Show MUCH GOOD FOR WEST Country Indebted to Pioneer Railroad Builders From Oakes Ames to Jim Hill Hearty Sentiment However Not Only In the West but Also in New York That Power May Grow Too Fast and Go Too Far Northern Securities Company Discussed S TRIBUNE SPECIALI NOw York Dec 7For about a week the proposition that Gov Van Sant of Minnesota or anybody else would make any trouble for James J Hills Northern North-ern Securities company was treated with only passing interest here The great experience and wellknown cun Tilnj of Mr Hill even moro than the supposed knowledge I of J Plot pont Mor guns experts were supposed to haveS have-S niade these promoters of the holding company for Great Northern Northern Pacific and Burlington absolutely sure of their ground before they took it It was reported and easily believed that they had not only had the advice of leading lawyers in thc various States of the Northwest but had also taken the precaution to feel their legal way with the help of Francis Lynde Stetson Mr Clevelands lawyer in the bond Issues of his administration and Mr Mor I gans personal counsel TO PREVENT A CORNER It was known that James J Hill himself him-self had done but little since the celebrated cele-brated comer in Northern Pacific several sev-eral months ago except to devise means of preventing a recurrence of that very expensive Donnybrook Fair in the New York Stock Exchange and incidentally incident-ally or perhaps primarily to add atill further to his povcr in the Northwest and in the railroad world for it has been told that it was not money but only power that Jim Hill wanted i Moreover when this wizatd of the worldencircling transportation projects heard that Mr VanSant and some of the other Governors were arranging by wireto get together for a conference at which some unpleasant things might be heard of Jim Hill and his latest and greatest sqhemc he said NOT CAUGHT NAPPING Let them telegraph und he went on to say thai when those men and the general public understood fully that thc objects of thc Northern Securities Vompany were legal not to say benevolent bene-volent they would all come around and be glad rather than sbrrj for < what ho and Mr Morgan had done Then people peo-ple felt all the more certain that the Governor could not do nay harmv fot > said everybody Yon dont catch Hill iiapnlhg CHANGE IN FACE OF THINGS But now there Ss a change on the face of things There have been resignations resigna-tions from the Northern Securities 1 i 4 5 4 III uuiiu oujpuauit LU UL 11 nup LU jiuuuu opinion The Governors are going right on meeting and talking out In meeting and II is evident that the latest great combination may bo mado the subject sub-ject of inquiry > by some obstreperous members of Congress Still worse the lawyers have been examining the New Jersey charter of the Northern Securities Securi-ties company closely Some believe It open to attack and others think It Illegal Il-legal and therefore void It Is true they have not been retained jjy either of the participating persons or corpora irons but they can look up precedents just the same and that they have been doing CAN GIVE NO RIGHT They object to the charier in a word on the ground thai New Jersey can give no right to a corporation to do something some-thing in Minnesota if the Minnesota laws prohibit that something and in another word if a New Jersey charier professes to give such powers it Is illegal il-legal by that very fact Furthermore the Minnesota act prohibiting the con solfdalion of railroad lines has been declared constitutional by thc United States Supreme court an arrangement by which the Great Northern acquired a majority of Northern Paclllc stock has been declared Illegal In view of this decision and It Is not now doubted that any attempted technical evasion of the Minnesota law will also be declared Illegal Il-legal in due season OBJECT NEW JERSEY CHARTER One object of the New Jersey charier of the Northern Secitrlllcs company as clearly stated in Its first sectionis tbl acquire the stock of other corporations of any other State and also to acquire ac-quire any new securities which the voI rlous constituted railroad companies may acquire Another object is to give th6 holding company thc same rights and privileges of ownership that the individual in-dividual owner enjoys that is chlclly unrestraint by any local statutes A thlfd clause of the charier clearly intends in-tends that the holding company shall control other railroad corporations the creations of other States as well as of New Jersey through their stock It argued generally In reply lo all these provisions that New Jersey seeks to gp beyond Its powers that corporate ownership own-ership of stock cannot be made the same as individual ownership by any Hitch subterfuge nnd that even 1C thc corporation thus created acquired the stock of the constituent railroad companies com-panies i II could not vote that stock in New Jersey thc home oC the holding company because the stockholders of these constituent companies must hold their meetings In the States which ore atcd Iho companies perhaps Minnesota perhaps elsewhere irirTs VIEWS LIBERAL I happen lo know that James J Hill entertains the most liberal views as to the relation of thfo great Industrial or transportation trust to the public He believes not only that he is right that the publio should have a share but he thinks it folly for the great aggregations aggre-gations to try lo be tinylhlng but fair for the people have the voles and while they ought by means of large aggregation aggre-gation of capital 6 have their full proportion pro-portion of the benefits due to resulting economies and while capital ought to know enough lo recognize this it is also true that the public understands when ll Is treated well and when its qajjtaAns of industry and transportation 5G Keftfng loo much and the peoplc too little Thus Jim Hill like manv another nincnatc of the new order of things believes thai capital ought to be satisfied with a fair dividend upon Its investment just enough say so that competing capital will not be tempted Into the opposition field But perhaps Mr Hill and others do nol understand so well as many In the West that this same public that raises and ships Us products and travels now and then does not want to see any spirit of evasion hidden more or less awkwardly In Now Jersey Incorporations Incorpora-tions and they like their own home laws pretty will because they make thorn POWER MAY GROW TOO FAST The great consolidations have done much good Especially is the West in debtedto the pioneer railroad builders from Oakes Ames to Jim Hill But on the other hand the theory of Western West-ern legislation has surely been natuial and probably right namely that the safest and best way Is not to put into thc hands of corporations an immense S new power which they would only bo I tempted to abuse And right here In I New York even where the Hills thc I Morgans und the Harrimans most do congregate there is a hearty sentiment that power may grow too fast and jro too far |