The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-02-22
WILL DELVE INTO 1T
COMMITTEE OF EDUCATORS TO IN
VESTIGATE THE IRON RANGE
RATE CONDITIONS
IF FACTS ARE AS CLAIMED

IF FACTS ARE AS CLAIMED
The Railroad and Warehouse Conn
missioners Will He Asked to Or
der "a Reduction in Rates From
Men Furnished Some Heat at the
Meeting Held Yesterday.
| The question Of iron ore rates and
their bearing upon the openartion or
incorporation of mines leased from the
state. and upon the revenues derived
! from them for the public school fund,
was argued at length yesterday before
number of state educators, by per-
sons interested in the subject, and it
was determined that the interests of
the state demand an investigation. A
| committee OF seven will therefore be
| appointed to examine the matter thor
oughly and if the committee reports
| that action by the state would be adj
vlsable, the board Of railway commits
! sloners will be asked to hold an official
inquiry, and if such action seems war
fanted, to order a reduction Of the
| rate from 80 cents to 40 cents per ton.
Inc meeting was not we'll attended
| because most of the prominent edu-
Gators are now attending the national
| convention of educators at Cleveland.
! but there were enough present to make
a respectable audience for those who
wished to present argument. Prof
! Wllllam f. Phelps, of this city, pre-
sided and c. A. Ballard, of Fergus
Falls, officiated as secretary
The meeting began with an intro
| TlI
said that the school fund amounted to
$13.O00,OO0, but it had been asserted
| that il the state received what was due
| to 1t from its mining lands it would
get $25,OOO,OOO, a great patrimony which
would do an incalculable amount Of
good.
1T is alleged" he said. that the
policy Of the mining and railroad cor
pofations is such as 10 prevent any
mining from the mines on state lands.
| II this is so, it is our duty to look into
it and to
RECTIFY ANY INJUSTICE
that the state may suffer by reason of
discrimination. Both parties should be
willing to investigate the question.
M. Falk Gjersten, Of Minneapolis,
suggested the appointment Of COM
mittee of seven to inquire into the mat
ter and report back to the educators.
The report signed by G. T. Hale,
Alfred Merritt and c. e. Dickerman
and published in the Globe last week,
was submitted by c. E. Gridley, of
Duluth. The signers of the report and
| MI Gridley are owners of Independent
| mines and claim to interested in the
development of the state mines their
purpose being to bring the state iron
ore into the market in competition with
the ore Of the corporations, which
\ oil 81,
| income from their operation and inure
| to their own benefit as well. The rec
commended a reduction of freight rates
| to 40 cents, which, they asserted, would
bring about that desired result.
THE 80 cent haul" said Mr.. Gridley,
has rendered the Independent mining
| impossible on the Mesaba range, ex-
! companies doing the bulk of the bust
ness at 80 cents control the bulk of
| the iron ore. The cost of ore in the
car is 72 cents in Minnesota, $127 in
| Wisconsin and $1.37 in Michigan, and
| it runs to So and over in other states.
| But Wisconsin and Michigan are
THE ONLY COMPETITORS
of Minnesota. 1t strikes me that the
Almighty calculated to give an adj
vantage to this state Of about 25 cents
a ton. There is no reason in the world
why this state should not get 25 cents
a ton on state ore. In 1894 one state
mine paid $125,O00 royalty to the state,
in 1895 about half this sum, in 1896
about $4,000 and In 1928 not cent.
No state ore was mined and it will not
be mined as long as 80 cents remains
the freight rate.
every cent above 80 cents a ton for
freight is robbery. At the present sale
price Of ore at Lake Erie ports the
Wisconsin and Michigan ranges cannot
| reduce their price without shutting off
every mine in those two states. You
cannot reduce the Minnesota freight
rate to 40 cents without putting every
Minnesota mine in a position to supply
the world.
II am one Of the private owners Of
land on the Mesaba range. We have
remained quiet until We have seen our
! property decline in value until on Sat-
urday last I signed lease of my mine
| for 10 cents q ton, and every ton free
ore
1.-The interests Of the private fee
holders and the public schools are iden~
teal. 1t is claimed that there are only
15,000,00 tons Of iron ore on the school
lands In one state mine alone there
are 20,000,O00 tons, and a royalty Of
twenty-five cents ton means $5,OOO,-
900 to the state. That mine is owned
by the University of Minnesota. The
Oliver mine contains 100000 tons of
| iron, so in these two mines alone we
have 100000 tons. There are 100000
900 tons Of iron ore in the state mines"
Mr.. Gridley was asked whether the
corporations could not corner the out
put of iron. and he replied they could
not. 1t was too big a proposition for
them, he said Neither did they con-
troll all the ore carriers on the lakes.
They do control" he said, ''the rail-
roads, absolutely"
I'VE are getting less and less every
year for educational purposes from the
it Is time we looked out for our inter
ests. The appropriations for the sum-
mer school this year were cut one-half,
| because the state had not the money
to run them. We need every cent We
can get from the iron lands"
OTHER SIDE OF IT.
Joseph B. Cotton. the attorney for the
| Duluth & Iron Range road, replied to
| Mr. Gridley. He declared that the roads
and corporate mine owners courted the
fullest investigation.
There are two iron ranges in st.
Louis county," he said. "the Vermilion
range runs the Duluth & Iron Range,
and to the Mesaba run the Duluth,
Mississippi & Northern and the
Wright-Davis roads. There are two
classes of owners on the Vermilion
range. There are no mines there known
as state school lands. The owners are
the Minnesota Iron company and the
| Independent owners. Now all freight
| rates on iron ore in Minnesota are paid