Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-02-20
SENSIBLE SUGGESTIONS.
St. Paul Must Stand bg the Producers If
She Hopes to ThrjUe.

To the Editor of the Globe:
ST. PAUL, Feb. 1S.-Your recent spirited
articles on the subject of Farmers versus the
Millers' association has suggested few ideas
| to me respecting the present and future of st.
Paul. The hitherto rapid growth of st. Paul
is an acknowledged fact, and it is matter of
| the deepest interest to her citizens that this
expansion should continue without abate-
ment. So it will no doubt; but as IN the case
of individuals, lasting and solid success is sell
dom achieved without effort and forethought,
| SO it is largely true of cities and communities
| that they cannot to continue to progress
without the exercise of the same foresight and
| we'll directed effort It is not prudent for a
commercial man to leave the extension of his
business to the vagaries of chance, but his in
ventive abilities must be brought to bear on
| the question how to extend his trade profta-
| bly,, and the same is true of the affairs of
| city. Nothing must be left to chance. The vast
extent OF territory to the north and west of
| st. Paul is in ifs infancy and as the supple.
| ment and cultivation have been almost start
| ling during the past few years so will its
| further progress during the next decade be
still more remarkable, and the country which
was the other day but a newly born infant,
will soon appear before our astOnished gaze
in all the strength and vigor of manhood,
and with all the increased desires and require
ments of maturity.
| Let us examine, then, how this develop
ment is to bear upon the future of st. Paul.
The great Northwest will be devoted exclu-
sively TO the production of wheat, and if st.
Paul desires to maintain her commercial su-
premacy and position worthy the capital of
Minnesota, she must become the center of
the wheat trade. And as the power of
the press is necessary to originate
and disseminate ideas; and as your esteemed
contemporary is now run almost entirely in
the interest of the Minneapolis clique, so is it
incumbent upon the GLOBE as a powerful
journal, having the interests of our city at
heart, to urge upon our prominent and
wealthy citizens the necessity of taking hand
| in the wheat trade of the great Northwest
| themselves.
At present ct. Paul is the great distributing
! point for Minnesota, Dakota, and the regions
north and west of them, supplying the settlers
with all their requirements; but if she is to be
truly great, and is TO be necessity to these
| rapidly developing regions, she must be in
position to take all that the settlers have to
offer in exchange Where The settlers and
country merchants sell their products, there
will they largely buy. And their chief product
is, and will be, wheat. In fine, st. Paul must
be buyer as we'll as seller. st. Paul is looking
to the development of her river traffice and
center. She will have to export wheat, if any
thing, and is there any organization
for the handling of wheat powerful
enough to compete with the Millefs'
Association of Minneapolis? know of none,
but surlY st. Paul, with her capital, ability
and enterprise, can give birth to such an or
ganization. Minnesota wheati S just as salable,
liz 70 hov,d Had
without the loss too often contingent upon
the manufactured article. The Minneapolis
millers have been driven by desperation to
practice all kinds of tricks upon the helpless
farmer-helpless for the reason that there was
no other buyer for his staple product be-
| cause for long time they been unable to OBJ
tain for their -four what it cost them to make
it if they paid the farmer the market price of
his wheat; and as they are powerful enough
to do it, they saddle the farmer with their loss
by cheating him in grades and weights.
a powerful st. Paul organization of wheat
buyers could afford to pay the farmer fair
price for his article, because the
market price of wheat at Eastern points is
the market price of wheat here plus the
freights; and st. Paul, besides being able to
treat the farmer fairly, would establish her
self for all time as the trading center of the
state, and would become that absolute neces-
Sity, as buyer and seller, which she is not
now.
Take for example the instance of Chicago.
Chicago owes her unexampled prosperity ano
her unique position among Western cities,
not only to the fact that she is the center of |
distribution to the great West, but also to |
the fact that she it the ready recipient OF all
productions the West has to offer In exchange.
She takes their wheat, their pork, their corn, |
and their wares of whatever kind and in what |
ever quantity. And she could not be the Chi |
cago of to-day unless she did.
And SO it must be with St. Paul. If st. Paul |
is to establish her position as the center OF |
trade in the Northwest without fear of rivalry |
she must be as ready to buy as to sell. 1t |
must be remembered that commerce is only |
an extended system of barter.
1t is time then for the capital, the talent, |
and the energy of st. Paul to combine and be- |
stir themselves, in view of the great agricul- |
tural development occurring, otherwise some |
powerful rival may soon establish position |
with which it may be difficult to compete. |
It is not yet too late, but it is time to be stir
ring, and the importance to st. Paul of this |
industry is one which she can nOlOngcr afford |
to neglect, and one which those who are con- |
cerned in her future must see the great i'm |
portance of, if presented to them. Your in |
fuential columns cannot be employed in better |
or more profitable work than championiDg |
the interests of our city and the welfare and |
backbone of the Countrywide industrious I
farmer. JUsTITIA.
H. II c.h;H,o, daptist hos ramnved IN I