly be said therefore,
that the policies and purposes of the
Union Pacific have been those of Mr..
Hartman.
Mr.. Hartman may journey by
steamship from New York to New Or
leans. thence by rail to San Francisco.
across the Pacific ocean to China, and
returning by another route to the
United States, may go to Ogden by any