THE MADRAS PIONEER
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A igust 29, 1904, at the Postof
fka at Madras, Oregon, unde
th? Act of Congress of March 3,
1379.
Thursday, July 11, 1912.
.Hill, The Empire-Builder
To the average man the story
of the growth of a great railroad
system appears to be a collection
of dry figures strung together
by prosaic statements of fact,
but to the man with imagination
the story of the Great Northern
Railway is the story of the splen
did achievement of James J.
Hill, for, in fact as well as in
public estimation, the building
of the road is his life-work. Ke
had good right to review with
pri le what he had done, when
he laid down the office of chair
man of the board of directors.
The fascination of this story con
sists in its intimate association
w th the history of the develop
ment of the Northwest and in
t'i-3 fact that it deals with the
work of a single individual who
si v with wondrous prescience
the future of the country, but
who posesses the power to hold
in check the enthusiasm which
h: vision must have awakened
. in his mind.
Such figures as Mr. Hill gave
ii his valedictory address to the
Great Northern board of direc
tors form the basis of an epic.
He and his associates in 1878
made what he well calls "the
slender beginning on which we
risked our all," and he adds:
"Failure would be immediate
and final disaster." They
dd lght the scattered fragments
of the bankrupt St Paul & Pa
cific, consisting of 311 miles of
co npleted line and of two pro
ject2d lines, on which some
grading had been done and about
75 miles of rrack had been laid.
They went to work to complete
and extend these lines, even be
fore they had foreclosed the
mortgages, thus having 667
miles, of which 565 were com
pleted, when they took posses
sion. But events fully justified
their confidence, for in the first
year earnings increased 54 per
cent and land sales amounted to
" $1,200,000.
"And now began the long
task of building up the country,"
said Mr. Hill. He reviewed the
successive steps by which Min
nesota was covered with roads,
lake terminals were secured
and steamships put on the lake,
the road extended across the
Dakotas, then across Montana,
then to Puget Sound, thence to
Vancouver, B. C, ending with
the construction in combination
with the Northern Pacific and the
North Bank road to Portland
and the invasion of Oregon with
the Oregon Trunk and tho elec
trie Hne3, which are still reach
ing out through Western Oregon.
He told of the acquisition of
the Burlington, then of the Col
orado Southern, which made the
system ext&nd from Vancouver
to the Gulf as well as from the
lakes to the Pacific. Finally, he
told how the system, having
grown to a total of 7407 miles,
had provided for the standardiz
ing of all its bonds and for all
needs for 50 years to come by
authorizing an issue of $600,000,
000 of bonds. lis capital stock
is now $210,000,000. The total
capital and debts of the compan
ies originally purchased were
about $41,000,000.
Efficiency and economy have
been Mr. Hill's watchwords and
by them he has achieved the
work which is his pride. His
road applied proceds of land sales
to redemption of bonds and con
sequent reduction of interest.
H.s stockholders wera wiJilng
to forego dividends that profits
;.TUf Ua Hour! in extensions.
iingui. uv. v.ww ... -----
when Eastern capuausia awn
considered the road an experi
ment and were chary of buying
bonds. In all, about $11,000,000
of profits was put into construc
tion and betterment at a time
when stockholders expected pro
fits to be distributed. They were
given bonds for this amount.
Bond issues were limited to an
amount per mile much less than
the actual cost of construction.
Mr. Hill proudly says, referring
to the capital stock: "Every dol
lar of this represents honest
value received."
The fruits of Mr. Hill's combi
nation of conservatism and au
Hacity are seen in the results of
his business policy. All other
transcontinental roads, though
they received large subsidies in
cash or land or both, passed
through receiverships and reorg
anizations. Of the Great North
ern, which had no such artificial
aids except a land grant for its
original lines, Mr. Hill says:
"The Great Northern never
failed, never passed a dividend,
never was hnanciauy insecure
in any time of panic."
Sneakinc: further of its Iree-
dom from inflated capitalization,
of its provision for all future
needs, he says:
"No emergency can surprise
it. It is financed for a period
beyond wich it would be fanciful
to attempt to provide. And the
development of this business
throughout every part of the
practically half a continent which
it serves makes the payment of
dividends on the stock as certain
as that of its bond coupons.
There has never been a dollar's
worth of stock or bonds issued
that was not paid for in cash,
property or services at its actual
cash value at the time. The
stock has paid a dividend ever
since 1882. and since 1900 the
rate has remained steadily at
per cent."
In is last paragraph he says:
"Most men who have really
lived have had in some shape
thmr ereat adventure. This
railway is mine."
A man who has done such
work, who has built up a property
hv which an emDire is developed
and has founded it on a financial
structure so solid that no storm
can shake it. nas wen earnea
. 1 li l
the title "Empire-Builder,'
What he has done is a sure
tmarantv of what his successors
imbued with his spirit, will do
in Orecron. Every patriotic
Orecronian should join all others
o -
who have shared the benefits of
is work in the wish that for
manv vears nis eye may not
t
trrow dim or nis natural iorce
1 1
abate. Oregonian.
