The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-03-22
NORTHWESTERN BUSINESS GOSSIP
James j. Hill and the lsthmian Canal Interest
in the CIergue Syndicate's Efforts at Coloni-
zingManitoba Wheat Surplus Reduced.

Unlike the late Coils P. Huntington,
James J. Hill regards the, building Of
the isthmian canal with Indifference That
is what men who are close to Mr.. Hill
say, and the Great Northern president is
known to have discussed the proposed
canal several times from the standpoint
OF man who did not care. Mr.. Hill
thinks the isthmian canal far off and has
supreme confidence in the ability of the
transcontinental railroads, Cooperating
with big freighters on the Pacific, to hold
their own in the fight for oriental traffic
against any new conditions that may be
created by such canal a decade hence.
inside OF Two years at the most the
Great Northern president hopes to have
completed successful campaign against
the boat lines which now carry the cot ton
of the Carolinas and other southern
states to Japan. Japan is ambitious to
increase her manufactures Of cotton goods
and in the next few years will buy more
cotton In America. Cotton is regarded
as a fitting foundation for an immense
trade with the fiowery Kingdom and James
j. Hill is already planning to profit by
the traffic. His lines, through the pur-
chase of the Burlington, reach St. Louis.
one of the big centers of the south, and
give him an advantage from which to be-
roads comprises some Of the best and
most extensive southern lines, and cotton
| hauled across the continent to be trans
ferred to ocean steamships at Seattle will
furnish long haul for the railway sys-
TENS Of Morgan and Hill which will put
in the shade the long haul figures Of near
| ly every traffic man in the country. Mr..
| Hill is said to have much confidence in
this plan and thinks he can prove to traf
| f1c authorities, who differ from him on
transcontinental railroad competition
with water carriers for oriental traffic.
that they have not dug deep enough into
| the problem. g. -5=-..- .-.-
For distance of 100 or 200 miles from
the Atlantic seaboard, Mr.. Hill and the
men who take his view are willing to con-
eede that the transcontinenta1 lines would
nave trouble in competing with canal
route through the isthmus. But such
traffic would not include the products of
the big steel mills in Pennsylvania which
will in time become far more prominent
in the exports to the orient. On these and
other heavy products, Mr.. Hill is certain
that the railroads will have nothing to
fear from the canal, especially after a
decade of experience mad improvements in
steamship transportation on the Pacific
and after the gradual reduction in cost Of
handling traffic on American railroads..
Efforts at Colopizing. ..::.
If tie Clergue syndicate succeeds in at
tracing any large body of Scandinavian
Immigrants to the Canadian 500 and the
country along the Algoma Central road,
northwestern immigration men will be in
terested in learning how it is done Eff
forts of northwestern railroads and other
agencies to bring over large bodies Of
Scandinavians to colonize new countries
have been unsuccessful. !. The northwest
secures nice share Of the immigration
! from the Scandinavian peninsula but the
colony is no feature OF. this movement
Some of the northwestern roads COM
blned some time ago on a plan to send
! Mayor Johnson, of Fargo. N. D.. to Nor
way and Sweden on such 3 mission. The
various roads hoped to- be able to Sc
| cure the resulting immigration. Mayor
] Johnson made a tour of the peninsula.
| Scandinavian immigration continues to
flavor the northwest but the thousands
l,whom the mayor Was ,;eonfdert would be
over in a very short time have not put in
| The territory north of the Canadian 500
in which the Clergue syndicate is operat-
! ing needs foreign immigration to make it's
development rapid. Immense. bodies of
timber can be turned into money within
| the next few years if the foreigners can
! be persuaded to settle in that region. 1t
| is doubtful if the Canadian or american
would go as willingly into that region as
| the foreign immigrant. - s<.'@
Probably no railroad : in the United
States has been so successful in colonial
toin as has been the Great Northern in