St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-21
Commissioner Bookwalter, of
the Manitoba Road, Is
the Accuser.
Far-Reaching Damage Which
the Ice Palace Has Done
the State.
Lethargic Citizens Who Fail
to Grasp a Glowing Bust
ness Future.

w mere mas Inc city expended DOL
lar or an hours enthusiasm for fac
turtles or theesettlement of the cOuntry?"
This is question of grave import
ance to the public men of st. Paul con-
tanned in scOrching letter from Land
| Commissioner Bonkwalter, of the st.
| Paul, Minneapolis ~ Manitoba Railroad
company, addressed to the chamber of
commerce. The letter was read at yes
| terday's weekly meeting and created a
profound sensation. 1t should be read
with the keenest interest by every tax
! payer of the city of st. Paul.
Mr.. BOOkwalter starts out with ref
erence to the meeting of the chamber
Dee. "a, when there was a sort of gem
eral inquiry as to the cause of the de-
preston of business and shrinkage in
prices and stagnation in the real estate
market. He continues:
II notice that the ice palace comes in
for share of the blame. That it de-
serves ii there can he no question, and
if your body can relegate it to eternal
oblivion you will have served your peo-
pie well. GrasShoppars in years gone
by. blight from hot winds arising III the
desert districts of Western Kansas, Ne
braka ana Colorado. seasons of unusual
wet and unusual dry, and local AMI
untimely frOsts, have all worked
more or less injuries in localities,
but their damaging influences have
been circumscribed and termi-
mated with the disappearance of
the cause. But for widespread
and lasting ruin the Ice Palace and
Winter Carnival surpass the combined
influence of all other evils. This city
and that of Minneapolis are not SO much
in need of additional people of the &C
equations now existing here; it is the
country that needs population. The
hundreds of thousands of rich acres
that
ARE LYING WASTE
need to he turned To use. 1t Is the
farming population that needs to he in
terested and drawn. Notwithstanding
many well-meaning people think and
state TO the contrary, it is nevertheless
the disastrous fact that since this native
OF the arctic region has been introduced
here, the influx of the farming popula-
ton has steadily diminished.
Consider for moment: The farmer
is interested in what the land will pro-
duce. and this depends upon the climate
and the soil. IL is this that makes a
! choice fur him between q sandy, arid
pam etiiN AiSiit ItlbiIC liz 10
not. as q rule, a philosopher, but is edu-
Gated and actuated by what he reads,
hears and sees. Compare, if you please.
| two actual facts:
st. Paul builds temple of ice and
| gathers her people around it; walks
| them in snow Shoes, clothed in fur:
| transports them i'll sledS
| DRAWN BY REINDEER
and dogs; mingles with them the In
| dian tepee. and the wild man of The for
| est dancing and smoking around the
campfire. OF this scene picture in
| glowing cOlorS is made. and 100000
copies are printed and posted in every
depot and public place in the whole
! country.
Sioux City builds a temple of corn.
| Around it her citizens are busy with
| herds of fat Cattle and hogs. t1Ocks of
| sheep and beautiful horses; railroad
| trains instea of dog trains; smoke
pipes of factories and packing houses
| instead of smoke pipes in the mouths of
| Indians. One hundred thousand pict-
ureS of this scene are made and tackled
| up by the side of the st. Paul pictures.
Does it take q philosopher to guess
| which picture pieaSes the farmer? and
which country he will choose? Now
| what is the practical result? Every acre
| that Will grow stalk of corn with 100
miles of that young. growing. sensible
city is eagerly bought at from SIS to $50,
| while within the same distance of these
| two cities
ONE MILLION ACRES
| of equally as good land, with more adj
vantages, are lying in waste, offered at
| from So to SO per acre, and no one to
take them.
| Why is this?
The climatic difference between st.
| Paul and Sioux City is but trlfiing.
| The answer is this: Sioux City offers
the home seeker clothing, bread, meat
| and business, and no thought of climate.
These suit him. While st. Paul offers
him climate,ic and Indians. He doesn't
want them, and he doesn't come.
That the committee on the ice palace
should lie supp lanted by one on imnli-
| grafton, is a measure of much wisdom:
but you will permit me. with every as
surance of earnestnesS and proper re-
spect, to suggest that it will be neces-
sary for the city Of st. Paul, through its
chamber of commerce, to be doing
something and exercise little more
care in some of its doings in the future,
| If good results are to follow. Your sec
rotary, Mr.. Tallmadge, evidently feeling
that some one ought to be blamed. at
the meeting above referred to, rises to
llV ouplVitC WIFI TIC
PROFOUND REVELATION
that the general government, by having
a signal service station at st. Vincent,
and the railroads are unintentiunally
working agai. st this state. There Is
some comfort that the crime is some
what leSsened by the gentleman'S eX-
IRENE generosity in allowing that this
injury is not deliberate and Intentional
The government and the railroads are
broad shoulders on which to cast I'M
happy burdens. Doubtless there is no
beuefit to the country arising from the
Location of the signal service station at
ST. Vincent, but as it was not located by
the railroad. and as 1t was not located
by the railroad, and as it is not our
province particularly to defend the gov
| eminent, we will let it take care of
itself. But it would lie gratifying. in
deed, to KNOW what it is that these rail-
way people. who represent Sl00.00J.O0O
of value Invested, which is directly de-
pendent upon the development of this
country for profit, have done or neglect
Ell to do. that has wrought this state of
things, and juStihes this criticism.
MIR. sTICKNEY's CONUNDRUMs.
Mr.. Bookwalter proceeds to deal with
the article on wheat culture written
by President A. B. Stickney, of the
Kansas City 70 ID, which appears in the
last annual report of the chamber. Mr..
Stickney recounts visit to his old
home in New Hampshire, where the
farms average 100 acres. and by diversi-
fed farming there is prosperity for the
agriculturist. why" Mr.. Stickney
inquiries, ''if such results are possible In
New Hampshire, should so many of
our Minnesota and Dakota farms be
mortgaged, and the teams which work
them and the tools and machinery with
which they are cultivated be mort
gaged?" He believes it cannot be at
tanned so loEg as the farmers of these
states confine themselves solely 20 rails
ing wheat. 'The policy of growing
wheat alone must be abandoned" Mr..
Bookwalter applies the lash in the fol-
lowing racy style:
IL. L