Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1902-10-09
GOOD TRUSTS
and BAD ONES
PRESIDENT HILL SPEAKS
At GRANT COUNTY FAIR
Tie Says That II n Man Does Wrong
He Should BE Punished, but That
IL He Does Right He Should
he Protected.

Elbow Lake. Minn.-The chief attrac-
ton of the Grant county fair. held here
recently, was the speech of Mr.. j. j.
Hill on the second day.
When Mr.. Hill was introduced he was
greeted with cheers, and frequently as
he proceeded with his talk he was APP
plauded or Joined in with the audience
in a laugh. He dwelt largely. on the re-
railroads. He drew on his own person
al experience for much Of what he told
his audience, but with terse and peril
nent comment on present conditions.
He gave President Roosevelt's cure for
trusts SLY dig, and justified in an alb
stract way the formation of the North
ern Securities company. Mr.. Hill spoke
as follows:
MIR. Chairman. Ladies and Gentlemen:
I want to assure you this afternoon that
is it matter of unusual pleasure to meet
you here. I am glad to see the farmers
here with their wives. It is q privilege
that enjoy to meet the people who have
come into this part of the country and
made it what we see it to-day.
sit is a few months more than thirty
years since 1 first passed through this
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 I assure you it was very cold. Now
to me this is an unusual pleasure, and
there is no place where 1 could meet
with more pleasure than in your county.
The change that has occurred is graft
flying. and it must be gratifying to you
In that you have been able
To Work the Change,
and it is always gratifying to me to know
that I have been able in some way to
aid in bringing about this change. The
country looks beautiful to-day, and I
see within and without the town rot
only the cause of the change. but the
fruit of it as well. 1 see good stock. L
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 3 not a 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. If
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. had to buy my
experience 1 bought some fancy cat
tic at very extravagant prices. Ny fences
were let down. With 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. l
presume it was the ferocious stare or
the bull that tore down the fences, but
/ made up my mind that I could not
in my lifetime succeed as 1 wanted, and
/ sent men to the country and bought
up a large number of bulls for three or
four years, and to-day I saw as handsome
cattle in your own county as man would
wish to see. 1t did me good as 1 saw
before me proof that my endeavor
Had Not Been In Vain.
Now, I can say to you that no one IN
the state or out of it has such great
interest in the people of the state and
as myself. No man has a greater In
terest-put it all on selfish gain II you
want TON the welfare of the producers
than I have because if your labor is
wasted what becomes of me? If you
are poor, am poor. l am 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 cultivates 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 Can
ada or the United States have been sub
sidized, 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 TO do more than We could af-
ford to do and not to run ahead in a wild
speculative career but going ahead
cautiously; if 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 lave
now come to the point where our road
has been extended to the Pacific ocean.
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