The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-25
our ASIATIC EXPORTS
PRESIDENT HILLS VIEWS ON
AMERICAN WHEAT PRODUCT

Government Should Take Up Subject
of Commercial Relations With
Asin-Hoyv the Price of Wheat
Might BE NomtnnlIy Advanced
An Export Bounty of 81 Per Ton
Some CIean-Cut Expressions.
The following interview was given
by Mr.. James ]. Hill to R. L. O'Brien,
of the Boston Transcript, who says:
1 found this great master of trans
portation in his Office this afternoon.
In personal appearance he is one Of
the most remarkable of men. OF me-
dunn height, his eyes are deep, dark
brown, small and penetrating in their
glance and full of fire; his hair and
beard, which are absolutely gray, are
so heavy as to be almost shaggy, and
with broad chest, and evidence of great
physical vigor, for he was famous here
as an athlete In his youth. Mr.. Hill
gives the impression of a man of great
Intellectual force, and such he is. His
hands and feet are in motion most OF
the time as he talks. and his words
are emphasized by nervous and half
unconscious bodily activity.
Have the railroads so penetrated the
West that our wheat production is now
anywhere near its maximum 1 asked
About half, ! think" began Mr.. Hill
"Of course there are SO many eco
nS mic factors that cne hesitates to
generalize Only the best of the land
back from the railroads is now in use,
but a greater demand would bring that
l~o
advantageously irrigated Assuming
that the demand for other cereals in
creased correspondingly, 1 should say
that we could raise on an average
1200, 600 600 bushels of wheat in the en-
tire country, and that would probably
feed 200,000O0O people. When our pop
ulation reaches that figure we shall
cease to be wheat exporters"
VIII the milling business eventually
90 from Minneapolis to Duluth, as has
been suggested?'
MILLING CENTER.
THAT is hard to tell Here is a tri-
angle (sketching one with his penciD,
and here the heart of the Red river
wheat region, here the mills Of Mime
apolis, and here Duluth, the head Of
lake navigation. Now the wheat comes
down to Minneapolis and as flour is
carried on to Duluth for shipment
East. Two sides of triangle are
longer than the remaining one. But
If Duluth, why not Niagara Falls?
That is pooh-poohed here, but should
not be surprised if that became the
great milling center of the country.
Wheat is easier to ship than flour; 1t
. is moved by machinery and pours by
gravity, while flour in barrels requires
human hands to move it. believe the
line Of least resistance will be to take
the wheat from the Red river valley
down to Duluth, and, as wheat carry
1t through the lakes to the Niagara
water power, and there have 1t made
Into flour near the mouths of the con-
sumers. There will always be an enor-
nous bread market within easy reach
of Buffalo, and that is the place to
make flour. But the movement Of an
industry IS not a matter of a day or
a year. These are the slow changes
almost of generations
IF you will stop to think" continued
Mr.. Hill in another vein, that the
United States exports about 100000, 900
bushels of wheat, an average Of ST.
000, 600 bushels in the last nine years,
the Importance of the Pacific coast ex-
portation becomes apparent. From our
Western coast 100000 900 bushels are
sent out, and as this wheat has to cross
the equator twice before reaching Eu-
rope it is carried in sacks and held on
the Pacific coast till November to give
1t a chance to sweat These sailing
vessels move slowly, and by the time
the first ship reaches port the last ship
has usually left San Francisco, so that
the whole 100000 900 bushels is prac-
tically afioat at one time, and that
quantity appears in every market re-
port as "afioat and to arrive The
effect of this is constantly to depress
the market, and about as much as
100000 bushels in the elevators of
an Eastern city, because the foreigner
would have to send his order here to
buy the latter, while in the Pacific
coast trade wheat is sent to the for
eign market to be sold. Now, if we
could as nation, and we can only do
1t in that way, because commercial re-
lations with foreign governments are
controlled by the national authorities,
take up the question Of the disposal
Ol OuT surplus prOOuctS, WONDERS might
be accomplished. Until we find such
markets, we are at the mercy Of the
buyers, wherever they may be. Today
Great Britain takes from two-thirds to
three-fourths Of all we have to sell,
and is practically the only nation in
Europe that by tariffs does not dis
criminate against US. But a nation
which has only one customer, and an
agricultural nation like ours, is not
very well placed.
RELATIONS WITH ALASKA.
IF our government will only take
up the subject Of our commercial rela-
tions with Asia, SO as to make 1t pos
sible for US to furnish them with part
Of the food they eat, to the extent say
of a third of what we now send to
Europe, we should raise the price of
the two-thirds that would remain to
go to Europe. A reduction by one
third Of what now goes to England
T0DAY'S BULLETIN.