The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1886-04-16

that cannot be ignored or late years the SUD-
jcct of suitable market for our produce mas
grown I'm importance and IL will not be long
until we will be practically shut out OF the
great marts Of Europe on account of the grain
regions of the east unless we can successfully
compete with them. England has conceived
the Idea of producing among her own subjects
and Is, consequently, encouraging the devel-
opmcnt of the wheat industry in India, where
labor is cheap. People there subsist ON the
most meagrc neccss;ries of life and can FUR
nish labor at little or no expense They are
now Introducing the cultivation OF lax ana
are shipping large quantities To England W
shipped tn New York. We must endeavOr To
secure II reduction In the cost of getting our
cereal to market. How is this to bc done
here M the west where rail
way corporations dictate rates TO
lIs. Senator Sabin deserves credit for his
cent action I'm the senate, In exposing the
fraudulent system of building railways ON the
strength OF watcrcd stock. The speaker
| talked at some length upon the system of
watering railway stock, and showed how IL
Expresses the people of the west. He also
paid u high compliment To Mankato as the
mrt ropolis of this part of tho state, and de
clared TINT the people should cn,icavor to
make it II distributing point for this country.
lie thought that millions were expended for
such improvements In the south, ON streams
| of very little Importance. and believes that
we should ut least have enough appropriated
Ia make Il preliminary survey.
L. L. Freeman was the next speaker, and
| thought that the introduction of railroads
had caused us tO neglect the river hut the
| folly of this is now coming to light and there
are several plausible reasons why river navi
CATION should he encouraged. Another rca-
son why we have not done more IL the fact
| that ours is a tributary stream. and little for
| its Improvement could be- expected until the
main stream was put i'm good condition. Now
that the Mississippi is properly improved it Is
| time for us Ia present the Minncsota's claims.
| Another drawback to the progress of con-
| grcssionnl action i'm this direction is that the
popular mind is too apt to consider all such
| appropriations steals. Whenever rcprescn-
tativcs attempt tn work through anything of
| this kind, newspapers and the peOrIlc at large
begin tn charge them with fraud. and pro.
nnurce the whole project gigantic steal
| Under this state of things there is no encour-
agcmcn. for our representatives to work for
| such interests. To be sure, often times
money that Is appropriated is foolishly ex-
pended. and fails To produce the desired re-
| suits, bat this announcement should not bc
| thrust upon the ones who secure the appro-
priation, II We would accomplish anything
we must be more charitable and favor larger
| appropriations.
| II. g. Howard thought that the estimated
cost of the desired Improvement was tn high,
| having been made several years ago, when
| cured at us low rates aS can now he done. lie
| fnvors the holding of a convention as a
| means or agitation, and believes that the new
! settlers can he educated To n sense Of the i'm
portance Of river navigation. The. old set
| t'crs already know what il once was and are
ready To help amy movement tn secure IL
again.
| After n few remarks from the chairman on
| thr early natipaIion Of the Minnesota river,
convention adjourned sipo die, aHd repaired
| Ia the Basement 81 the Opera House t6 turn
their thoughts from projects great. and dis
| cuSSons prOsy, To one Of the most inviting
| and APPLY arranged
gANoUETs
ever given in the city. As the delegation aud
INVITED guests filed into the hall, the 2nd regi-
4 mn hun sslt ali al MI at r-
ring and the ladies directed the guests To their
assigned places, with an ease and grace that
at once demonstrated the perfect system with
which all arrangements had been nude Two
tables were spread, extending the entire
length of the building, and the ARRANGE cement
of the spread was simply perfect. No pains
Ia make the adornment of the tables complete
had been spared, and ,hc variety, and album
| dance of edibleS were cXpon"ntal of the gen.
crosby of Mankato's fair sex. II is needless
| Ia say that no part of the duty assigned Tn {
guests WAS sighted, for men who had talked
81 ychemcniy on problem SO formida
bic could not othcrw iso than experience per
feet rcliei from the rcpast spread before
them, and they did il well.
! Upwards of 300 partook ut the banquet, and
after the feasting ceased Judge Scyoranco
| dTSc Stutiti tNit Il lew tD;iStS wOlllt
la given AMI announced that THE State o
Minnesota was the first. }. w. McCIung, a
st. Paul, responded Ia this. reviewing the
early settlement of the state, in which h,
took II prominent part, ana summing up the
greatness of her agricultural and commercial
greatness most iittingly. Cheap TranspOr
tation" was the next topic, and Of course non,
would he given precedence of Captain Blake
ley on this theme. The venc rable gentleman
Went back 10 tho year 1876, when he first en-
tered the issIssippi valley, and tacitIy re
viewed his knowledge of the development 81
this vast region and the rapid increase of III
tranSportable productions He noted the
various changes through which the modes o
transportation had passed up to tn,
present time. He closed his remarks with M
account of the means of transportation i'm thi
particular part or the valley since he III. s.
traverscd the upper Mississippi. He lai,
| much emphasis upon the Importance of pre-
serving our waterways as regulators of trans
portation, and hoped to see the Mlnnesot,
river made navigahlc mt an early day
"Our Project" was assigned To y. II. Barney
who followed the live of ,n>Sumenl, that ma
turc arranged our waterways To suit the need
of commerce, and th'lt it is our duty to pre-
serve these. lie maiitancd that the Mime
sofa river is the upper Mississippi proper, thu
early navigatprs having missed their reck on
ing, and run up against st. Anthony Falls, i'm
stead nr coming up the Minnesota and oI
through Ia Hudson's Ray. Mr.. Barney SPOKE
with much force and upheld the project in
question with genuine carncstncss.
There were other toasts to be ann ounced
but the latcness of the hour made it advisable
to close the exercises, which Judge Severanc,
did with Il highly complimentary speech il
behalf of the ladies who had contributed Sc
materially tn the success of the occasion.
The band deserve praise for the part they
took in the evening programm q, and the
| citizens of Mankato are certainly proud al
| them