The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1902-01-16
JAS. J. HILLS SPEECH
Delivered Before the Tri-State
Grain Growers Convention.


He Covers q Vast Amount of Ground Re-
lating to the Progress of the Farm
ers and Railroads of the
Northwest.
Fargo, N. D., Jan. 11.-After the ap-
plause which greeted the introduction
of Mr.. j. j. Hill to the Tri-state Grain
Growers association had subsidized, he
addressed the audience as follows:
II want to present to you today some
important figures which, / think, will
establish many. facts that are Of great
interest to all the people of this country,
northwest.
IAN advance in the material prosperity
improvement in the condition of the peo-
pie. Every United States census from
l7so to 1900, shows an average growth
years. At the close of the civil war
people. At the average rate Of the in
have at least $50, 900. 900 Of people by
1850; The present increase is more than
l,5OO, 900 annually.
The a%ll,important question presenting
and what will they dc to secure for
themselves comfortable homes and the
ability to educate their children and to
bring them up in such a manner as will
republic?
Of the states of Iowa, Wisconsin and
Minnesota were government lands, open
for homesteads, and practically all the
cifc ocean was open to settlement. The
census reports show that a large portion
of the increased population has gone in
IN hic nnur n on6 hIIilf 11n aitinC
Ing Communities and dotted the land
with schools and churches-every evil
dence of American enterprise and prog
reSS.
Agriculturists Are Nations Sheet Anchor.
Nearly one-half of the capital of the
country is invested in agricultural lands,
and what goes with it for the purpose
half of the population of the country is
directly or indirectly connected with the
cultivation of the soil, and if we judge
the agricultural half of the population
has done more than it's share in every
thing hat goes to benefit the country as
a whole. That half has always shown
itself more intelligent, more patriotic.
and, in every way, the sheet-anchor of
the nation. When men have been called
farmers sons have always been ready
to step to the front and answer the call.
While the farmers are ready to go ten
miles on election day to cast their votes,
others hang around the polls in the cities
waiting to sell their votes. From the
middle and western states are constant
ly recruited the numbers of those who
engage in the professions and the vari-
ual successes clearly establish their right
to be placed In the front rank wherever
they have been called. My observation
leads me to believe that the nation at
large has more to expect from those who
cultivate the soil than from all others
combined.
"The largest area of unoccupied land
where green trees and green grass grows,
and where clear water runs, lies in the
zone between Lake Superior and the Pa;
eific ocean, and to the settlement and
development of this country we must
look for the increase of our traffic and
the future value of our investment in
railways
Homes Must Be Literally Provided.
"How are we to provide homes for our
rapidly increasing. population? Most of
the lands that will produce crops every
year and are susceptible Of cultivation
question today before the statesmen of
the nation is: How can the remaining
lands best be made to furnish homes for
tie reflection will show every individual
man that it is only by the wisest action
on the part Of the general government;
by we'll matured plans for irrigation, and
every other means which will make avail
able every portion of the country that is
or can De mdu6 susceptible OIL CulllNd-
ton. There is a movement among a few
of our statesmen to secure this end. In
some localities in the west this move
ment is opposed by cattle and sheep men,
who desire to retain these lands for their
own purposes. In some cases an effort is
being made to induce congress to convey
posed of by them. This latter movement
can only end in failure. The lands would
be frittered away, or practically given
ing any considerable number of people.
/ consider the future welfare of the coun-
try depends more upon the wise DISPOSE
ton of the public domain, so as to secure
other single condition in the nation. Our
e eopaffg IS d iatge as oV Wid eGpu as the e sha tic
and natural conditions differ. Every
congress shows an active effort being
local district, overlooking, as 1 think, the
broad general fact that the nation should
and must prosper as a whole;
ton of a gold standard; the universal
want of confidence prior to that time
came to an end. People who had money
they put out a hundred-cent dollar they
would be compelled to take a ffty-cent
dollar in return, and now the business of
the country is marching forward at a
rate greater than has ever been known in
our history or in the history of the
world. Our attention haiisa ire frequ ef YEA. Gaile 20
our favor; in other words, the amount OF
money we receive for what we sell is
above that which we pay for what we
buy, thus making our country rich be-
yond all precedent. If we carefully in
Quire into the source from which this
enormous balance of trade comes, we
find that about three-fourths of our ex-
ports are furnished, directly and indi-
rectly, from the cultivation of the land.
The farmers have done the work and
nave benefited the nation.
No Intelligent Effort to Get New Markets.
Nov let us consider what the nation
has done in return for the farmers, or
what it can do in their behalf. The first
and great object is to provide them
means to sell the product of their Lane
and their labor at the highest possible
prices it will bring. I will ask you to
look over the statute books Of the ma
tion and the different states, and find,
If you can, any intelligent step that has
been taken to find new markets for our
agricultural exports, I have examined
these records carefully, and up to the
present time I do not find one intelligent
sentence or line, the object Of which has
been to find new markets for the prod
ucts of the land, except as to southern
sugar and rice, and some wool.
I'm order to advance the price Of every
commodity the first step is to increase
the demand for it.; as long as there is a
surplus in the market seeking q buyer
the price must remain low and whenever
there is a shortage Inc the demand is
greater than the supply, 1t follows that