The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1902-06-20

uonss Dy increasing the business OF IT'S
to the occupation and cultivation " the
land along the lines Of railway through
cut the country, and particularly applies
farmer can make money BY tn, cultiva-
ton OF his land; either through selling
Ms wheat his grain, his cotton or his
must come when he will csaS.. to cult
vate the land, and the railway Is left, as
1t were, in a desert.
Low Rates ON Necessities.
For the past twenty years or more I
and peopling. new states, and have al
ways adopted as fixed policy the MAX
Ing Of rates on the products Of the coun-
OF life, such as coal. lumber. and building
material, at the lowest rates the COM
pany cculo afford, looking more to our
chandise and shelf goods consumed in the
country. At times we have been criticised
for this, this criticism mainly coming
from merchants who have desired low
The following will illustrate our an
swer and the reason for the course we
with a hundred acres of wheat yielding.
say, twenty bushels to the acre, two
thousand bushels, or sixty tons. \ re-
ton. Mould amount s to him to $40 per x an
mum. If he visits the country store once
q week for tirty-two wekes and takes
pounds Of merchandise. in year he will
have taken twenty-six hundred pounds.
the entire freight On which would not
merchandise for nothing and charged an
additional 5 cents a hundred on his grain,
the farmer would be worse off by nearly
$40 year. This illustration hope makes
plain the statement that the prosperity of
the people served by the railway Is the
only 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. #, for instance.
a railway has to raise S1Ooo,O0O on,
traffic OF 1,OOO,0 900 tons, a single calc!lla-
ton shows that it's profits must be 81
ton; II there are 2.OGO,O0o tons, so cents a
ton, and if there are 4,O0O,OOO tons. 25
order to secure this
Additional Tonnage
intelligent railway management Is con-
stantly called upon to secure for the
producers on it's various lines market
return load for the car carrying such
product to market. We have on the Pa
cifie iGast the largest body Of tirst.elass
When first visited that country, with
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
ship it with profit, our railroad would
have no business. The first and great
crop of that country is it's lumber. We
made rate Of 40 cents a hundred for
two thousand miles, or four mills ton
per mile, on this lumber, in order that we
the merchandise to the West This rate
was necessarily met by other roads and
the result was the expansion. of the lum-
Ger trade of Washington and Oregon, so
that to-day it is over ten times what it
was nine years ago, and, in place of seek
Ing additional loads for our cars from the
loads for our westbound cars going out
to be loaded with lumber for the great
treeless states of the Middle West, and
lumber traffic will work a greater so change
in the Oriental trade of the country than
all the efforts OF all the men engaged in
that traffic.
z To enable us to keep pace with the
enormous demand for this lumber, was
the moving cause Of our building the
Largest Ships in the World,
through which we will be prepared this
fall to meet not only the rates of other
States and Canada. but we will meet the
rates made by steamer from the Atlantic
ports via the sYez canal. Every manu-
United States can ship his goods to the
Orient by rail to the Pacific coast and
thence by w. steamer. at rates that will
81 e to ana e snez by saw
Were it not for the certainty that there
Is carload of lumber waiting for every
empty car that We can furnish on the
Pacific coast. we could not carry the
Oriental business at twice the rates we
Much has been said about the increase
Traffic in the East.
win 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. To-day
this trade is equal to IS or 81 per capita
Of it's population. Twenty years, ago, it
it amounts to about $3.50, 900, 900, of which
the United States share is less than one
nth III ~ Ten years ago We exported about
from n her sDo ta 5s1a1 and Now
our exports to Japan amount to $50, OOO,-
0OO. or six times as much as they were
imports has been very small In 1880 the
entire foreign trade with China amount
Cd to ABOUT bout 30 cents per capita. With a
good stable government which will pro-
tect the Chinaman in the fruits of his
own labor and enterprise, there is no rea-
son why the Chinese trade should not in
fa Rhe nas Of is 'aR he b aas
merchant of the two Should the Chinese
trade trade, increase to So or 81 per capita. it
on tha o ta taa the entire
this trade is worth striving for. The
Oriental trade has built up cities of the
Olu WOrlG Wnlcn are now IN ruins. Its
value runs back to the very dawn of his
tory. Byzantine enjoyed this trade for a
time. and, later on, it built up Venice. the
city of merchant palaces, which for
years was the gateway from the East
into Europe. When the Portuguese sent
their ships around the Cape of Good
Hope, followed BY the spaniards. they
took possession of this trade and trans
ferred 1T from the backs of camels to
their .galleons. From them it passed UNI
der the control Of the Hanseatic league.
and the cities OF Holland and Belgium
Early in this country, Great Britain.
through wise and farseeing policy, in
augurated by her ablest statesmen, took
possession Of the trade. and has retained
It to the present time, for the reason
that she furnished the lowest rates Of
transportation to and from those coun-
tries. We are now preparing to Challenge
her for such share Of this business as
can be furnished by the manufactures Of
the United States. A country where la
Dor Is paid from 10 to Is cents day can
not indulge In many luxuries, and our
trade with the Orient must be largely in
the necessities of life and such articles al
they cannot produce.
We have. already built up large de-
mand for American cotton, which, a few
years ago, was unknown in China and
Japan. N--
This cotton mainly goes from Texas
and other Southwestern states, and it
may surprise you to learn that aevAn.