St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-01-19


duced with success by the industrious
Intelligent man. In our present stage
of development the new conner will not
have even to compete with those who
are here now. He has simply TO develop
the resources that nature has placed
here in such abundance and variety,
and in doing this, at the same time, he
furnishes employment for others and a
market for more of the products of
every other industry, and the other in
dustries thus stimulated will furnish a
market for the products of his industry.
Some Objections.
have heard that some farmers object
! to having more people brought here to
grow more wheat, barley, oats, stock,
| ETC., as it would tend to bring down
prices. and prices are already as low as
| they can stand. say l have heard of
such farmers, but have never met this
sort Of a specimen myself. There may
! be some fellow who was unfortunately
| constructed with putty in his head in
| stead of brains. who passes Off such
| drivel as this for argument, but no man
| who has brains where they ought to be
will talk such stuff. So far as competi-
ton is concerned. what difference will
| it make to the Minnesota farmer
whether the immigrants come here
and raise wheat, or go to Oregon, WASH
| ington, Nebraska, California, or even to
| the Argentine Republic? Won't they
compete with him there just as much as
if they came here? Every man who
| raises corn in the South not only COM
petes with the men who grow corn in
Minnesota, but with the men who grow
wheat and stock in Minnesota. A big
crop of corn invariably tends to lower
| the price of wheat. Then l say, so far
as competition is concerned, it matters
but little where agricultural immigrants
may locate. But, on the other hand,
see what advantages the Minnesota
farmer reaps by having them about
him. They will help pay his
taxes. They will help bring down rail
road rates and fares, for an abundance
of traffic will do vastly more to bring
down freights than all the laws that
can be devised. They will help build
roads, bridges. school houses, churches
and public buildings. They will help
make the country more beautiful, more
pleasant and a more desirable place to
live in, and life in every respect more
enjoyable, to say nothing OF the fact
that they-%ill vastly enhance the value
mach time on this objection, as the few
noodle-headS who do not and cannot see
the point are hardly worthy of mo-
ment'S time.
Wage earners also claim that immi-
grafton would make more competition
for them. TO this L answer, in the first
place that immigration bureaus cOntine
their efforts almost exclusively, il not
wholly so. to putting people Oh the
prairie and timber lands, and into the
mineS-in other words, to develop tine
natural resources. | never heard of an
immigration bureau to bring men into
the towns and cities, so that it seems
perfectly plain the work tor wage earn
ers would increase much faster than
the number of people to do the work.
To me it is very serious problem. in
deed, as to what our wage earnerS in
these cities are going to do in the near
future if we do not build up the coun-
for what we make and sell in the cities.
The Other Side.
Ex-senator Paige expressed his pleas
ure at the progressive spirit which
brought farmers and city laborerS to-
gether to discuss subjects of mutual in
terest. He could not, however, agree
with the conclusions of Mr.. HodgsOn.
Mr.. Paige did not believe in artificial
competition Ol IdDOIcIS DIS lOottICu NY
bureaus of immigration. Natural at
fractions brought the first settlers, and
the gradual development of the country
would bring us more desirable class
of settlers than those brought by lmmi-
grafton bureaus. MI. Paige gave some
pat illustrations of the way in which
wealth is produced by labOrers and dis
| triDuted by others who do not work.
| The eX-SenatOr'S remarks were heartily
applauded. A visitor from Hous-
| ton, supported his objections to
immigration by statistics drawn from
the state auditors report. Mr.. HOdg-
son was utterly unable to answer them.
| Mr.. Ball asked why Houston county,
the oldest settled in the state. had
shrunk in assessed value 100000 in five
years. Fillmore had shrunk 100000
and Olmsted $203, 600. He showed how
III many counties there is already
plenty of population, yet manufacture
| Ing establishments lie idle. He would
| like to know why the present popula
| ton did not take advantage of our nat
ural opportunities and get rich.
Mr.. H0dgson couldn't stand it any
longer, and jumped up to say that his
opponents were not holding to the point
at issue, but beyond denying the State
ments he made no argument to prove
the accuracy of his position.
E. E. Ball represented the Alliance ir
stating that the producers are too
widely separated from consumers. The
middle men. by our industrial system
are enabled to get the lions share Of
profit. AS long as the middle men hole
this advantage, then it would add tt
their profit to have more people, from
whose labor they could draw profit;
but the farmers have no use for an i'm
migration bureau.
Mr.. Mccarthy. of single tax fame, de
Tended some imputation which hat
been cast on his favorite theory. He
thought an immigration bureau nigh
truth were told about affairs and no un
truthful advertising permitted.
G. j. Greenleaf gave pleasant, prac
teal talk about the apathy now existing
in business affairs, and the number o
idle men looking for work. He though
something practical ought to be done
but had no special plan TO offer.
III. V. POOre, vice president of thu
Farmers Alliance. stated that ten year,
ago he had started private bureau Of
immigration. He gave friend eighty
acres of land and some live stock Nov
that friend, by industry and frugality
had more live stock, fair living and {
5000 farm mortgage. Mr.. Poore said h,
had quit the business.
Eva Mcdonald thought that burea,
of immigration would be benefit if i
showed the number of farm mortgages
the average yearly earnings of farmers
the number of idle people and the wage
paid in the cities. Along with thoS,
things might also be shown the grea
natural resources of the state, and, i
possible, the reasons set forth why til,
present population did not take ad
vantage of such opportunities.
Mr.. HodgsOn made no answer to tn,
criticisms, except that the bureau O
immigration would not be any wors
for Minnesota than any other state.
The lateneSS of the hour cut off fur
Their discussion. Next Sunday fire,
| cli Of Sil..el will iaa disai,Ssad