The Democratic Nomination
With success in November
more promising than for many
elections past, the Democrats
are beginning to lay aside their
petty grievances, to unite their
strength for their common cause,
and take on all the earmarks of
a successful national organiza
tion. They are also failing to
make the conspicuous blunders,
as has been, their wont in past
years, and .arehow conforming
their policies to the immediate
needs of the country, and fram
ing them in such manner that
they will meet the popular will
of the people.
The nomination of Woodrow
Wilson was a wise move on the
part of the Baltimore convention.
Not that it would have been im
possible to have elected Mr.
Clark or Mr. Underwood, but be
cause the confusion into which
Theodore Roosevelt has thrown
the national political situation
places Wilson in a strategic posi
tion the other candidates could
not have forced upon themselves.
Woodrow Wilson is a progres
sive, by his own utterances of
the past few years, and by the
active and able manner in which
he has conducted his office as
Governor of New Jersey. The
scholar that he is, he has a J
knowledge of public affairs pos
sesses by few others ot ins
time; he has the courage, ability,
breadth of vision and desire to
give the country a clean, honest
and fearless administration; he
had the courage to repudiate
Tammany Hall, and all other
forms of "boss" rule in the con
vention, and the strength to se
cure his nomination after such
repudiation; he believes in a
genuine tariff revision and is
opposed to those combinations in
"big business" which have buen
under suspicion during the past
score of years.
His nomination squarely places
Theodore Roosevelt and his third
party on trial. The Ex-President
has bolted the Chicago con
vention and is demanding his
own nomination at the hands of
a third party in order that he
might secure progressive legisla
tion according to his interpreta
tion of the will of the people,
also that he might overthrow the
present political organization
and methods, which, by the way,
accomplished his defeat at the
Chicago convention. Leaving
out the personal ambition of the
Ex-President, Mr. Wilson stands
for, the identical principles that
Mr. Roosevelt is fostering. Mr.
Roosevelt must determine, with
what assistacre he needs from
those whom it may please him to
call in to conference whether his
patriotism and interest in pro
gressive principles are greater
than his personal ambition. If
such be the case, he will refuse
to sanction a new party, and
throw his influence to the Demo
cratic candidate, thus strength
ening Wilson's position, a move
he could not have been epxected
to make, had Clark or Under
wood received the Democratic
nomination. However if his
political judgment and patriotism
are warped by his greedy thirst
for office, then he must suffer
defeat and go down in history as
a man of dangerous ambition.
That he will be defeated if he
becomes the candidate of a third
party, we believe is the opinion
of many of those who have been
his strongest supporters in his
fight for the nomination. Mr.
Bryan yielded the leadership
gracefully to Mr. Wilson. It
remains to be seen whether Mr.
Roosevelt is as great in defeat
as he would appear to be in suc
cess. Why He Advertises
A prominent business man of
Michigan explains why he ad
vertises and why he uses news
papers for that purpose, as fol
lows: "I advertise in the newspapers
because I am not ashamed of my
goods or my work, and to let
people know my stock ; because I
cater to the intelligent class and
they read the papers, and be
lieve in increasing my business
because I can talk to more people
thrcugh the newspapers at a
greater distance in less time and
at a more reasonale price than
in any other way; because my
newspaper advertising has
brought me greater returns for
the least expenditure of any ad
vertising I have done; because
when I write an ad I am not too
stingy to pay for placing it in
the best possible medium or to
have it inserted so it is attrac
tive; because I know my ad is
seen and read by every one in the
house where the paper goes."
Exchange.
A Hair of tho Prophet's Beard.
In acknowledgement of the expires
Bkmn of loyulty which have been sent
by the Albuniuo Mohammedans, the
BUltuu has scut the Sherlf Mehmet Hey
on a mission to the Albanians. Mehmet
Bey Is carrying with hlin a hair from
the beard of tho prophet which tho
Bultan has presented, as a sign of his
friendship, to the mosque at Vucbltru.
SalonlUl Cor. London Globe.
Monel Metal,
"Honor metal, Intended for use In
propeller blades, shows a tensile
strength of over 75,000 pounds per
square Inch, Itcccutly a 4,000 pound
weight was dropped twenty-one times
a distance of twenty-live feet on one of
tho blades without causing a fracture.
MADRAS FLOUR MILL1
Are Now Making Three Brands of Flour
MADRAS FLOUR (straight)
HIGHLAND PATENT (Is grade)
All our
The only
All brands
Madras Flour Mill
fWedding Gifts
HANDSOME CLOCKS
AND SILVERWARE
New and beautiful deu'gru in Jewehy.
it m always difficult to decide what to
give when tome .event or anniversary
makes a present neceiiary. In my col
lection you are sure to find something
suitable whether you want to spend
$1,00 0B $100,00
A. E. PETERSON
I
Jeweler
MADRAS
OREGON
NO. 3861
The First National Bank
OF PRINEVILLE. OREGON
B, Y, ALLKH, I'realdent.
T. M, mi.nwiN, (Jaihler.
Will Wuhxwkimek Vlco J'rea,
II, Halditim, nt, CuHlMor,
ESTABLISHED 1088
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