Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916, 1907-01-24
LEGISLATIVE CORRESPONDENCE
n ca!sn View Of the Present Situa
tion

LEGISLATIVE CORRESPONDENCE
n Ga!n View Of the Present Situa
To the Editor: am dcvoting such por
tion or my time as i can command t!ls
winter to correspondence from the legs
iature. and 1t seems to me that the sltua.
thoughtful men who feel that they can
fairly and impartially consider the rela.
ton which the railroads occupy towards
the people to speak for the public inter.
ests. For nearly half 4; century l have
watched with much interest ana concern
the development of the great Northwest:
railroad stock or been in the employ OF
j railroad or other corporation to advance
their interests, either in accord or against
TIE popular sentiment. ana st'ia moaes ,h,
position of Il puhlicist, l feel as sense
Of duty the Importance to the public TO TO
urge a thoughtful consideration Of the
speak for the railroads. but do feel that
as one who for nearly fifty years has SIN,
ccrely and honestly written and spoken
fare that I have, some right to express ,,:,
my views without my motives being I'M
pugned. The railroads are very lar i .i,i.L
perfection They are not conducted with
IN eye single 10 tue puplic welfare. ~.
they have rights and there are two SUES
to the question as between them an0 tae
them without Gripping or damaging your
Mir. J. j. Hill. president Of the Grea.
Northern, addressed the NorthWesteir;n ~
i few days ago. and certainly gave sons me
thoughts for serious consideration. 10
demonstrate my statement that thets
really are two sides, ask permission, $40 es 70
dressed .s '@'o'e ~N ii. F. Hall
Among other things Mi. Hill said:
"Eut | want to ask your most earnesVs
attention, and l want 10 urge upon s w.
And that condition is tnat there VIII oe
40 relief for the movement OF LUMBER
without delay from the Pacific coast 10.
he long distance descrlpe e.n,n ni' To move
The cars. There are cars enough t",u a,,ii
#, instead of twenty-fc:.r they c9l l.e
move fifty miles daynw WINS afo Muu'u one:
sixth of the time--there are cars , ehH ,'ao!
.o-oay to move Il great deal more iuna.
per tnan you want TO buy: t bue m,i''f IA.
cilitics it cannot be moved, and IT VIII
not be moved and the car famine WI
continue until these facilities ana aP'
svcr ever, "lse's business will have to
suffer and will have to pay, - rood
you can all help, and the help that YOU
can render is by taking IL careful and
intelligent view of the situation. 10 So
say to your neighbor, There are two
sides to this question. Let US he 1air'
Let us establish CONFIDENCE .;,,o,as
The people who build the the, ra ;m'eas,s
ments. Now, take the Great Northern
railway. Out of :.,2W, shareholders, my
holdings are comparatively small77'e.SSaa
women on our list of shareholders And
when the peoples property is held up as
something to be adopted Gy tine s1 1hai
is branded with the brand of unpopular
ity. at !east-s that going to induce these
people to invest? Take it to you curse -
put money into investments of that kind
as you arc-is that the sort of invest
ment you prefer? Or Will you loon
somewhere else?
Money Must He Raised.
I'VE undertook to make an expenditure
of over S:iO,WN.OOO next year in addi-
tional tracks, and this new line I spoke
of-improvements. equipment and SO 20 on
Up),tKa,. and tried to raise $'iO.OOo,VW from
our shareholders. We asked them TO put
their own money in their own business;
receive a ; a dividend it the company earned
it. But We are defending lawsuit to;
day, the contention being that they shall
ness, to furnish the facilities that they
are honestly bound from every stand
point to furnish.
and better understanding and better app
probation on the part of everybody as
Ws What efst to Sey done se hf he
their dividend il the Company earns it.
Speaking, for our own company, our
shareh sdde.g get the same dividend they
same rate. But il we Cannot handle our
business, and IL we cannot raise the
money to create facilities to enable US
railroads must suffer but you must suf-
fer with them.
Mr.. Hill pleaded for spirit of con-
%an and d fair air Play saying
interests. and see where they point a See See
how the situation may be remedied. Ask
drive a horse to drink, to make him
drink after he gets him to the we'll?
Now, we have both got to come together:
and we have got to depend on each
and you have to depend on us. Then we
What We have to do, and the difficult
thing We have to meet. is to find money
to make these improvements. want to
time since 1898 when 1t has been so
difficult to raise money for. railway pur-
poses as it is at present"
to furnish relief must be forthcoming
enormous task. The money markets OF
the old world had been fished until there
were no more fish there. 1t had become
the fashion for politicians of n certain
class: men whose own characters would
not bear the flashlight of inquiry. to
always willing to discuss affairs of trans
portation in a fair spirit
IAN Eastern railway. whose securities
were sold by large banking house for
years. has issued notes. three-year notes,
what collateral they could raise, and
the men why. they didn't sell some bonds.
He said they had exhausted the entire
list of names in the directory for Sc
curity, and the only thing they had left
was to raise money on their promissory
notes.
1.-THE people are not encouraged to put
their money into railways unless there
Is a reasonable chance that it Is secure
You can answer that just as well as /
can, and your opinion will be just as
good as NINE"
Freight Rates.
On the question of freight rates Mr..
Hill said:
'When We compare them with the rates
in Europe they are less than half as
much, as a rule. The average rate in
Great Britain is S2.34 for hauling a ton
of freight hundred miles: in Russia it
IS about s175. and n in the United States
those are the average rates It is true
that our average is a little more than
one-third less than ~ per cent of the
average Of Europe, and we pay Il higher
scale of wages. They pay locomotive en-