The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-02-13
.A..NE,NT IllN[IGRA ton.
The @ Convention Was .. Success in
Every Way and Consequent
" Princeton Is Happy.
There Was a Large Attendance
and the Speakers Were
Full Of Their Subj ect.

4 Il .
Princeton never does a thing by
halves. That was shown Friday, when
the speakers at the immigration
convention were given a larger audi
ence than was present at any one ses-
sion of the district convention at Du-
1luth. And Princeton has only 1887 in
habitants, while Duluth has we'll, ever
SO many thousand.
Col. w. G.: Plummer, of North Dako-
ia was the first to arrive on the field,
reaching the village Thursday, but the
remainder of the speakers did not put
in an appearance until Friday morning.
J. J. Hill, who came unexpectedly but
none the less welcome, brought large
party in his special car. They were
met at the train by conmitte of
citizens and escorted to JesnerAsopera
house. The convention Was called to
order by President Mallette at II
o'clock. L. S. Briggs welcomed the
guests in a speech that received consid-
cradle applause, after which the presi-
dent called upon Secretary Cravens to
read the resolutions declaring the OBJ
jects of the Mile Laos County Immi-
grafton association. This finished the
business of the morning and the presi-
dent announced an adjournment to
l o'clock.
Shortly after the hour set the CON
vention again convened and after a
brief introduction President ]. J. Hill,
of the Great Northern, addressed the
| gathering, his speech lasting about an
hour In introducing Mr.. Hill, the
chairman thanked him for leaving his
important business and coming to the
convention. Mr.. Hill said that he had
no business of more Importance than
attending an immigration convention,
and doing what he could to bring more
people into the State of Minnesota tc
develop it's resources. He spoke 81
the erroneous idea entertained by
some people that there are too many
inhabitants in Minnesota already EN-.
:Fgaged ID farming and that for more e
a go into the business would reduce the
1price of farm products.
The whole commercial world; . he
said, is now more closely related than
were the different States of the Union
in 1860, and prices of farm staples are
made by the aggregate surplus Of all
the countries of the earth engaged in
raising such staples. 1t doesn't make
La particle of difference whether we
raise a few million more bushels oi
wheat in Minnesota. Our competitors
are in the Argentine Republic, in
Australia, Russia, and wherever wheat
is raised. The people who are seeking
cheap farms and new homes are going
to live somewhere, and are going to be
producers wherever they live If we
don't get them, they will go some
where else. They are not going to get
off the earth.
To show how all the world is linked
together in commercial relations, let
me tell you that if they had big
modern steamships on the Pacific now
that could carry wheat and -four to
China and Japan for three or four dol
lars per ton instead Of six or eight,
which the old-fashioned vessels are
now obliged to charge, we should be
sending our whole Pacific coast surplus
of 25,OOO,OO0 bushels of wheat a year
to Asia, and not a bushel would 90 to
Liverpool. You want more people
here in Mile Laos county to add to your
assessment roll and thus reduce your
tax rate or. give you more money to
i spend on roads, bridges and other i'm
provements. You want them to helm
support your schools, churches and
business houses. The prosperous
farming regions are those that are
we'll settled. Will anybody pretend
that Illinois and Iowa are not more
prosperous to-day, and that the farm
ers do not enjoy higher average OF
. general comfort than when those
States had only a few hundred thou.
sand inhabitants?
3 Another thing for which you want
more people is to give you better trans.
Z portation rates. The volume of bust.
ness is, the main factor in determininp
4 the rate on a railroad. One fact will
! illustrate this. In 1880 the rate on
wheat from the lower Red River val.
{ ley to Duluth and Minneapolis was 4O
cents per hundred; now it is 10 cents.
! You see it has been more than cut in
two. The reason is that we have !
4 great deal more wheat to haul. There
are a great many Germans and Poland.
ers in the cities who would like t.
come up here and get farms. Perhaps
some of you do not think very highly
! of foreigners. let me refer you to the