The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-02-08

past served tho farmers The rate on grain
to the head Of Lake Superior from the Red
River valley was formerly 40 cents per 100
pounds. Now 1t ID II cents per hundred
pounds. If the average rate Of 15 or 20 years
ago had been maintained by our road alone
We would have gained about $780, COZ, 600 more
than we have received.
REDUCED FREIGHT RATES.
Mr.. Hill here gave some illustrations Of
the operations Of his road, as illustrative
OF the large reduction in cost Of transporta-
ton within the past 10 or IL 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 traffic
systems applied to this particular section.
Continuing, he said:
The market for produce IL always con-
trolled by the principle Of supply and de-
mand. It always will be; it always has
been throughout the history Of the world.
That law Is as certain in its operations as
tho law of gravitaton. The people Of
Europe, heretofore, have supplied in large
part the markets of the world, and today
they furnish the great volume in the nature
Of demand for all that We have to sell to
Europe. There are some continental ma
lions 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 can
not regulate. The only agency you can In
woke in this connection Is that associated
with the national government. Your repre-
sentatives in congress can help you In this
particular. On a previous occasion before
this body I called attention to the fact and
asked II you would individually take up
that question and ascertain where within
30 years any intelligent 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 have been unable to find
SOON FORGOT ABOUT IT.
These men will ask you to help them here,
but when they go to Washington they seem
to forget that the population of Minnesota
is the contributary force, through Its In
dustrial lines, to the prosperity of the entire
state and In this connection the agricul-
tural interests stand forth AZ the most
dominant.
No man buys last weeks breakfast din
ner 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 farmers. whether they are
in Minnesota or Texas. the rule applies
equally. The man in Texas is raising cot
ton. Great Britain for years has been our
market. The cotton industry OF the world
has been 80 distributed until the manu-
and Japan afford a much larger output
than IN previous years. They would buy
from the United States large amount OF
cotton If they could find a reasonable way
of transporting 1t to the place at which they
want to use 1t.
Tn September last we were offered three
or four large shipments amounting to some
20 or 30 tons for Asia, If we could furnish
the transportation. 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 en-
gagged In the transportation between tho
Pacific coast and Asiatic ports were In the
service of the United States, and our only
recourse was to the ships Of Japan, ana all
their space was taken up to the middle or
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
cents a pound and that cotton could only
find a market in Great Britain, where they
did not want 1t, and whore II they mad TO
buy 1t the price would be marked down at
the dictation Of the buyer and not OF the
seller. The same rule Is applicable to your
grain.
wHERB TO SPEND MONEY.
II in place Of building million dollar post
offices and million dollar locks and damns
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 upon the measurement of q ship but
as bounty for the transportation Of the
grain, you farmers would get the direct ben
eft Of that.
China and Japan possess one-third Of the
population Of the world. A recent pnblica-
ton by the state department at Washington
shows that over 500. 900. 900 Of tho 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