The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1902-01-17

equal 10 20 or ~ per capita OF pOpuid-
ton. Twenty years ago II amounted to
about $40, 900, 900 and today 1t amounts to
about $3.50, 100000, of which the United
States share is less than one-fifth The
total foreign trade in China in 1890 was;
about IS cents per capita; should 1t in
crease In the next twenty years In the
proportion of one-half that the trade OF OF
years, the foreign trade of China would
, 1.l.F'..::;-;. - s,2 oeS 400
The Chinese race is coIT:;:crc,a.
race. Their merchants in point of COM
mercial ability and integrity will rank
with those of any other nation. The Rus,
sian-siberian line viii soon extend Ni
Arthur, an open port all the year round.
This will give Russia an opportunity to
distribute many of her products in China
and will place her in a strong position.
The treaty between China and Japan at
the close of the Japanese war secured to
Japan. the rights to trade in China and
to make use of ports and rivers and pro-
vide facilities for that purpose. Under
the most favored nation clause in the
treaty. each has, the same, privilege as
respects trade relations, as is secured by
Japan by its treaty.
"If we are to enjoy fair share of the
benefits of the development of orian lttI
for the necessities of life, nearly all of
of which come from the farms.
THE farm bears relation to the mar
ket, and a vital point of national pros
perity and happy social condition Will
be In proportion to our success in Sc
curing our share of this trade. IN the
orient men get from 10 to so cents per
day; they cannot buy luxuries; their
wants are restricted to the mere neceSSl-
ties of life-food and clothing: A few
years ago l sent a man to China and
Japan, keeping him thre yaer, to hnd
out and report upon the commercial con-
ditions of these countries and to learn
what was necessary for this country to
do in order to create new market !or
our rapidly increasing products Whlch
were being sent to Europe ana soid, not
lowest bidder, because of the surplus we
had to SELL
Cheap Ocean Rates Means Millions to Us.
During the past six years the flour
trade of the Orient has grown TO 1oOOO,-
900 or 20 900, 900 bushels of wheat per an
ocean transportation, this amount could
in my judgment, be very much in
60 a 6 If we could 6at 81 ebe
plus that is sent to Europe, it would
nearly offset the average exports of the
Argentine. If the new order of things
following the recent war in China is to
secure a stable government and protec-
ton for life and property, the develop
ment of China cannot fail to be very
great, and 1 see no reason why. it may
not be great that of Japan. In
that case we would be called on to fur
nish one-half of our entire surplus grain,
taking this amount out of the European
markets and greatly advancing the price
of every bushel exported from this coun-
try, .-,,..
Japanese gentlemen were in my office,
and | asked them why they did not
use American cotton to mix with the
short staple cotton from India? They did
not seem to know that our cotton was
SO much superior to that which they
were in the habit of using. L told them
cotton and if they did not find it to
their advantage to use it, l would pay
the cost of the cotton. They ordered
few carloads The result has been that
we have not been able to find transpor-
tation to supply the Oriental demand for
American cotton from that time to this
During the months of September. Octo-
Der and November just past we shipped
about 900 bales of cotton to the Orient.
This was all we could find shiproom to
bled had the shiproom been available.
During this time other roads have also
carried their share of cotton to- the east,
and their experience has been practically
the same as our own.
Remarkable Increase in Land Values.
Five years ago land in the Red River
valley and in North Dakota was selling
at from So to 500 per acre; today the de-
mand for this land has made it worth
from $40 to $50 per acre: AS we have
extended our railway lines throughout
the northwest our first object has been
to settle up the country, along these
lines. comparison of the census re-
Minnesota in forty-three counties reach
ed by our lines, there has been an in
crease of 2S9,OOO people; in - North S Dakota,
in twenty counties, over $4,000 people.
''In fifteen of the counties in North Da-
kota, most depending. upon the Great
Northern for their railway , service ice O.
$3.50, 900 acres; in 1901, 600 acres, show
ing that in the eight years there had
been settled upon in fifteen counties on
the lines of the Great Northern road g.
05O,OO0 acres. In Montana the increase
in counties on the line of the Great
Northern was about 10000, people, and
in Washington 10000 people. This yaer
the indications are that the influx of
new people will be greater than at any
previous time in tie history of the coun-
try. More people will come in to make
their homes with you and help you as
neighbors and fellow workers in the de-
velopment of your state than ever be-
fore.
Community of Interest Takes in Farmer.
''At the present. time we hear, much
about the community in interests be-
tween the railroads. 1 want to say to
you here and now that the only COM
munity of interests that there is, or
ever can exist is the community of in
terests between the producer of tonnage
and the carrier; the man on the farm,
in the forest. and in the mine must be
of his labor and his lands with a profit,
or he will cease to labor and have moth
ing to sell. The railroads depend for
their existence on the prod, products o OF the
no other source of income. Individuals
may come and go, we will all sooner or
later pass from active life, but the land
the country-its resources and the rail-
roads will be here permanently, and they
will either prosper together or be poor
together. There is no other community
of interests that can ever exist against
this one. While ii is necessary for the
railroads that the farmers, the lumber
men, and the miners shall be prosperous,
it is also necessary that the railroads
should prosper.
much is being said about combination
between railroads, and that the country
for it's prosperity must rely upon a con-
tinuance of competition. The law of the
survival of the fittest must inevitably
end such competition as exists by the
destruction of the weaker by the strong
er. This has already been done in the
East. and to the extent that throughout
all New England the hundreds of original
railway CORPORATIONS are now mostly con-
solidated into three or four, and the peo-
pie are better off than ever before.
twenty-five years ago 1T was supposed
that competition was necessary to re-
duce rates. 1 think we have shown in
the Northwest that, without competition,
rates have been reduced faster than any,
where else in this country. Today the
farmers can ship their grain from the
Red river valley to the Twin Cities or
the head of Lake Superior at from Is to
20 per cent lower rates than the farmers
living in the Des MoineS valley and
Western Iowa where there are many
lines, can ship to Chicago, the same dis
lance. The effect of this has been to
g.. fr~, fI,n