Morris tribune., 1885-08-05
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 5, 1855.

Manitoba Railroad Company with
discrimination against this county in
matters pertaining to immigration.
Officers of the road have taken OK
ceptions to what was said and in the
correspondence which has ensued,
some new light has been thrown upon
the subject.
One ofthe specific acts mentioned
0y the TRIBUNE, as indicating lack
of interest in this county is the refusal
on the part of company, OF excursion
or special rates for the party Of Wis
consin farmers who wished to visit
this county last June with Rev.
Watry. This circumstance, TRIBUNE
readers are already familiar with.
The farmers mentioned, failing to get
special rates to this point, went to
southwestern Minnesota for which
place very low rates were given and
numbers of them bought lands, and
are lost to this county As settlers. As
we stated, at the time, if the railroad
had shown any interest and met the
people of Morris half way in the mat
ter, important results for this county
would have been accomplished.
For this refusal no explanation is
given. Whether the Manitoba road
has deliberately tied its hands, in its
pooling arrangements with the
Northern Pacific, and can do nothing,
H., -,
sary to surmise.
\ second specific act to which the
TRIBUNE referred was the refusal, of
the land commissioner of the road, to
exhibit grains grown in this county
with others. This was sometime ago,
but shows at least how the company
was working then. The gentleman
whose grain was refused is one of the
leading farmers in the county. In q
letter to the TRIBUNE he speaks of
the occurrence as follows:
Being in st. Paul, at the Manitoba
Land Office, some two or three years
ago, | noticed Il number of fine spec
linens of wheat on exhibition, and it
occurred to me that the Manitoba
folks would be glad to have Il sample
of wheat from this section to display
with the others. AS the wheat raised
on my farm seemed to me to compare
favorably with any before me, said
to the Land Commissioner, don't you
want some wheat to show? He asked,
where was it raised?' answered in
Stevens county to which he replied,
no We don't advertise that county"
My surprise was so great that
made no answer and after a moment
he added, "You can leave some wheat
here in the office, if you wish, but we
can not place it among our exhibits
| do not pretend, at this distance of
time, to be able to quote the precise
words used in the conversation, but
the foregoing is substantially correct. )"
The TRIBUNE made one glaring
mistake, however, which we are quite
ready to correct. 1t was an error to
say that the company's efforts were
all expended in behalf of Dakota, as a
great deal of advertising has been
done for Minnesota. The idea which
we intend to convey, is that the Man
tioba road is discriminating against
this particular locality in favor OF
points farther north and northwest
without regard for state or territorial
lines.
The company, however, protests
that it is rs innocent as q new born
babe of all such lmputations. We
quote is follows from one of the letters
received:
The company does not own an acre
ofIand i'll Dakota. Our lands are
those remaining unsold from the grant
of 1857 to the st. P. & P. Il. r. Co. and
a"e all in Minnesota. The Land de-
partment has no interest whatever in
the settlement of lands in Dakota
except so far as the occupancy of all
lands along the various lines of road
is of general benefit to it. This fact is
prominently set forth in all immigra-
ton publications, put out by this Of
flee and in which particular attention
is always called to the lands in Min.
offering superior advantages to any
other in the Northwest now open fol
settlement.
With the large amount of lands fol
sale in Minnesota it is absurd to sup
pose that the Land Department would
direct land seekers to section OF
country in which we do not own an
acre. In this connection, it may be
of interest to the business men ei
Morris to know, that out Of nearly
halfa million acres sold by this de-
partment, during the past four years
one half has been from lands in Cen.
trail Minnesota, this is this side OF
Breckenridge and GAINESVILLE.
The business Of the Land depart.
ment of the company is to sell and
settle it's Minnesota lands and we are
constantly making special effort to
that end, 50 much so, that we have
often been blamed by people along oul
lines in Dakota for not exerting our.
selves more in directing immigration
to that territory. ..
Stevens County is one IN which the
company owns but little land barely
the area of a single township, yet we
are constantly directing the attention
of new settlers Especially those who
have diversified farming in view to
that county as one in which, from
resident and non resident Spectator
owners excellent farms can be pur-
chased. If we were governed solely by
selfish interest, as is charged, we
would direct people only to such
counties and localities where the
greater part of the land for sale was
owned by the company.
1t may be that the company is con.
WINGED of the error of its ways and is
now inclined to remember Stevens
county in it's work of securing new
settlers for the lands tributary to its
lines of road. If the officers of the
Land Department are recommending
this county to newcomers having di.
versfied farming in view, Gan eminent
ly wise thing to do) the TRIBUNE
takes great pleasure in publishing the
fact, and if the company has any
plans for securing farmers who will