Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-01-27
Government Springs Its Great
est Suit in Contest With
Corporations
FIFTEEN DEFENDANTS NAMED
Government Alleges ThrottIng of
Competition in tho West - Big FL
nanciers Included in the List of De-
PENDANTS - Acts Alleged to Be d.
rect VioIstions.

Washington, Jan. 27-What promises
to be the governments greatest con-
test in its struggle for regulation of in
terstate railroads was begun here
when the preliminaries We're completed
for the long threatened legal attack
upon the Hartman system.
Suit was directed brought by the
attorney general to dissolve the alleged
combination between the Union PACING
and Southern Pacific and the San Pe-
dro. Los Angeles & Salt Lake road.
1t was ordered that the courts be
asked to declare illegal the ownership
b.. the Union Pacific or the oregon
Short Line of all stock held in the
Santa Fe, The Great Northern and
Northern Pacific, "all of said lines
being competitors of the Union "a
cific," to use the language of the at
torney general in his formal statement
issued Saturday.
Bio Financiers Included.
The proposed action not only strikes
at the Hartman system IN the west
but will attempt to dethrone the great
financiers and capitalists of the east
closely identified with Hartman in
control of his railroad mdnipulatlons,
for the attorney general announces
that, in addition to the railroads men
toned, the following noted lndlVldu-
ais will be made defendants:
F.. II. Hartman, the railroad king.
Jacob H. Schiff, New York banker and
railroad capitalist, and his associate.
Otto Kahn: James Stillman, president
of the National City bank of New
York, commonly known as the Stand
ard Oil bank: H. c. Prick of Plttsours,
the coal and coke magnate and prom
.inent figure in the United States Steel
corporation; Henry II. Rogers, one OIL
the heads of the Standard Oil com
pany, and William A. Clark, the multi
millionaire and former United States
senator from Montana.
The Farmers Loan & Trust COM
pany Of New York is also made a de-
PENDANT. being the depository of all
stock of the San Pedro road under a
contract by which the attorney general
says it is required to give proxies to
such persons as may be named by
Hartman and Clark for period OF
years, under their agreement made at
the time Hartman forced Clark to
abandon the San Pedro, an independ-
ent line which he had constructed, and
turn it over to Hartman, his arch enc
my.
OF the case, the attorney general
says:
"The department regards the suit as
of first Importance, as seeking to break
up substantial monopoly of the trans
portation business between the Mis-
souri, river on the east and the entire
Pacific coast south of Portland on the
west"
The decision of the government Is
based uron investigation conducted by
the interstate commerce commission
into the operation of the transconti-
mental systems, and from Independent:
investigation by the department.
"Fron the evidence adduced, the at
torney general states, 1.-The department
has arrived at the conclusion that
stockholding of the Union Pacific and
its subsidiary company in the other
corporations mentioned is in direct vio-
lation Of the Sherman act"
The testimony shows, he declares
that in 1901 Hartman and certain as
sociates formed the Objectionable com
bination, obtaining a monopoly of all
trans-continental transportation bust
ness; that the first move was ac-
QUESTION of sufficient stock of the
Southern Pacific to insure its control,
that line operating from New Orleans
and points in Texas on tideWater thru
California to Portland, Ore. and from
Ogden to San Francisco, that "the
Southern Pacific had been for years
one of the principal competitors of the
Union Pacific" and that as a result
Of such stock control, "the manage
ment of the two companies have been
amalgamated and competition between
the two substantially eliminated"
Competition Destroyed.
He says the San Pedro line, pro-
jected as an Independent line by form
er Senator Clark and his associates to
run from San Pedro, Cal, thru Los
Angeles to Salt Lake City. where it
connected with the Union Pacific and
the Gould system. was wrested from
Clark's control "by harrassing ltiga-
ton, designed to prevent acquisition OF
necessary rights of way, and threats
of paralelling the line"
Clark, it is averred, was induced to
exchange part interest in it to the Ore
gon Short line in return for an equal
interest in the latter line, making the
San Pedro part of the Hartman sys-
tenn aided ~ tariff agreements and
other contracts.
He charges that as result Of Har-
riman'.s interest in the Santa Fe and
the representation on its board of
directors by two Union Pacific mem
bers. lTricll and Rogers, competition
has to a large extent been destroyed.
The Oregon Short line is a holder of
large amounts of Northern Pacific
and Great Northern stock as the out
come of distribution ordered in the
Northern Securities company case
"The latter companies (Great North
ern and Northern Pacific), says the
general attorney, care Joint owners
of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy,
an active competitor of the Union Pa
cific, thru large territory, and the
Northern Pacific and Great Northern
are likewise competitors of the Union
Pacific"
The department does not announce
where the suit is to be brought but it
an impossible legal step Hartman
Sc