Jamestown alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1878-1882, 1881-04-15
MI 1AKlN IOLl(Y.

The Northern Pacific management
has treated The Alert and the press
along it's line generally in a most lib.
eral spirit and toward the nauag-
ers personally the Alert entcrtains
the most kindly sentiments, but we
cannot but believe that the policy re-
Gently adopted by the company will
prove injurious to its best interests.
We refer especially to the recent ac-
ton in increasing the list price Of the
company's land from $3.50 at which
they have been selling, to 90 per
acre. This action, in the opinion Of
the Alert, will retard settlement and
seriously effect the development Of
the country along this line Of road.
At $3.50 per acre, the magnificent
grant made to this company by con-
gress, will realize sufficient to build
and equip the road from Duluth to
the Pacific ocean, while at the same
time an inducement is offered to set
tiers to buy the land in large guam
titles and place it under cultivation
While the sale of this land
produces an immediate revenue
to the company its set
tlement and cultivation will produce
a ten fold greater revenue, because
every acre Of our lands upon which
crops are grown pays a toll to the
company of about $500 in the way
Of freight on its products annually.
Another unpleasant feature Of the
present advance in price is the ap-
pearancc ofplaying into the hands Of
spectators. Large tracts of lands
all through this region have already
passed at the former prices into the
possession Of spectators, among
whom are numbered many of those
most prominently connected with
the company as directors and
officers, and people are not wanting
who do the management Of the road
the injustice to suppose that the fact
of their large individual holdings is
the reason Of the present advance.
It is said that the president Of the
company owns from thirty to fifty
thousand acres and several of the
directors nearly or quite as much, all
purchased at old prices. On the
other hand the officers of the road
claim that they have for some time
past disapproved of sales at the old
schedule and are even now making
an effort to bring the old management
of the land department into discredi1
by refusing to recognize their out
standing contracts. Residents along
the line aud especially those whose
dealings have brought them
into personal contact with Messrs
Power and Kindred, will be slow ,c
believe that their management of the
land department has been otherwise
than just, liberal and fair, bott
to the company's interests and to the
people. They are western mer
familiar with every phase of the sit
uation and have without doubt done
that which in their judgments would
best advance the interests of theil
company and the develo pment Of the
country. 1t was through the un.
tiring personal efforts of these two
gentlemen that first attracted atten.
ton to what was supposed at that
time to be a region bound fast in the
fetters of perpetual winter. 1t was
through their appeals that the first
experimental farms were opened
that demonstrated to the world the
falsity of it's former opinions and
the wonderful fertility of these a,de
Messrs Power and Kindred have
doubtless made money, and there
may be those who for this reason
take it for granted the company has
lost by their management. No mar
will ever come into this countr, wht