James J. Hill Tells Seattle the Strike Never Should Have Come West

James J. Hill, president of the Great Northern railway, returned to the city last night at 11 o'clock from Vancouver, B. C., to which point he had accompanied his guests, Sir William C. Van Horne, president of the Canadian Pacific railway; Lord Mount-Stephen and Sir Donald Stewart, stockholders and directors of the Canadian Pacific; Sir John McNeil and Sir William Blackstock, generals in the British army. The special train carrying the guests left Seattle yesterday morning, and on board, besides Mr. Hill, were P. P. Shelby, general manager of the coast lines; J. D. Farrell, assistant general superintendent, and J. B. Copeland, superintendent of coast lines, all of the Great Northern system. At Vancouver the foreign visitors divided, Mr. Van Horne going to Montreal and the others to their several destinations. Mr. Hill and his officials returned to Seattle in a special train consisting of two private coaches.

Mr. Hill was seen immediately on his return to the city last night and, though he consented to an interview, he would not talk readily concerning his proposed traffic agreement with the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, nor would he say anything with regard to the prospect of the extension of the tracks to the Jackson street depot site and the erection of the building there. When asked about the relation between the Great Northern and the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, Mr. Hill said that he had no contract with the latter, but would not positively deny that there was an agreement, merely saying that there was nothing at all that could be considered of any public interest.

"What arrangement have you made with reference to the occupancy of your terminal grounds?" Mr. Hill was asked.

"I don't know anything about it," replied he.

"Ain't you going to occupy them?"

"Yes; if we can, we will. We've bought the ground and now we can't use it. I'm going to remain in town tomorrow and look into the matter and find out what's wrong."

Mr. Hill was not slow about giving an opinion of the American Railway Union strike. Said he:

"These men out here had no cause to strike and will not profit by it. The only question involved was whether or not a car shop in Chicago should run and the controversy ought never to have gone outside that town. Here we have 2,000,000 men out of work and in such times as these men who have positions give them up for reasons which they themselves can't understand or explain. But they'll have to learn. Some of them will probably have to pack up and go away to some foreign country where they will not only be strangers but the language will be strange to them. What do we care away out here whether a car shop in Chicago runs or shuts down? The strike shouldn't have affected people on the Coast at all. Now many men are tied up who are glad of an opportunity to cease operations? They would be still more glad if they could sell out and get away. They're not going to extend their business; they're more likely to draw it in, and many men who quit work now will have a hard time to find employment again."

Mr. Hill was told that some of the strikers are saying that if the strike can be prolonged a little longer and incompetent crews given an opportunity to ruin the locomotives the companies will be compelled to call back the old men in order to effect repairs. To this he replied:

"That's all bosh. Why, there's twice as much rolling stock in reserve ready for use as there is in operation. There's nothing in their theory. Look at the men who are idle! What a field to draw from! They're not talking sense."

Mr. Hill was quite anxious to know whether or not the announcement that Debs had called the strike off was true. Being told that it could not be verified, he said:

"Well, it's only for a few days longer, any way. It won't last but about three days now."

"Do you think times will pick up, Mr. Hill?" was asked.

"Oh, I don't know," he replied quickly, and that's all he would say on the subject.

Mr. Hill will remain in the city all day today attending to several business matters. He will leave tonight for a trip along the line to be gone indefinitely. He would not say when he expected to return to St. Paul.