The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1902-10-16
Minnesota was worth as much as land
in Iowa To-day IandLi liz

Minnesota was worth as much as land
in Iowa to-day. Land in this part of
Minnesota would in the very near flu.
tnre be worth 500 per acre, and he
thought that IN ten years every acre
of good tillable land in the vicinity of
Pine City would be worth S75 per- acre.
Mr.. Bede made reference to the rapid
development of the country which how
ever was not built up in day. With
the benefits to the people came evils
which cannot be overcome in short
time and in haste. They were a long
time coming and they will be a long
time going. The people should have
patience and they should handle those
factors that are working for evil in an
intelligent manner. We have grown
so rapidly that one can scarcely COM
prehend the fact. Railroads were
scarcely known in this country a CEN
tury ago, and to-day we have net
work of them over the entire country.
1t was but twelve years ago that an
electric car was placed on the thor
oughfares of the twin cities, and yet
to-day it seems as though they had
been used for a much longer time than
that. Away up in the northern parts
of the State and in remote places NAV
be seen the mail boxes marked u. S.
SO we can tell that we are in the United
States. The farmer has. his mail
brought to his door, and over in Wash
ington county to-day mail now is deliv-
cred at every farm house in that
county. Telephone wires are strung
through the forests and long-distance
communication is made possible. It
is an age of labor saving devices and
machinery. Bede said that now the
women and the horses did all the work
in the country as all the farmer had to
DO was to sit on the seat of the machine
he is using in the field. 1t has become
necessary he said for farmers to build
gymnasiums for their hired men so
that they could get some exercise.
Only the other day he read of farm
ers' team that was hitched to binder
running away, and before they could
be stopped they had cut and stacked
ten acres of grain. -
He said that be believed in a rigid
inspection of all corporations which he
thought were no better than bankers
who had to submit to an inspection of
their business affairs. After the water
is all squeezed out of the corporations he
thought that their securities would be-.
come popular with. the. people who
would take some >of their money and
invest in commercial stocks if thew
could be assured by government in
spection that the paper was good. In
this way the people would become in
terested in many of the great corpor-.
ations of the country and would in a
sense control them. The day of Smith
& Wilson and the small partnership
has passed, and it is necessary for
large corporations to be organized to
handle the vast business enterprises of
the country. The Minnesota Iron Co.
pays out 100000 for freight alone
and does not get back any of this sum
until it markets it's product: How fu-
tile would be the effort of any small
concerns to try and handle such a vast
enterprise.
We are living in an age of CONNER
cialism in sharp contrast to our fore
fathers who lived in an entirely differ:
ent age. When the empires on the
Mediterranean sea crumbled to pieces
they left lot of literature and classics.
and the world enjoyed an age of litera-
ture. The people read and thought
along those lines. Later Europe was
living in a military age and it pro-
duced Duke of Wellington and Ma
poleon. Napoleon could not have been
a possibility had it not been for the
French people who rallied to him and
were his willing military servants.
The people then were thinking along
military lines. Later came an era of
love of liberty and this made possible
a Thomas Jefferson and George
Washington, who were the result of
the intense feelings and desires of
people for liberty. Now we are living
in an age of commercialism. We are
thinking and planning on these lines.
All have the desire to get rich, to own
land and stocks and bonds, etc. This
condition has made a Morgan, a Rock
efeller, a J. J. Hill, and other great
captains of industrys They are the
product of the age, and the people and
prevailing conditions have made them
all, because all are imbued with the
same desire to acquire wealth and in
fuence. Morgan does not want his
great wealth for his private purposes.
but he wants it to traffic in the mighty
fields Of commerce. Hill does not
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