The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-01-04


able to be brought about; whatever
reasonable and intelligent effort will
undertake to accomplish, will always
be ready to cooperate to the fullest ex-
tent with the farmers and their repre-
sentatives.
Now we will go back Take our own
railway. for instance. and In this per-
haps may show to what an extent
we have In the past served the farm
ers. The rate on grain to the head Of
Lake Superior from the Red River VAL
ley was formerly forty cents per 100
pounds. Now 1t Is fourteen cents per
100 pounds. II the average rate Of
fifteen or twenty years ago had been
maintained by our road. alone, we
would have gained about $3o.0O0.000
more than we have received.
REDUCED FREIGHT RATES.
MIR. Hill here gave some illustrations
of the operations of his road as Illus
trative Of the large reduction In cost
Of transportation within the past ten
or fifteen years. and he. by comparison
Of former rates Of freight with those
of the present day. demonstrated the
saving which had resulted to the ship
pers of the Northwest by reason of the
larger and stronger perfection Of traf-
fic systems as applied to this particular
section. Continuing. he said:
The market for produce Is always
controlled by the principle of supply
and demand. 1t always will be; it al
ways has been throughout the history
Of the world. That law is as certain
In its operation as the law Of gravita-
ton. The people Of Europe heretofore
have supplied in large part the mar
kets Of the world. and today they fur
nish the great volume in the nature
Of demand for all that we have to sell
to Europe. There are some continental
nations which discriminate against our
own. They do not want our fruits. our
wheat. our meats and many other lines
Of our products. These are matters
that you cannot regulate. The only
agency you can invoke IN this connec-
ton is that associated with the nation
al government. Your representatives
in congress can help you in this par
ticular On a previous occasion before
this body I called attention to the
fact and asked If you would individual
ly take up that question and ascertain
where within thirty years any intel
ligent action had been taken on the
part Of congress having for Its object
the improvement Of your market, the
betterment of the conditions under
| which your grain is selling. and you
would find something I have been I'M
able to find. g T
SOON FORGET ABOUT IT.
These men will ask you to help
them here, but when they go to WASH
ington they seem to forget that the
population Of Minnesota is the contrib
utary force through its industrial lines
to the prosperity of the entire state.
and in this connection the agricultural
dominant.
No man buys last weeks breakfast,
dinner and supper. These are not what
he wants. It is tomorroW's that he
buys: 1t Is tomorrow's meal that he Is
looking for; yesterday has been taken
care Of Now when We find our farm
ers, whether they are in Minnesota or
in Texas, the rule applies equally: The
man in Texas Is raising cotton. Great
Britain for years has been our mar
| ket. The cotton industry Of the world
| has been 80 distributed until the man.
| ufactories now in the East, In India,
| China and Japan afford much larger
| output than in previous years. They
would buy from the United States a
large amount Of cotton If they could
find q reasonable way of transporting
it to the place ait which they want to
use it.
In September last we were offered
three or four large shiploads amount
| ing to some twenty to thirty tons for
Asia if we could furnish the transpor-
tation All we could supply was the
| transportation to the Pacific ocean, and
| when we reached the coast there were
no ships. All the ships that had been
engaged in the transportation between
| the Pacific coast and Asiatic ports were
| in the service of the United States, and
our only recourse was to the ships of
Japan, and all their space was taken
up to the middle Of February, and now
! they are engaged up to the first OF
| August, consequently we had to refuse
to take the offers, and yet cotton was
selling in Texas at a lower price than
| it had sold ever before, being less than
cents pound and that cotton could
only find market in Great Britain
where they did not want it, and where
| If they had to buy it the price would
be marked down at the dictation of the
buyer and not to the seller. The same
rule is applicable to your grain.
WHERE TO SPEND MONEY.
If in place of building million
| dollar postoffices and million dollar
locks and dams between Fort Smelling
and Minneapolis, the only use for which
| will exist in furnishing a pond for the
university boys to have boat races
upon-if that money were paid, not as
bounty on the measurement Of a ship
| but as a bounty for the transportation
of the grain, you farmers would get
! the direct benefit of that.
China and Japan possess one-third OF
the population of the world. A recent
| publication by the state department at
| Washington shows that over 800, 600 00C
| of the people who inhabit the earth
live on the other side of the Pacific
ocean. This makes the population OF
! Europe look small. These people buy
! about 81, 900, 100000 This country sup
| plies about 10 per cent Of what the
world supplies. Now, what is our great
nation doing to get control of our pro-
| portion Of that trade? Remember that
/ our surplus which we sell abroad makes
the price for all we sell at home II
We are compelled to send our surplus to
Europe, surely we cannot expect the
people of Europe to pay us any more
| than the lowest price at which they
can buy elsewhere. If we expect any
thing else we will be disappointed.
II our government would spend ir
place of the $50, 000,0 900 or SAC, 900, 600 now
| directed under our legislation to the
| Improvement Of rivers and harbors, say
one-haf of that amount will go fur
tier and say, If we should spend the
| small proportion of So, 000, 900 annually
In the way of bounties to our shipping
interests in the Pacific, 1t would adj
vance in my opinion the price of wheat
in the United States cents per bushel
annually; and this 6 cents per bushel
annually would apply TO 10000, 900 BUSH
els of our product
The country is very prosperous taken
as whole; but where does this bal
| ance Of trade come from? Who fur
/ nfshes the product thus Sold3 The
| farmers, the agricultural people Of the
world. furnish 1t. Applause) That is
| they furnish the bulk of il We rniehi