The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1902-01-17
JAS. j. HILLS SPEECH
Delivered Before the Tri-State
Grain Growers Convention.
- SS.S-5 Vas. A~r--rt ot Ground Re-
lating to the Progress of the Farm
ers and Railroads of the
Northwest.

of Mr.. j. j. Hill to the Tri-state Grair
Growers association had subsidized, he
addressed the audience as follows:
Il want to present to you today some
important figures which, l think, will
establish many facts that are, of great
interest to all the people of this country
northwest.
or our country has always marked an
improvement in the condition of the peo-
pie; Every United States census from
1850 to 1900, shows an average growth
which has practically doubled the pop
ulation of the country about every thirty
years. At the close of the civil war
this country contained, say 34,000,000 OF
people. At the average rate of, the in
crease of the past 100 years we should
have at least 150,000,000 of people by
1880. The present increase is more than
1500, 900 annually.
The all-important question presenting
community is: Where will they GO
and what will they do to secure for
themselves comfortable homes and the
ability to educate their children and to
bring them up in such a manner as will
make them good, useful citizens of the
republic?
''At the close of the war large portion
of the states of Iowa, Wisconsin and
Minnesota were government lands, open
for homesteads, and practically all the
country west of these states to the Pa
citic ocean was open to settlement. The
census reports show that large portion
Oh the Increased population mas gone IN
to this new country, and built up cities
and states, opened up prosperous farm
ing communities and dotted the land
with schools and churches-every evil
dence of American enterprise and prog
ress.
AgricuIturists Are Nations Sheet Anchor.
Nearly one-half of the capital of the
country is invested in agricultural lands,
and what goes with it for the purpose
of making it productive. Nearly one
half of the population of the country is
directly or indirectly connected with the
cultivation of the soil, and II we judge
from all the experiences of the past,
the agricultural half of the population
has done more than it's share in every
a whole. That half has always shown
itself more intelligent, more patriotic,
and, in every way, the sheet-anchor of
the nation. When men have been called
to defend the flag of our country the
farmers sons have always been ready
to step to the front and answer the call.
While the farmers are ready to go ten
miles on election day to cast their votes,
others hang around the polls in the cities
farmers sons in New England and the
middle and western states are constant
ly recruited the numbers of those who
engage in the professions and the vari-
Gus walks of business, and their individ-
ual successes clearly establish their right
to be placed in the front rank wherever
they have been called. My observation
leads me to believe that the nation at
large has more to expect from those who
CULTIVATE TIE sui tIdH lIOIl dil OlHeIS
combined.
"The largest area of unoccupied land
where green trees and green grass grows,
and where clear water runs, lies in the
zone between Lake Superior and the Pa
cific ocean, and to the settlement and
development of this country We must
look for the increase of our traffic and
the future value of our investment in
railways
Homes Must Be Literally Provided.
How are we to provide homes for our
rapidly increasing population? Most of
the lands that will produce crops every
year and are susceptible of cultivation
are already occupied. The important
question today before the statesmen of
the nation is: How can the remaining
lands best be made to furnish homes for
the rapidly growing population? A lit,
man that it is only by the wisest action
on the part of the general government,
by well matured plans for irrigation, and
every other means which will make avail
able every portion of the country that is
or can be made susceptible of cultiva-
ton. There is movement among few
of our statesmen to secure this end. In
some localities in the west this move
ment is opposed by cattle and sheep men,
who desire to retain these lands for their
own purposes. In some cases an effort is
being made to induce congress to convey
the lands to the several states, to be dis
posed of by them. This latter movement
be frittered away, or practically given
away, or appropriated without benefit
ing any considerable number Oh pcOple
1 consider the future welfare of the coun-
try depends more upon the wise DISPOSE
ton of the public domain, so as to secure
homes for the people, than upon any
other single condition in the. nation. Our
country is large; our population and oc-
equations differ as widely. as the climatic
and natural conditions differ Every
congress shows an active effort being
made to secure some advantage to some
local district, overlooking. as think, the
broad general fact that the nation should
and must prosper as a whole.
I'm 1896 this country settled the ques-
ton of gold standard the universal ti;a
came to an end. People who had money
to invest were no longer afraid that If
would be compelled to take fifty-cent
dollar in return, and now the business of
the country is marching forward at a
rate greater than has ever been known in
our history or in the history of the
world. Our attention is frequently called
to the enormous balance of trade in
money we receive for what we sell is
above that which we pay for what we
buy, thus making our country rich be-
yond all precedent. If we carefully IN
quire into the source from which this
enormous balance of trade comes, we
find that about three-fourths of our ex-
rectly. from the cultivation of the land:
The farmers have done the work and
have benefited the nation.
No Intelligent Effort to Get New Markets.
Now let us consider what the nation
has done in return for the farmers, or
what it can do in their behalf. The first
and great object is to provide them
means to sell the product of their land
and their labor at the highest possible
prices it will bring. 1 will ask you to
look over the statute books of the ma
ton and the different states, and find,
if you can, any intelligent step that has
been taken to find new markets for our
agricultural exports. l have examined
these records carefully, and up to the
present time do not find one intelligent
sentence or line, the object of which has
been to find new markets for the prod
ucts of the land, except as to southern
sugar and rice, and some wool.
''In order to advance the price of every
commodity the first step is to increase
the demand for it; as long as there is a
surplus in the market seeking a buyer
the price must remain low and whenever
there is shortage and the demand is
greater than the supply, it follows that
prices must advance Great Britain buys
about 20 per cent of all our exports: She
is our great customer and the single ma
ton that does not in her markets or
through her tariffs discriminate against
the product of our soil. In order to buy
from us she must be able to sell her own
products and get tho wherewith to pay
for her purchases.
England and Germany seek for mar
kets all over the world; they are nations
of merchants, and their ships go to all