Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1915-03-10
The SWELLING OF
RAILROAD VALUATION
Continued from page 81

Continued from page 81
ought to be unity of purpose until we
come to division Of the increased
profits, and then the two sides ought
to bargain with one another l
think the time is coming for unions to
get a larger SHARE
John D. Rockefeller also was quot
ed as saying he would like to divide
the surplus output of the industries
controlled by him with labor but ne
did not know how to 20 about it.
Representatives of the railroads lis
tening to this testimony received it
with the best grace possible. Several
times during the week James M. Shee-
an, counsel for the companies, pro-
tested to the board that the evidence
was irrelevant and at least once there
was momentary prospect of it's be-
ing ruled out. Chairman Jeter C.
Pritchard happened to be absent on
that occasion, and returning, ordered
the inquiry to proceed. He said wide
scope had been given to the testi-
mony and this practice would be OBJ
served throughout the investigation.
Grand Chief Stone declared this in
vestigation is perhaps the greatest
arbitration the world ever knew in the
history of labor" He added: "There
is another side to all of this. It is not
as though I, as representative Of
these organizations, was working for
myself. There are $4,000 men out
here on these engines scattered all
over the Western territory who have
to be satisfied and who are vitality in.
terested.'
That the Morgan, Rockefeller and
Gould interests and their thirteen al
lied banking houses virtually control
eighteen transportation companies
through stock ownership and that
these eighteen companies, through
various ramifcations, command the
Western railroad situation were vital
facts demonstrated at Tuesdays hear
ing in Exhibits So and so. Mr.. Lauck
produced charts graphically disclosing
the interlocking arms of banks and
trust companies extending over the
railroads, and in turn, from trunk line
railroads to the many branches there
Of. In the last analysis, the witness
showed, the financial triumvirate of
Morgan, Rockefeller and Gould were
the overlords of the ninety-eight West
ern railroads with which the engineers
and fremen are now pleading for
better compensation and working con-
ditions.
The same day, testimony showing
the lavish hand with which Uncle
Sam distributed invaluable land
grants in frontier days was brought
out. Grand Chief Stone in his open
ing speech, outlining the frenzied
finance evidence to be given in re.
buttal, made the following state
ments:
That federal and state land grants
to the Western railroads in the Unit
ed States totaled an aggregate Of
195,272,95O acres which would make
4,881,S2 farms Of 40 acres each;
That the land grants in square
miles measured 305,114, or more than
the area of either England, France,
Germany or Austria Hungary.
Compared with the states in the un-
ion, these grants to the trans-Missis-
sippi lines formed an area as large as
all the New England states combined.
with the addition of the states Of New
York, New Jersey, Delaware, Penn
sylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.
These lands generally were given
in alternate sections for thirty miles
on each side of the proposed right OF
way of the building railroad. The
agreement with the government was
hat the companies should sell them
to settlers and the upset price should
not be higher than $3.50 per acre;
generally the agreement was that all
the mineral rights and timber should
be reserved for the government and
the railroad companies were not to
infringe upon Uncle Sans possess
sions. The promoters and adventur-
ers building the Pacific railroads, for
example, were especially noteworthy,
according to Mr.. Lauck, in disregard
ing their sacred promises to the gov
| eminent and filched all sorts Of valu-
able rights and treasure for their per-
sonal financial ACKNOWLEDGMENT"
"In preference to an honest admin
istration Of the grants testified Mr..
Lauck, "the subsidies of lands and
bonds intended to promote the sue
cess of these enterprises were to a
great extent made the means of en-
riching a few financial adventurers.
The various Pacific roads, for exam
pie, received more than 100000
acres of land and $64,623,512 in gov
eminent bonds. The cost Of their
construction in bonds, stock and
cash, as shown by the report of the
United States Pacific Railway Com
mission, was $126,154,138, while the
additional sum of $123,644,649 par
value in stocks and bonds was distrib-
uted to officers and managers as pro-
fits on fraudulent and collusive con-
struction contracts
The Southern Pacific, Atchinson
and the Northern Pacific we're men
toned especially by Mr.. Lauck as
having run roughshod over their OBJ
legations to the federal government,
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