Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1902-06-12

TRACE ,r tba NJ the advantage or the
railroads as well N0uher9' and OF the
nsr" Is however a competition he.
to sy u anyways which will continue
ana az iong as the RAILWAYS are r,,n
anu mat is the competition ~ r,arL.tn,
the necessity of building I'M tba Tanis
n - OF the country served by the re
sI.ItiSe railway lines.
IN this the comDetNiop Iias .
PtouuStr ana the railway I'm one locaut,,
aStihs together, against the producer ana
uetinc 'tmay IN another locality, COM
Is 10 increase its traffic. II can onIv ~
u"ne py increasing the business OF ire
to SSt tbe This same principle applies
land along the lines of railwav tnrnu.ps
tu' .he country and particularly applies
- tht lines west of Chicago. Illness the
ton nr J h make money by ths cultiva-
MI wheat, his grain, his cotton or his
STOCK With q p' oft TO himself fhe tinns
must come when he will caaS. 10 cuiti.
II wern ratd: ana the railway is left. as
Low Rates on Necessities.
For the past twenty years or moro 7
nave had some experience in opening up
anu PeopIhls new states, and have al
Ways ADOPTED as a fixed policy the max
ing OF rates on the products of the corn-
Try seeking a market, and the necessities
Oh ire, such as coal, lumber and building
nsaIerial; at the lowest rates the com
FS NNeNN NtAoIu, LOOKING more 70 nlr
proht from the lighter articles of mer.
chand.se and shelf goods consumed in the
country. AT times we have been Criticised
LOT TINS, this criticism mainly coming
er rate. "eN INV
The following will illustrate our an
sWer ana the reason for the course we
nsve pursued: Take a farmer in Iowa
with a hundred acres OF wheat yielding,
say. twenty bushels to the acre, two
thousand bushels, or sixty tons, A re-
uuctlon OF . cents a hundred, or 81 a
TON, "ould amount to him to $50 per an
q week for hfty-two wekes and takes
away from the store each week fifty
ROUNDS III merchandise, in a year he will
nave taken t~wenty-six hundred pounds,
the entire freight On which would not
haVe averaged 40 cents a hundred, or
SlO.40, so that IL the railway carried the
m~ercnandise for nothing and ,harged an
aoditional . cents a hundred OH his grain.
me farmer would be worse off by nearly
S!0 a year. This Illustration l nope makes
pam the statement that the prosperity OF
the people served by the railway is the
Cnly path to prosperity for the railway.
The railway and its patrons must always
prosper together or suffer together. The
greater the volume Of business the lower
the rates can be made. If, for instance.
a railway has to raise 81 o 600 on a
trafhc OF l,O0O, 900 tons, a single calcula-
ton shows that its profits must be 81 a
ton; II there are 2,0G". 900 tons. so cents a
ton, and If there are 1900, 900 tons. q
cents a ton Will bring the same profit. In
order to secure this
Additional Tonnage
intelligent railway management is coz
Stantly called upon to secure for the
producers on its various lines a market
Tor their productions, and, If possible, a
return load for the car carrying such
product TO market. We have on the Pa
citic coast the largest body of first-class
saw timber left in the United States.
When l first visited that country, with a
view to extending our lines to the coast.
l saw at once that unless we could carry
their lumber TO market at a price that
would enable them to manufacture and
snip 1t with a profit, our railroad would
have no business. The first and great
crop of that country is its lumber. We
made a rate OF 40 cents a hundred for
two thousand miles, or four mills a ton
per mile, on this lumber, in order that we
might load back the ears that carried out
the merchandise to the West. This rate
vas necessarily met by other roads and
the result was the expansion of the lum-
ter trade of Washington and Oregon, so
that to-day 1t is over ten times what II
was nine years ago, and, in place OF seek
ing additional loads for our cars from the
West, we are now seeking additional
loads for our westbound cars going out
to be loaded with lumber for the great
t~reeless states of the Middle, West, and
the development of this Pacific coast
lumber traffic will work a greater change
In the Oriental trade of the country than
III liic tllctlS VI dtl INK itL SA6oSNu IN
that traffic.
10 enable us to keep pace with the
enormou demand for this lumber, was
the moving cause Of our building the
Larges ships In the World,
through which we will be prepared this
fall to meet not only the rates of other
transcontinental lines both in the United
States and Canada, but we will meet the
rates made by Steamer from the Atlantic
ports via the Suez canal. Every manu-
yarfnrnr reached hV any railway IN the
United States can ship his goods to the
Orient by rail to the Pacific and
thence by steamer, at rates that wiz
compete with water transportation from
the Atlantic. seaboard to the East by way
of the Mediterranean n Suez canal.
Were 1t not for the certainty that there
is a carload of lumber waiting for every
empty car that we can furnish on the
Pacific coast, we could not carry the
Orienta business at twice the rates we
will offer.
Traffic In the East.
I will use as an illustration what has oc-
Cured In Japan. Twenty years ago the
foreign trade of Japan was not to exceed
81 per capita Of the population, L 90 i
of its population. twenty years ago II
amounted TO about $40, 000, 900 and to-day
II amounts TO about $3.50, 100000. OF which
the United States share is less than one
fifth. Ten years & we exported about
s., 600 900 annually to Japan, ana I'M
ported from her o SZ6,OOO,ooo now,
our exports TO Japan amount TO S3o,ooo,-
900. or six times as much as they were
ten years ago, and the increase In our
imports has been very small. In 1870 the
entire foreign trade with China amount
ed 10 about 30 cents per capita. with a
rood table government winch VIII pro-
tect the Chinaman in the fruits OF MS
own labor and enterprise, there Is no rea-
son why the Chinese trade should not, IN
crease as rapidly as that or Japan mas
Increased. The ChiRaman Is the best
merchant of the two. Should the Chinese
trade Increase to S3 or 81 per capita, IT
would amount to more than the entire
%sxports of the United States, n surely.
This trade is worth striving for. The
Oriental trade has built up cities or the
old World which are now In ruins It's
value runs back to the very dawn OF MIS-
tory. Byzantine enjoyed this trade FOR a
time. and. later on, it quilt up Venice, the
CITY of merchant palaces, which Tor
wears was the gateway from the East
into Europe. When the Portuguese sent
their ships around the Cape of Good
Hone followed Aby the Spaniards, they
took possession of this trade n trans
tered il from the backs OF camels TO
their galleons. From them II passed UNI
der the control of the Hanseatic league,
and the cities Of Holland and slum.
Early in his country, Great L-Italn,
throilgh a wise and farseeing policy, IN
sug,,rated by her ablest statesmen, took
possession OF the trade, and has retained
I, 10 the present time, for the reason
hat she furnished the lowest rates OF
a. cd from fhnEQ ROIIn-