Rosebud County news. [volume] (Forsyth, Mont.) 1901-1906, 1902-01-16

would try a few carloads Of our cotton,
tage to use 1t would pay the cost Of the
cotton. They ordered few carloads;
the result has been that we have not
been able to find transport alton to supply
the Oriental demand for American cotton
from that time to this. During the
months Of September. October and
November just passed, VIC shipped about
sixty thousand bales of cotton to tho
Orient. This was all we could tind ship
room to carry: the amount could have
been doubled had the ship-room been
available. During this time other roads
have also carried their share Of cotton
to the Far East and their experience has
been practically the same as our own.
q /\/\> 80 . 80 30
. Five years ago land in the Red .
. river valley and in North Dakota Q
q was selling at from 81 to $50 per .
q acre; to-day the demand for these 9
. lands have made them worth from .
q $40 to $50 per acre. .
. >>>>>> 80 . >~>>>>>>
AS we have extended our railway lines
throughout the Northwest our first OBJ
ject has been to settle up the country
along these lines. A comparison Of the
census reports of 1890 and 1900 shows
~
reached by our lines there has been an
increase of $4,000 people, in North Da-
kOta in twenty counties over $4,000 DeO.
pie. In fifteen of the counties in North
Dakota most depending upon the Great
Northern for their railway service find
that the vacant land in 1898 was 9.356, 600
acres: in 1901, 100000 acres, showing
that in the eight years there had been
settled upon in fifteen counties on the
lines of the Great Northern road $780,
600 acres. In Montana the increase in
counties on the line of the Great North
ern was about 10000 people and in WASH
ington 10000 people. This year the indi-
cations are that the influx of new people
will be greater than at any previous time
in the history of the country. More peo-
pie will come in to make their homes
with you and help you as neighbors and
fellow workers in the development of
your state than ever before.
1%%~><<%<%>~%%~< 80
q At the present time we hear much d
q about the community of interests" 4
between the railroads. I want to q
q say to you here and now that the q
q only community of interests that .
. there Is or ever can exist is the q
. community of interests between the .
q producer of tonnage and the car .
q rier; the man on the farm, in the .
. forest and in the mine must be able .
. at all times to sell the products of .
q his labor and his lands at a profit q
. or he will cease to labor and have .
q nothing to SELL .
. >>>>< q - . = . = >>>>
The railroads depend for their existence
on the products of the lands served by
their lines; it has no other source Of in
come. Individuals may come and 60, we
will all sooner or later pass from active
life, but the land-the country--its re-
sources and the railroads will be here
permanently, and they will either prosper
together or be poor together. There Is
no other community of interests that can
ever exist against this one While it is.
necessary for the railroads that the
farmers, the lumbermen and the miners
shall be prosperous, it is also necessary
that the railroads should prosper.
= . 80 . q 80 //>%/ - q
q Much is being said about the COM .
q bination between railroads, and that .
. the country for its prosperity must .
q rely upon continuance of competi- .
. ton. The law of the survival of .
. the fittest must inevitably end such 9
. competition as exists by the de- .
= struction of the weaker by the .
q stronger. q
<><>< = 80 = 80 >%~%>
This has already been done in the East
to the extent that throughout all of New
England the hundreds of original railway
corporations are now mostly consolidated
into three or four, and the people are
better off than ever before. Twenty-Five
years ago it was supposed that competi-
ton was necessary to reduce rates.
think we have shown in the Northwest
that, without competition, rates have
been reduced faster than anywhere else
in this country.
= . 80 = q . %>>o> = =
. To-day the farmers can ship their q
q grain from the Red river valley to .
. the Twin Cities and the Head of the .
q Lakes at from Is to 20 per cent .
. lower rates than farmers living in .
. the Des Moines valley and Western q
q Iowa, where there are many lines, .
q can ship to Chicago. the same dis .
= tance. 4
= <%>><% 3
The effect of this has been to bring
thousands OF farmers from the Middle
Western states, including Iowa, Missouri,
Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan
Indiana and Illinois to find homes in Min
nesota and North Dakota. This. more
than anything else, has doubled the price
of your lands in a comparatively few
years. We have about twelve hundred
miles of railway in North Dakota The
average cost of our railway, including
terminals. equipment. shops, elevators
etc, is about thirty thousand dollars