The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-08-31
HARRIMAN'S RISE
AND HIS FIGHT WITH OLD MAN
 HILL.
New Yorker Routed in Great Battle. Loss of Buriington Disastrous to King-Northern Pa-
 ciffc Story.

People will be interested in the story ams,,seO that George H Gushing tells in the the history. of the ten-year struggle for the railroad suprenacy of the West. The following is an account, of made, in becoming the emaster of more
 Tn fear of impending defeat. no toward Huntingdon. who was getting old. When Huntington died the South ern Pacific would fall into the hands 1t would % not bs De amiss aH to to be sitting compiacentiy upon. the doorstep next door. ready to move in So Hartman de aea. "i'n the Auh''ns'0h hn'' A' os-
 "Another year or two wore out the earth of his grave Mr.: Hartman marched to the control of the Southern
 SThe general uneasy feeling of the year, which Nshe cred in this century reached the silent shrewd. careful old watcher on the Northern prairIes. MT. and had first pitched his tent upon the Baltimore and Ohio. falling back sub sequently upon Erie. from which out post he still watched the progress of
 "Mr. Hiirs syndicate. the Northern Securities Company. mansged Snot 9rf hs long oe tSs Ss
 sissippi to the Pacific. and then con- trolled the Oriental trade. together with the westward movement of cotton. Part of its supremacy depended upon the continued friendliness of allies that Chicago. If either of his friendly con nections, the St. Paul or the Burling- ton q omit the two impossibles. the North western and the Great Westernl should fall into stranger hands, of what avail the Oriental trade?
 Prevention of such a disaster took the St. Paul or the Burlington--to after that a central government for. the three roads. the Northern Securities
 But in the meantime Hartman was stirring; at the beginning 1t was on- ly slxirmish, a feint. Hartman, sure of his ground because he knew that his following, the Standard oil Syn into a prolonged debate with his as- sociates as to whether he should take over the Burlington at $2o0 or the St. Paul at $212 per share.
 What remnant of his boyhood in- genuousness ever convinced Hill that the St. Paul was really for sale, to fluctuating between the two proper ties. Hartman executed a flank move- ment and appeared in Hills rear, gaining a position perilously near to the control of the Northern Pacific.
 HITS outposts on the Erie were called in Che hypothecated his stock and never reclaimed tt) and all his fighting force was marshaled around the Twin Cities. To lose Northern Pa cific meant an enemy encamped under ones tent flaps. The opposing forces forgot other issues and went down to Wal street to fight 1t out What hap pened-the unmasking of Harriman's fighting force by the disclosure or the the fusion of ali the opposing coteries around Hill, 'corner,' and Northern Pacific stock at $1,0o0 share, panic promise-is all too well known to need more complete detailing.
 "When the compromise was reach. ed in New York, Harriman limpei cate let 1t be known they could not sell the St. Paul to MT. HITS combine ton and the latter took peaceabIe possession of the alternative, the Bur finRton. There was Harrinan's blum der and he saw 1t long ago: If, in- stead of trying to capture Northern Pacific. which was almost imposSlple to acquire, he had taken the Burling- ton which was for sale, he could have done the one thing that Hill feared most; he could have shut him out Of Chicago and broken the chain that bound the long transportation system together That was one blot upon the Harriman escutcheon; a delay of near iy seven years in buying the Illinois Central was another.
 "When the battle was over-the Hill-MorRan forces triumphant in the Northwest and Hartman retiring, de- feated, to the throne of his south western monoply-it was found that the vanquished had suffered more than mere rout Hill remained master of the two northern roads. had made per- manent his Chicago outlet and con, nection with the Illinois Centra'' and actually had invaded Harriman's own field"