The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-22
BIG PROFIT WITH
 NJ INVESTMENT Great Coupe of James J. Hill
 and Others STARTLING DISCLOSURES MakeS$4o7, 100000 Without the Invest ment of a Penny-DeveIopment
 of Great Northern and
 Allied Railroads.
STARTLING DISCLOSURES

That James J. Hill, Lord Mount steph- en, Lord Strathcona and few others associated in the development of the Hill railroads of the northwest have in about 30 years divided among themselves the colossal sum of 407000,OO0, exclusive of dividends, interest or other emolu- ments, and that this stupendous fortune ment of nothing is the amazing asser- tion made by Charles Edward Russell in an article entitled arhe Heart of the Railroad Problem in the April number of Hamptons Magazine.
 Incredible as this amount is the pres ent investigator has found it to be "only a part of the colossal profits coined from an invt stment of nothing by this most wonderful American money-makias ma chine and when you come to see fne full ba'arce-sheet of these operations you will agree with me that never before have there been such marvellous results from beginning so inconsiderable.'
 Tracing the genesis of what is now the Great Northern and allied lines, the court records disclose, among other startling facts, that "when Jesse P. Farley came Into the St. Paul and Pacific railroad in 1873 as receiver for the United States 1 district court, the first division of the St. Paul and Pacific, as then known. had the line from St. Paul to Breckens ridge and the branch to Sauk Rapids; the other company, known simply as the St. Paul and Pacific railroad, had the extension from Watab to Brainerd and the line from St. Cloud to St. Vincent, in all something more than 400 miles of track. Farley not only put these in or der but he completed connections with the Canadian railroad at the frontier. He still further proved his capacity when, after three or four years of his receivership, the Minnesota legislature passed an act providing that unless the road should be completed to a certain point within certain time 1t must for felt part of the rich land grant whereof the peoples representatives had been So | liberal. Judge John F. Dillon authorized Farley as receiver to construct this ex- tension and to issue receivers debentures for the expense. So the receiver built 112 miles Of new road and saved the land grant" says Mir. Russell.
 Four facts connected with this opera ton are important. he summarizes: "First. Judge Dillon limited the cost of construction to $10,000 a mile, and | this sum must include station buildings.
 grounds. side tracks and equipment. Second The receiver built and equipped the 112 miles for less than the limit fixed, expending only about s9,500 i a mile. some stretches being done for
 sS225 mile. Kindly remember this. It is
 a good fact to have handy when you
 encounter the assertion of gentlemen in l the railroad war that it costs $6o,000 to
 $75, GOO a mile to build railroad. 1 Third. The receiver filed with the | court detailed accounts of every item of
 expense connected with this work, and every citizen can go now and see in
 the office of the clerk of the United l States district court at St. Paul, Minn
 exactly what it costs to build and equir
 a railroad when the work is honestly
 done.
 i Fourth. The construction company
 with the alias, as before noted, expending l the money of the lowly and ignorant foreigner, had charged up $30,0O0 mile for construction in the same region and had done the work so badly that when track was unsafe'
 j. J. Hill at that time was local freight
 agent of the road at St. Paul. Securing the cooperation of Norman w. Klttson.
 George Stephen and Donald A. Smith, first mortgages were presently and quiet ly obtained Ion more than 300 miles of operated railroad and 2,5s0606 acres of
 land on the understanding that they should not be paid for until the road should be reorganized. This was done in 1879, the Canadian brotherhood forming the St Paul. Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway company, of which George stephen was president; Norman w. Kilt
 son and Donald A. Smith. directors. and
 James J. Hill, general manager. Where , upon there was appointed master in
 chancery who, on the 14th day of June,
 1879, sold all the property of the two St. Paul and Pacifics to the St. Paul, Mime
 apolis and Manitoba Railway company for $6, ,7S0, ,O00-obviously one of the most
 romantic events in railroad history, and too romantic for those that did not share in it.
 For presently came the sale by the St. Paul. Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway
 company of the greater part of the land for $1306S, ,SS7 followed by the sworn tes- timony of the receiver that the property sold for $67s00O0 was worth at the time more than $15,000,000.
 "There was also issued by the brother hood $15,O0O,0OO of St. Paul. Minneapolis and Manitoba stock for which notN e cent was ever paid into the company S treasury, being in fact the purest water that ever gushed and gurgled from the financial rocks. Of this stock MT. Hill
 Mr. Kittson and MT. Smith took s,S23 shares each, being about one-fifth MT. Stephen took two-fifths, one of which he held in trust for some person or persons unknown.
 '',rhe $l5.000,000 of stock thus neatly created out of nothing by the mere way ing of the wand of financial wiz ardry presently became an enormously valuable possession and is, therefore, to
 be added to the spells secured from the outwitted Yankees"