The San Francisco call., 1909-05-11
WACING WAR ON
RAILROAD COMBINE
Government Securing Evidence
to Dissolve Merger of the
Hartman Lines
Taking Testimony Here to Show
How Competition Has
Been Killed Off

BY process of slow legal chemistry
the government has been at work for
several months in an effort to dissolve
the Hartman railroad merger. The
apparatus was set up yesterday in the
United States district court room In
the postofice building and the federal
attorneys poured additional acidiferous
testimony upon the compound. Judge
Lovett and Peter f. Dunno were on
hand to supply the verbal ingredients
calculated to neutralize the mixture.
1t was not performance for the
gallery. The we'll known Importance
of the hearing had attracted a throng
of professional auditors, but befere the
hearing was Is minutes old they aban-
doned the scene, leaving only those
who were held under subpoena.
ONE FLASH OF HUMOR
1t was almost at the end of the day
that Peter f. Dunno, as sort OF
gratuity for their patience, indulged in
the one jest of the whole four hours.
Rates on Kentucky products were un-
der discussion.
II yield TO you on this, Mr.. Sever
ance,' said Dunno to the government
attorney, Il defer toS your superior
knowledge of Kentucky whisky"
The hearing has come up on a suit
in equity to dissolve the Hartman
lines under the Sherman act. The de-
PENDANTS are the we'll known western
roads under the Hartman control, as
well as the Santa Fe, the Northern Pa
cific, the Great Northern and the bank
ing firms and individuals who hold the
n
Six witnesses were examined yes
terday They were, +. +. Connor, man
ager of the Metropolitan laundry com
pany, formerly in the railroad service;
H. G. Toll, clerk of the Western Pa
cific; r. G. Graham of Oakland, for
merly a freight solicitor of the South
ern Pacific; II. w. Adams, traffic man
ager of the Pioneer fruit company of
Sacramento, formerly local agent of
the Rock Island railroad; II. e. Losee,
a fruit shipper of San Jose, and Charles
Clifford, formerly agent in Cincinnati
for the Union Pacific.
Severance brought out the fact that
the Union Pacific and the Southern Pa
cific, supposed to be competitors for
freight from the Atlantic seaboard,
split the territory at the Ohio river,
everything south being taken by the
Southern Pacific by the New Orleans
gateway and the Sunset route and all
north of the Ohio being left to the
Union Pacific. by which it was routed
through the ogden gateway.
NO DESIRE TO COMPETE
Severance further insisted that had
the Union Pacific desired TO engage in
active competition with the Southern
Pacific it would have routed its product
over the Oregon Short Line, which it
controls. into Portland, thence to San
Francisco by boat. In this way, he ar
gued, it could have cut out the South
ern Pacif1c.@ Instead, however, it turned
over all freight to the Southern Pacific
at Ogden.
The morning session was devoted to
the examination of Connor. He told of
the freight war, which resulted in an
understanding between the Southern
Pacific and the Oregon railroad and
navigation company. From the witness
Severance developed the facts regard
ing the well known agreement between
the Pacific Mail and the Panama rail
road for the handling of through traffic
From the testimony of Fl. Z. Losse
San Jose fruit shipper, it was learned
that freight went forward with less
trouble over the Southern Pacific when
routed via the Union Pacific than when
DETECTED to some other line in the mid
die west.
The hearing will be continued today
Many local shippers have been asked to
appear as witnesses