The Bemidji pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Beltrami County, Minn.) 1896-1917, 1902-01-16
or they have attempted tt dc

1 i ( y = 5.s "a
financial panic, or at least
crippled the efforts Of the great
est man in the Northwest in bis
efforts to give Minnesota her far
share of the traffic that is about
to be borne westward by rail,
way, and which may or may not
create new fortunes among us
beside which those now in exist
ence are inconsiderable.
Why did not the governor OF
Minnesota make some such IN
lquiry as this before footing his
everlasting steamboat whistle in
the bends Of the river? Why
should he make Minnesota ridic-
ulons for the sake of Hartman,
or the Times, or Lowry or Wash
burne?
The PIONEER has been insre-
ceipt of a pamphlet entitled 'The
Octopus, written and published
by w. D. Washburne, Jr., who
seems to be a talented young
man. Its style and the burden
of it's song remind one forcibly
that some twenty years ago,
while the young man was still in
lschool, and, OF course, innocent
| of the Wickedness Of his Paw, 4
there were similar pamphlets
issued by one Ignatius Donnelly,
since deceased, and now a candi-
date for a niche in the hall of
fame, relative to a certain Millers
Association, of underlined capital
but alleged boundless capacity
for mischief, and with supposedly
omnipotent power over the for
tunes of Minnesota farmers the
scriptures of Donnelly were not
a whit more matchmaking than
this Octopus of the son Of the old
giant Of the Millers' Association.
Upon reading The Octopus it
makes moraiizing plain, for there
has clearly happened that the old
aphorism is true it is only a
couple of generations from shirt
sleeves to shirt sleeves. For
surely the younger Washburne
cannot have anything to do with
| those swell receptions that his
father INDUCES il at Minneapolis
and still write like this. In
Minneapolis, everything for a
Minneapolitan,
| Read those columns of freight
tariff comparisons in the Dis
patch and Times, in which the
Sooline figures so conspicuously.
A ton Of coal over 50 many hun
Idred miles Of the 500 road from
Gladstone or 500 Ste. Marie, for
nothing Ito the stockholders);
and so many miles on the Great
Northern for 1925 per ton. Well,
the 500 line was built for philan-
thropic purposes, for the purpose
| of compelling lake freighters to
carry Minneapolis -four to But
falo at cost. And If it carries
coal at all it must carry it as the
ocean steamers do ballastto
keep the ship level. And If Mime
apolis flour is not carried as bal
last by the 500 as far as Liver
pool, how can Washburne and
his milling company (headquar-
tiers in London) explain the fact
that Minneapolis -four brings
more in Minneapolis than it does
| in Liverpool? Do the people OF
Minneapolis read the Northwest
ern Miller? IL they do, why do
i 4
they not induce the Times to
Jump onto the Pillsbury- Wash
burne Milling Company (head-
quarters in London, Eng for
feeding the cotton-spinners OF
| Manchester cheaper than they do
the sawmill men of Minneapolis,
Jones paying the freight?
Every time a Chicago road car
RES coal into Minnesota itcrosses
the dead line of Duluth competi-
ton, and does it at sacrifice,
which it is compelled to make up
out of some other traffic. We do
mot know just where it makes it
4