The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1894-04-28

With thousands Of recruits from all over
the c~ountry-even favored North Dakota
joining Coxey's army Of unemployed, with
4 10000 man on the G. N. system on a strike,
with 100, 600 miners in Pennsylvania strik-
ing, with a wall going up all over the world
from hungy men--what does 1t mean and
what are we coming to and where are we
ats'
1t will be OF interest to our readers to
know that at the present ~writing-Friday
e~vening-the strike on the Great Northern
Is not only still on, but is growing In size
and efficiency. Mail trains are running, but
that is but an indication Of weakness on the
part of officials of the road. The men were
willing from the first to carry the mails regu-
larly. but the company refused to' permit
them to do so unless they ran a full train.
Yesterday witnessed heavy accessions to the
strikers force, when all the men at Mime
apolis, St. Paul, Duluth, West Superior and
Hinckley went out. The following telegram
from the President of the Union, came last
evening:
ST. PAUL, April 27.-Strike has been de-
clared at every point on the system and is
now In full force. Call out every man In
service. Those who are not with us are
against us. We will win.-EUGENE V.
DEBs.
The s~eventy-ffth anniversary of the or
----~z- H.. n ~ Z - A.a.~
was duly celebrated in Bottineau by Turtle
Mountain Lodge No. 48. The Presbyter-
ian church was secured in which to meet,
and its pastor graciously consented to give
the address. The occasion being one of
thanksgiving and praise, it was considered
that that gentleman was peculiarly fitted
for the work required. Members Of the
order met at the lodge room at 7.3o p. m.
and from there marched to the church.
After singing. and prayer by Chaplain J.
B. Sinclair, a short discussion was had
between the Noble Grand and Vice Grand
in which the objects of the order were
most felicitously set forth. Rev. Wood
then delivered a voluminous address on
secret societies in general, their object and
their success. He was listened to attent-
lively through the entire talk. C. S. Nc
Candless was then introduced and spoke
for fifteen minutes, after which was sing
ing and the benediction. The boys all
feel proud of their lodge and were very
much gratifed at the large audience which
crowded the building.
We reproduce the followingt extracts
from a letter received by Squire Stewart
from an old friend in Alexandria, Ont.
The gentleman has been in this country,
and being a keen observer, has a good idea
of the subject:
Don't you think it would be wise not
to depend so much on wheat, and go more
into butter, beef and pork? If one half
of your wheat crop was oats or barley cal
culated to make beef. pork and butter,
would it not be better? Wheat, even at
AZ cents. would pay better fed that way, l
think, but I suppose the difficulty with
that plan would be to provide winter quar-
tiers for pigs and cattle, the climate being
so severe and the price of lumber SO high.
The number of horses and oxen necessary
for you to keep to work so large a tract of
land for wheat will eat up in the course
of a year a good ordinary crop. There
are two conditions to which that western
country. as we'll as Manitoba, are subject,
which is a terrible drawback, that is, be-
ing so subject to drouth and frost and so
far from the wheat market of the world,
involving so much for freight charges that
the margin of profits can be but small, ev-
en- in the most favorable circumstances,
and no profit at all in ~unfavorable seasons.
My observation, and experience too, has
convinced me that you cannot depend on
an average of more than one crop out of
three that can be called a really good crop
with good prices. Between frost, drcuth,
blight and hail, I think this estimate is
about correct, and when you write ne
again just give me your opinion as to
whether I am right in this. If SO, it is
quite clear that the prospects of making
much by wheat growing is small, especial
ly since India. Africa and South America
have begun raising wheat on a large scale
and will be competitors in the worlds
markets with you. Besides that, they
raise the bulk of their wheat, beef, NUT
ton. &c.. in South America at least, all
within 900 miles of the sea coast and ocean
steamers for all the European parts, thus
costing them but little for inland freight,
whilst you have to pay freight for inland
carriage nearly two thousand miles to the
sea-board. In the face of facts like these
the western farmer either in Dakota or
Manitoba is at a great disadvantage,
though his ocean freights may be a little
less than that of the South American. The
inland rates are ruinous to the farmer and
this is a difficulty which will always exist,
and it becomes a question whether raising
beef, butter. cheese and pork and that
these cannot be sent into the worlds mar
ket at much cheaper freight rates in pro-
portion to their bulk and value than bulky
commodities like wheat. Of course, the
objection to beef. pork. butter, cattle, &c.
is your long, severe winter and the high
price of lumber, with the additional diff
Guilty of your land, at least, not being
adapted for hay or pasturage. The truth
is, there is difficulty on every side. The
old saying is there is a crook in every
lot" and ax,o.r ol,.o H.. ~