The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1885-09-04
PERMANENT ORGANIZATION.
RROSs' SPEECH.
THE HENNEPIN CONSIDERED

THE HENNEPIN CONSIDERED.
ST. PAUL, Sept. 4.-Ex>GOv. Bross ad-
dressed the convention as follows:
GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION: !
thank you most cordially for the honor
you have conferred upon me by electing
me your presiding officer With your
assistance and courtesy may we not hope
for entire harmony in the proceedings of
the convention2 The great numbers here
assembled; the wide range of country
from which they have come; the leading
position which many of you hold in The
states of the Mississippi valley in politics
and in all the relations Of the SOCIAL
financial and commercial affairs of the
northwest; the intellectual and moral
force manifested here, give assurance
that its influence will make itself felt in
the council halls of the nation and ses
cure from congress adequate appropria-
tons to improve the waterways of the
Mississippi valley. True some of US have
grown gray in the service of the cause for
which we are here assembled but in the
meantime the states we represent have
been growing vastly in wealth, popula-
ton and power, and their reasonable de-
mands can no longer be ignored by our
representatives in Washington. We
speak for more than 10, 900, 900 of people
whose products on their way to market
will mainly seek the W aterways for whose
improvement we contend, and the les
sened cost of their transit by water will
leave millions of money in their pockets,
while they will cheaper the cost of the
bread and animal food on the table of
every man in the seaboard states from 10
to 20 per cent for every day in the year.
| This statement has been proved time and
again, and it will be made plain to the
comprehension of all men by the facts
and arguments that will appear in the
proceedings of this convention.
WHAT WOULD BE SAVED?
The pretense that railways have entire.
ly superseded waterway transit is in part
ftrue, for. while long, narrow canals with
limited business have been filled up to
give place to railways, the larger and
longer waterways still do most of the
carrying trade rs against all railway com
petition. If not, how is it that the freight
on wheat amounts up to from II to Is
cents per bushel between Chicago and
New York as soon as lake navigation
ceases, while in summer tits scarcely half
the higher figure? The proportionate
charge by rail for the transit of bushel
of wheat between Chicago and Buffalo
would be in the winter from six to eight
cents, while by lake it is generally only
two cents and often less than that. The
freight on bushel of wheat between St.
Paul and Chicago is from 10 to 12 cents,
while Major Benyaurd has shown that by
the Mississippi ana the Hennepin canal
it would not exceed cents Now see
what vast amount of money it would
leave in the pockets of the people of the
Upper Mississippi valley if such reduc
ton on the transit of the cereals to mar
kets were realized. Official government
estimates of the Upper Mississippi valley
for 1884 were:
Corn. n...-...............-. ......-.. s37,514OO
Total. U25. " 3.UOO
Suppose only one haif Is to be shipped
eastward for consumption and for
export, and we have 502. 961. 500 bushels.
If only one cent per bushel were saved to
the people by water transit, the amount
L. nQn a1E.