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

Hon. G. d. O'BRIEN, Ex-Mayor.


1t should in every way, and by every
affirmative means within its power, en-
courage, aid and assist in the work
Of the immigration association lately
formed in this city, and which is now
| so thoroughly organized and differed.
To the people who have spent their
lives in this state, no representation
Of the importnce of the work of that
association need be made, but to those
who have within the last ten or fifteen
years come within the state, a little
| of it's former history may be beneficial.
| This can be condensed into this
| statement; That the development and
prosperity Of the state Of Minnesota
| during it's entire history has been CO.
equal with, and according to the pros
| perity and development of it's agri-
| cultural resources.
Minnesota is, and always will be, an
almost purely agricultural state. The
large deposits Of iron ore lately dis
| covered in the northeastern portion of
the state do not in anywise detract
from the Importance of the agricult-
ural conditions upon which the COM
munity constituting the state are real
ly dependent, both for their present
and future prosperity. Such being the
case, every unproductive acre of land
within this state, and I mean unpro-
ductive in the sense of being unculti-
waited, is a direct loss to the general
community; while upon the other hand,
every productive acre is an actual and
direct benefit
The great prosperity of our commu-
nifty is due to the products of the Gull
tivated portions of our state; it's fut-
ure and general prosperity will also
be due to the cultivation and products
Of millions of fertile acres which still
remain uncultivated, and in just so
much as the state at large is benefited,
so also will the important cities of the
state receive the benefit of the reflex
effect
Minnesota can maintain with abSo-
lutte comfort, and comparative af-
f1uence, an additional population of
from three to five millions. The intel
Hgent efforts Of the immigration as
ISOLATION, aided by the proper support
of the citizens of this state, and in
deed Of the citizens of the three great
cities, can, within two years, increase
the population of this state by q mill
ion of people who will be prosperous,
contented and producing factors to the
community from the day of their set
tlement upon the land And it is sure
ly the duty of every citizen, and of
every municipality to aid In produce
ing this result
And then, as a little side issue, or
lighter occupation to while away an
uroccupied hour, our city might take
some steps to establish between it and
the two southern tiers of counties of
this state, a direct communication.
These counties are now reached by
following the Mississippi to point
beyond Winona and opposite La
Crosse, and by travelling in a paral-
lei line to a point about fifty miles
west of the southeastern boundary of
this state at that point; then you pro-
coed on an east and west line, the old
Southern Minnesota, to the extreme
western line of this state There is
also the Omaha line running through
the Minnesota valley, with a branch
to WfnnebagO City, where it connects
with the Southern Minnesota The
latter railroad is controlled by the Chi
cago, Milwaukee & st. Paul railway.
The result Of this condition of things.
and of the service had upon those rail-
ways, is, that the citizens of Houston.
Freeborn. Steele, Mower, the southern
part of Blue Earth and all of Martin
county (and those counties include the
very richest in the state), can reach
Chicago sooner than they can ST. Paul
or Minneapolis, and all of their trade,
both exports and imports. are had with
Chicago instead Of with the cities of
their own state. A piece of railroad
tWenty-eight miles long, from Winnie
bago City to Fairmont, with adequte
train service. would change all this
and make those counties and their nu-
merous and bustling towns tributary,
as they should be, to ST. Paul and
Minneapolis. A slight extension of
such line of railroad, for say ten to
fifteen miles, down into Iowa, would
furnish those southern counties with
all Of their coal at from $3.50 to So a
ton; and these two projects might
worthily occupy the attention Of our
city during the year of 1896.