The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-02

the gentleman asks the railway company to
give up portion OF this, 1t is asking some
thing unreasonable. something 1t cannot do;
they must live and let live | know that these
same roads have been carrying out. by free
trains, seed wheat and coal; l don't think
you can charge the railways of South Dakota
with not desiring to help the farmers.
We believe In this country that we can do
everything by the efforts of legislatures;
we can do things best by statutes; some
people even think they can set broken limbs
by statute. (Laughter). The laws governing
trade and commerce are certain and in
flexible as the laws of gravitation and when
legislatures pass unreasonable laws, 1t be-
comes necessary to obStruct them POSSIBLY
the railways would have been glad to carry
potatoes in that instance for less than the
cost to them, but II they once made rate
it would have been compulsory upon them
to maintain 1t. If you took wagon load
or merchandise produce to town and on
your return to the farm were to take load
OF lumber, you could do 1t cheaper than the
telioW who was hired to go to town expressly
tor load of lumber. And yet our congress
IN us wisdom, has said that rates once made
must be maintained as they are evidence
mat tney are profitable to the railway COM
panles, not taking into consideration, other
conditions In hauling coal and lumber to
South Dakota. if we could do it in the empty
return cars that took your wheat eastward
we could make you lower rate-but the law
says we must not. That is one of the beauties
of our present law.
Here delegate arose to a point of order
anu SdlQ he ulun want 10 nave Mr.. Hill
corrupted any more and that he was there
te talk to the convention, and not to explain
local matters to delegates from some partic-
ular corner of the country just because they
chose to interrupt him. The char ned that
the point OF order was well taken, and Mr..
Hill continued:
1 would like to see the farmers careful and
prudent, to take the best care of thei~ farms
and homes, to be economical. Al eminent
agricultural official of Austria came to Min
nesota to see me some time ago. He had
seen my name prize winner in tie an
nual live stock exhibition in Chicago. and
thought it worth while to come and see how
l fed my cattle. He was sent by the Austrian
government to see how our farmers did their
work and how far they would interfere or
compete with the agricultural products of his
country. to occupy the markets of Europe
and drive out their products or reduce the
prices. After spending a Few days at my
farm he came down to my office and 1 in
vited him out to dinner. In conversation
about what he had seen and the Impressions
he had formed he said Austria had one safe
guard-our wastefulness. Every farmer In
America wasted enough to support an ordi-
nary Austrian family.
That will not apply to all, but 1 will state
my own observations. The intelligent feeding
of stock is serious problem and should be
considered as everything else. Most farmers
think a steer is fat when it is only in good
condition. For example, If it weighs loo
pounds he sell it for to 81 cents a
pound; if it weighs 1,500 pounds he can get
AZ cents pound. Not only have you added
a cent a pound on the original weight, but
you have SEQ pounds more meat to sell. l
have devoted a great deal of attention to
raising cattle and never exhibited one at a
stock show but what l got top premium
| recently sent a steer to Chicago and not
only captured seven top premiums, but also
the gold medal.
In railroad business, care and frugality
means everything. If we could save cent
on the transportation of every ton of freight
ten miles, it would be an annual saving Of
81 620 0O0-nearly $400 900 more than the divi-
dend the Great Northern paid last year.
At the conclusion of his address, Mr.. Hill
was asked what suggestion he had to offer
for extending the trade relations of the coun-
try. He said:
One step would be to send intelligent
cial relations with China, Japan, the Philip
pine islands and Straits settlements that we
do not set up a stone wall between us. If we
expect to find a market for our products we
must get paid for them. 1 am not discussing
the tariff but when we say, you must come
and buy our stuff and sell nothing in re-
turn" we brighten them-they can go and
trade with the other fellow, and the other
fellow is after their trade.
We cannot lose anything by cultivating
friendly relations with our neighbors.
At the conclusion of his address, Mr..
Hill was again greeted by applause,
and under the suspension of the rules,
the following resolution was adopted
unanimously:
Resolved That the thanks of the farmers
of America are due, without stint to Mr..
Hill, manager of the Great Northern railroad,
for his great work conducted at enormous
expense and attended with great results in
introducing the staple crop of America to the
consumers of other nations, and that as
small token of the appreciation of this con-
gress, he be made an honorary life member OF
this body.