The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1902-06-19

W12KIn -
be abolished to the advantage or the
trace ~ the whole country, and of tho
There is however a competition be-
tween the railways which will continue
to exist as long as the railways are run,
and that Is the competition of markets
the necessity Of building up the various
interests of the country served by the re-
81 aCtive railway lines.
In this the competition lies between the
producer and the railway in one locality
acting together. against the producer and
the railway In another locality, COM
petinE for the business. IL the railway
Is to increase its traffic, II can only be
done by increasing the business of its
customers. This same principle applies
TO the occupation and cultivation ~ the
land along the lines OF railway through
cut the country, and particularly applies
4" the lines west of Chicago. Unless the
ton of his land. either through Selling
his wheat, his grain, his cotton or his
stock, with a ~ ont to himself, the time
must come when he will cease 20 cult.
Nate the land and the railway Is left. as
IL were, in a desert.
Low Rates on Necessities.
For the past twenty years or more
have had some experience in opening up
and peopling new states. and have al
ways adopted as a fixed policy the max
ing of rates on the products OF the coun-
try seeking a market. and the necessities
of life such as coal, lumber and building
pany coula afford, looking more to our
profit from the lighter articles of mer-
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 a low
er rate.
The following will illustrate our an
swer aud the reason for the course we
have pursued: Take a farmer in Iowa
with hundred acres Of wheat yielding,
say. twenty bushels to the acre. two
-
ductioD of cents hundred, or 81
ton, would amount to him to $50 per ar
mum. II he visits the country store onc9
week {rd for alty,two we eSs and takes ftS
pounds Of merchandise, in year he Will
have taken twenty-six hundred pounds,
the entire freight on which would not
have averaged 40 cents a hundred, or
5000. so that II the railway carried the
merchandise for nothing and rharged an
additional cents hundred on his grain,
che farmer would be worse OF by nearly
so a year. This illustration i 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
a railway has to raise 100000 on
traffic of 1,00O,0O tons. a single calcllla-
ton shows that its profits must be 81
ton; If there are 100000 tons, so cents
ton, and IL there are 100000 tons, .
cents a ton will bring the same profit. In
order TO secure this
Additional Tonnage
intelligent railway management is con-
stantly called upon to secure for the
producers on Its various lines a market
for their productions, and, If possible, a
return load for the car carrying such
product 10 market. We have on the Pa
cfic coast the largest body of first-class
saw timber left in the United States.
When l first visited that country, with
view to extending our lines to the coast,
| saw at once that unless we could carry
their lumber to market at price that
would enable them to manufacture ana
ship il 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 q hundred for
two thousand miles, or -FOUR mills ton
per mile, on this lumber, in order that we
might load back the cars that carried out
the merchandise to the West. This rate
was necessarily met by other roads and
the result was the expansion of the lum-
Ter trade OF Washington ana oregon, SO
that to-day it is over ten times what IL
was nine years ago, and, in place or 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
treeless 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
all the efforts OF all the men engaged In
lnat lftTlC,
TO enable US to keep pace with the
enormous demand for this lumber, was
the moving cause of our building the
Largest ships I'm 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-
facturer reached by any railway in the
United States can ship his goods to the
Orient by rail to the Pacific coast and
thence by steamer, at rates that will
compete with water transportation from
the Atlantic seaboard to the East by way
of the Mediterranean and Suez canal.
Were IL 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
Oriental business at twice the rates we
will offer.
Much has been said about the increase
Traffic I'm the East.
/ will use as an illustration what has oc-
Cured In Japan. Twenty years ago the
foreign trade of Japan was not to exceed
ST per capita of the population. To-day
this trade is equal to SO or ~ per capt.
of its population. Twenty years ago IL
amounted to about Si0OOO,000 and to-day
il amounts to about S25O,O00.OO0, of which
the United States share is less than one
fifth. Ten years ago we exported about
100000 annually to ia Japan pan oo and Inn
our exports to Japan amount TO S3OOOO,-
600, or six times as much as they were
ten years ago, and the increase in our
imports has been very small. In 1880 the
entire foreign trade with China amount
ed to about 90 cents per capita. With
good stable government wnlch 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
crease as rapidly as that of Japan has
increased The Chinaman is the best
merchant OF the two. Should the Chinese
trade increase to 50 or 81 per capita, II
would amount to more than the entire
exports of the United States, and surely,
this trade is worth striving for. The
Oriental trade has built up cities of the
va he runs back to the very dawn of MIS-
tory. Byzantine enjoyed this trade for a
time, and, later on, IL 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 Spaninrds. they
took possession of this trade and trans
ferred IL from the backs OF camels to
their galleons. From them IL passed I'M
der the control of the Hanseatic league.
and the cities OF Holland and L gium.
Early in this country, Great l.. tain,
through a wise and farseeing policy, in
augurated by her ablest statesmen, took
possession of the trade, and has retained
IL 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 % cents a day can
not indulge in many luxuries, and our
trade with the Orient must be largely in
the necessities OF life and such articles as