Truth. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1901-1908, 1907-02-09
NOT "RICHER THAN ROOKIE
TELLER"

by applying the methods of high fl
nance to the acquisition of Western
Understands, had accumulated a for
tune greater even than that of John
d. Rockefeller, is now taken up by
The Mississippi Valley Lumberman
(Minneapolis) and torn to pieces, says
the Literary Digest Some of the as
scrtions which Mr.. Norcross embodied
in his article are categorcally denied.
His estimate of the amount of Weyer-
haeuscr's property Is particularly ridi-
culed. He has magnifed the fortune
of a very estimabc gentleman many
times over" asserts this authority,
and, referring to The Cosmopolitan
writer's account of the lumber chiefs
methods, it adds: He has wilfully
lied or has been equally guilty in pub
fishing. without investigation, the lies
others have told him" The article in
question was noticed in our issue of
January 5, where the assertions of Mr..
Norcross are duly presented. OF these
the one which is most vigorously at
tackled by The Mississippi Valley
Lumberman is that in which Mr.. Wey-
crhaeuser is accused of prohting il
legally by his connection with the
Northern Pacific and the Great
Northern railways. The statement
that he has for thirty years practical
ly been the timber agent of these
roads lis absolutely false we are
told The real facts are these, ac-
cording to this latest champion:
"Thc matters that led up to the
purchase of the Northern Pacific tim
bcr-lands are these: In 1000, or the
latter part Of 1900, the Northern Pa
cifc Railroad company was paying 8
rcr cent or more interest on $6,ooo,
600 of outstanding bonds, the issue of
which had been made on the stipula-
ton that they should be paid out of
the proceeds of its lands. The direc-
tors believed the rate of interest was
too much of burden, and sought
purchaser for enough lands to take
up the bonds They presented the
case to Mr.. Weycrhaeuser, as the man
whom they believed could secure the
amount necessary to make the pur-
chase. Mr.. Weyerhaeuser has always
been believer in the value of stand
ing timber. 1t has been credited to
him that he once said that the only
timber he ever lost money on was
what he did not buy He succeeded
i'll getting together a number of men
Will Ndpltdl W ldlSC lllC dllu
the purchase was made. He did not
furnish the majority of the money, he
does not?l own the majority of the
stock of the Weyerhaeuser Timber
company, and he does not control the
ipany. At the time the purchase
as made, the Northern Pacific had
.sver asked more than 81 per acre
for its timber lands. The price paid,
SO per acre, was as high as the market
at that time. Much of this timber is
not yet available to economical manu-
facture and will not be for years to
come. 1t has advanced i'll value, as
has all timber-land in the country
Subsequent purchases of timber in
this part of the country have been
made by the Weyerhacuscr Timber
company from individual owners of
which both the price per thousand and
the price per acre have been less"
In conclusion, after tearing apart
other charges to let i'll little day
light on what it asserts to be the real
facts, this journal sums up the Nor
cross article with the following stric-
lures:
Starting with few details of the
early life of Mr.. Weyerhaeuser in this
country, as a foundation, and giving
few truths in connection with his
operations, the writer of this article
has built a Superstructurc thc walls