The Minneapolis journal., 1902-08-21
MATTER OF FEEDING
The Basis of Our Trade With the
Orient, Says Mr.. Hill.
TALK TO TRANSMITS. CONGRESS
ArricuIture the Immediate Hope of
the Great West Argues
Railway Man.

The largest audience yet present at any
of the current sessions of the Trans Mis-
sissippi Commercial Congress in the aud
itorium, St. Paul, assembled yesterday af
ternoon to hear James J. Hill talk of
"Trade With the Orient" Mr.. Hill spoke
for more than an hour. Energetic yet
hesitant. curiously American and British
in delivery as becomes the Minnesotan
from Canada, Mr.. Hill told of the great
opportunity that the oriental market pre-
sents to western farmers and ranchmen
and to southern planters. If the north
ern route" has taken so per cent of ex-
ports to the orient by way of the Pacific
coast, it has been because Of the immense
lumber industry tributary to Puget sound.
Innumerable freight cars had to be taken
to the sound to be loaded there with lum-
ber, and it was infinitely cheaper for the
railways to load these cars with agrlcul-
tural products and charge very low rates
westward than to haul the same cars
empty.
Mr.. Hill urged the south and west to
pay less attention to manufacturing, less
to mining, and more to agriculture, which
he declared the most permanent and most
fecund source of wealth for the trans
Mississippi states. On the statement that
trade with the orient was a question Of
feeding Mr.. Hill based an argument for
agriculture. OF this he said:
tion OF the development of your agriculture
than in that Of all others combined; because,
IN the first place. you can get more people to
go onto the land than you can to go anywhere
else. And without people on the land you
will have no nation. Remember that nation
without land would be a mob. however, big
It is, and all the most fertile land in the
world would be a wilderness if 1t had not
people on it. You have both.
You will not succeed manufacturing
states for long. long time to come. Then
build up your agriculture. Take the question
up intelligently, without bad temper. and
work together. Looking to the development
of your agricultural interests you will get
more money out Of the ground year by year
good farm than you will In a poor mine.
Once the metal is taken out Of the mine,
moved, it is there no longer But your farm,
we'll cultivated, is a continuing mine for
ever!
L know many areas where it will cost from
S. to s6 acre to put water on it. l will
be glad to take the land off their hands at
S12, and will put settlers on it at from s15 to
$50, and the who buys it at SIS or $50
will make more money than a man on any
farm east of the river
If the government will spend this &c. or S10
If you like it, and can get $15 or $40. a mil
lion acres that will cost them ten million dol
lars will bring them fifteen twenty million
dollars; they will very soon have fund
that will go on and require no further ap-
preparation. The people will do it them
selves, for the land is we'll worth 1t. man
on 16O or 320 acres Of irrigated land is a
prince. He is Independent of everybody.
A Shot at Lawmakers.
A glimpse Of his we'll known views
anent the merger" was afforded by his
statement, made imp1 essively with many
an abrupt gesture-"I feel notwithstand-
inr int in 70 a
that what is best for everybody is best
for me-. and 1 am perfectly willing that
everybody shall buy where he can buy
the cheapest. And Il do not want to
compel him for any reason to buy where
he has to pay the highest price. Let us
have these things put out on their own
merits. Let every tub stand on it's own
bottom. That which is right ought to
and in the end will survive. If it's wrong
1t Ought to die
But the railway man ran full tilt against
the most cherished convictions of his
hearers when he insisted, with a fine
Morganesque disdain: Though people say
the railroads would eat up the country if
1t were not for the rivers and their rival
water routes. l assure you that the rail-
ways this side of the Mississippi don't
know that rivers are in existence"
Mr. Hill exhibited parting symptom
of the profound annoyance that he has
sustained at the hands of legislators. If
these lawmakers,% said he, would only
go home and get lost for ten long years,
our country would fairly revel in pros
perity."'
Voice From the South.
Norman G. Kittrell, an attorney of
Houston, Texas. spoke in soft-toned.
r-less accents Of the south in general and
especially of Texas and Her Deep Water
Ports, Present and Prospective" Mr..
Kittrell, a typical southern lawyer. tall,
clean shaven, somewhat long and straight
as to hair, fluent and picturesque, was
chiefly Interested in the misconceptions
of the south, which he believes are en-
tertained by the north. He was especially
exercised by the observations of north
erners he had met. One man had sug-
gested that "Galveston must have been
pretty nearly wiped out by the tidal wave
disaster" And woman had thought
that Texas had no lumber. But Mr. Kit
trell also told that the deep water port
at Galveston Is one Of the finest in the
country and that three other great ports
would eventually be opened along the
Texan coast. He outlined the industrial
growth and possibilities of the New
South"
protest against the tariff on exports
to Mexico was uttered by w. J. Calhoun,
of Iowa. Said he: ''Steel iron and manu-
factured hardware shipped to Mexico from
this country is purchased largely by
American residents Of that country,
whose industry is developing the Latin
republic. That these goods should be
taxed to a prohibitive degree is alto
get her wrong" Mr.. Calhoun advocated
the substitution of reciprocity arrange
ments for the existing tariff, and he
presented a resolution embodying his rec
ommendation.
Permanent Organization.
Unanimous approval was secured for the
report Of the committee on permanent or