The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1902-10-10
PRESIDENT HILL SPEAKS
At GRANT COUNTY FAIR
He Says That II Man Does Wrong
He Should Be Punished, but. That
IL He Does Right He Should
BE Protected.
Special to the Pioneer Press.

come Hill" was on the banner that
streamed over the main street of Elbow
Lake this morning. and royal welcome it
was when the railroad magnate's special
train reached here at 1890 o'clock.
Mr.. Hills speech had been advertised as
the chiof attraction of this second day of
the Grant county fair, and, as it proved,
ne was the only attraction.
Mr.. Hill spoke as follows: /
"Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
l want to assure you this afternoon that
Is 1t matter of unusual pleasure to meet
you here. am glad to see the farmers
here with their wives. Il is privilege
that enjoy to meet the people who have
come into this part Of the country and
made 1t what we see it to-day
"It Is a few months more than thirty
part !: of the state. At that time the
outpost was a little store on the hill
by the old-what we may call the old
church at Evansville After leaving Ev-
ansville we stopped all night at Mrs.
Burne's, and the next night we stopped
on the prairie all night and walked to
keep warm. 1t was on the 10th of March,
and assure you it was very cold. Now,
to me this is an unusual pleasure. and
there is no place where I could meet
with more pleasure than in your county.
flying. and it must be gratifying to you
in that you have been able
To Work the Change,
that l have been able in some way to
laid In bringing about this change. The
country looks beautiful to-day, and l
see within and without the town rot
only the cause of the change. but the
fruit of it as well. see good stock. 1
see nice cattle, and just as good sheep
as you will find in any part of the coun-
try. Years ago, back in 1885, we had
a very dry season after the grain was
planted. Until July not drop of rain
fell in the northern part of the state,
particularly in the Red river valley, but
Notwithstanding the long drouth, after
the rain fell they got a three-quarter
crop. felt then that the farmers should
not have all their eggs in one basket.
I thought they should have a greater
diversity of things on their farms. II
a man lost his wheat crop and he had
half dozen good fat steers to sell he
could get some money and bridge over
for another year.
II decided to raise cattle on my farm
at Lake Minnetonka. l had to buy my
experience. I bought some fancy cat
tie at very extravagant prices. My fences
were let down. With a little reward to
the men I could find the cattle. Some
times they would come after I had re-
warded them few times and offer to
tell me where the cattle were and said
they would find them for SO much.
presume it was the ferocious stare of
the bull that tore down the fences, but
l made up my mind that I could not
in my lifetime succeed as I wanted, and
] sent men to the country and bought
up large number Of bulls for three or
four years, and to-day saw as handsome
cattle in your own county as man would
wish to see. 1t did me good as saw
before me proof that my endeavor
Had Not Been in Vain.
Now, I can say to you that no one in
the state OF out of it has such great
interest in the people of the state and
the people who are cultivating the land
as myself. No man has greater in
terest-put It all on selfish gain If you
want to-in the welfare of the producers
than I have, because If your labor is
wasted what becomes Of me? If you
are poor, I am poor. an, glad to see
the evidence Of your prosperity. for we
must share your prosperity with you.
1t can't be otherwise.
"All that we have been doing, all that
I have tried to do in the way of building
up the success Of the country, is on the
ground that the man who cultiyates The
soil must make the money before he can
pay it, and in that we have the
foundation Of our own prosperity, and
Cur company has been prosperous. All the
transcontinental lines that have been
built across the continent either in Cam
ada or the United States have been sub
sldized with the exception Of our own.
All of those of this country have failed
from one to three times, except our own,
and the only credit we can take to our
selves' for being able to avoid these fail
ures is that we have tried to bring the
Ordinary Principles of Business
to apply to railroad enterprise-never to
undertake 10 do more than we could af-
ford to do and not to run ahead in a wild
speculative career but going ahead
cautiously; IL the soil good and the
climate is good to be patient and encour-
age the people. When you have these
IDEAS fixed in your mind you have the key
that must solve the difficulty. We Ave
now come to the point where our road
has been extended to the Pacific ocean.
We have there the largest forests Of pine
timber growing on this continent and the
finest I have seen in the world. The
lumber trees In Minnesota are practically
all counted.
"A few years ago the country east Of
Detroit north Of the Chesapeake, and
SOutn Ot LAS ITGs1t Lakes GREW lIS supply
of lumber from Michigan and later from
Wisconsin. During the earlier times in
Michigan lumber was worth so to 60 cents
n thousand. hut to-day 1t is worth 81:
a thousand In the tree. Fortunes were
made in Wisconsin Pine lands. The
foundation for Cornell university was laid
from an Investment in Wisconsin timber
lands. We have on the Pacific coast
Enormous Forests.
.'You want them here. They want
them as far south as Baltimore and as
far cast as Portland. Me. Now, bear
this in mind: What helps you. what you
need and what we need Is the assistance
~ each other. and 10 help each other
Gear our burdens. The people who own
and manufacture that lumber Son the
coast are seeking q inurket for II. These
efforts affect you beyond the price Of
lumber; they affect you Ivy contributing
st. many tons Of freight to haul over. our
lines We have gathered all these tons
from the Pacific coast and from beyond
ahe PACIFIC. q s;ss
a There are four or five times as many
trains ON the line as there were years
ago, but the capital Of the road 10 prac-
tically the same, The Increased earn.
iEgs ana the increased amount OF bust.
,0eas has placed IN In position where